>*t 


JOEL  REMINGTON  FITHfoN 


r       T 


DE    WITT    CLI  NTON 


HISTORY 


OF 


THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY 


CITY    OF    NEW    YORK. 


WITH 


. 

PORTRAITS    OF    THE   PRESIDENTS    OF    THE   SOCIETY. 


WM.  OLAND  BOURNE.  A.M. 


NEW  YORK: 
WM.    WOOD    &    CO.,     61     WALKER    STREET 

LONDON  :   SAMPSON  LOW,  SON  &  CO.,  188  FLEET  STREET. 

BERLIN  I    8TILKE  &  VON  MUYDEN,   LINDEN  N°.   21. 

PARIS  :   OCSTAVE  BOS8ANOE,  25   QCAI   YOLTAIKK. 


1870. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 
WM.     OLAND    BOURNE, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern  District 

of  New  York. 


TO 


®.  f  rim&le, 

THE    LAST    PRESIDENT   OF  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY, 

WHOSE    SERVICES 
DURING   THE   LONG  PERIOD  OF   THIRTY-FIVE   TEAKS 

WBBB    DEVOTED 

TO  THE  IXTBBE8T8  OF  POPULAB  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  : 
TO 

f  rastos  aito  SUmto  of  \\t  $)«blit  $t$wl 

AND   TO 

THE  FRIENDS   OF   COMMON   SCHOOL  EDUCATION 

INDEPENDENT  OF  SECTARIAN  CONTROL, 

THIS  VOLUME 
18    DEDIC  ATED    BY 

THE   AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


THE  HISTOKY  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY  OF  THE  CITY 
OF  XEW  YORK,  presented  in  this  volume,  has  been  prepared  in 
compliance  with  the  request  of  the  Society,  and  the  repeatedly 
expressed  wishes  of  numerous  friends  of  the  cause  of  public 
education.  At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Society  previous  to  its 
dissolution,  held  on  July  22,  1853,  a  resolution  was  adopted 
authorizing  "  the  President  and  Agent  to  place  at  the  disposal 
of  a  competent  writer  such  documents  in  possession  of  the  Socie- 
ty as  illustrate  its  rise,  progress,  and  history."  This  resolution 
was  not  acted  on  until  the  close  of  1854,  when  a  very  numer- 
ously attended  meeting  was  held,  at  which  a  committee  of  five 
was  appointed  to  superintend  the  work,  and  under  whose  re- 
vision it  should  be  finally  submitted  to  the  public.  This  com- 
mittee consisted  of  GEORGE  T.  TRIMBLE,  the  President,  JOSEPH 
B.  COLLINS,  the  Secretary,  SAMUEL  \V.  SETON,  the  Agent  of  the 
Society,  Assistant  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  HIRAM 
KETCHUM,  and  CHARLES  E.  PIERSON,  M.D. 

The  committee  elected  a  secretary  for  the  performance  of  the 
work,  whose  fitness  for  the  task  was  to  be  found  more  in  the 
enthusiasm  of  his  admiration  for  the  Society,  and  his  earnest 
sympathy  with  the  cause  of  public  instruction,  than  any  other 
merit  that  he  might  possess.  It  is,  perhaps,  not  impertinent  to 
remark,  that  the  author  had  for  several  years  previously  enter- 
tained the  purpose  of  writing  a  History  of  the  Society,  while 
there  were  yet  probabilities  of  its  permanence  as  an  educational 
establishment. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  History,  the  author  has  had  the 


Vi  PREFACE. 

assistance  and  recommendations  of  the  Committee,  and  has  had 
occasion  to  make  use  of  the  records  of  the  Corporation  of  the 
city,  the  City  Library,  the  Society  Library,  the  Library  of  the 
Historical  Society,  the  Journals  of  the  Legislature,  and  the 
numerous  records  of  the  schools  established  by  the  Society. 
The  acknowledgments  of  the  author  are  made  for  the  politeness 
and  attention  he  has  received  from  the  Committee,  to  J.  "W.  C. 
LEVERIDGE  and  W.  P.  COOLEDGE,  late  Trustees  of  the  Society,  and 
also  to  the  Hon.  WILLIAM  B.  MACLAY,  the  late  DAVID  T.  YALEN- 
TINE,  Clerk  of  the  Common  Council,  GEORGE  H.  MOORE,  LL.  D., 
Librarian  of  the  Historical  Society,  RICHARD  FIELD,  of  the  late 
Manumission  Society,  and  to  the  late  Clerk  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  Hon.  ALBERT  GILBERT,  and  also  his  successor, 
THOMAS  BOESE,  Esq.,  together  with  the  teachers  of  the  several 
•schools.  Acknowledgments  are  also  due  to  JAMES  McMAs- 
TER,  Esq.,  editor  of  the  Freemarfs  Journal,  and  to  the  editors 
of  the  Commercial  Advertiser  and  Evening  Post,  for  the  use  of 
their  files  in  collecting  the  materials  for  the  work.  The  labor 
has  been  rendered  less  onerous  by  the  courtesies  and  attentions 
which  have  been  so  uniformly  extended  during  its  progress. 

The  author  will  not  anticipate  criticism  upon  the  style  of  the 
work.  He  lays  no  claim  to  authorship  other  than  that  of  indus- 
trious compilation.  His  object  has  been  simply  to  present  a 
truthful  and  impartial  history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  common 
school  education  in  the  city  of  New  York,  as  furnished  by  the 
proceedings  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  the  kindred  institu- 
tions which  became  identified  with  it.  It  was  not  designed  to 
give  a  general  history  of  the  Church  or  other  private  schools 
which  preceded  the  organization  of  the  Society.  It  has  been  a 
constant  aim  to  compile  and  present  those  facts  which  would  be 
interesting  to  the  public,  or  of  value  for  future  reference. 

While  seeking  to  avoid  too  much  detail,  it  has  been  the  pur- 
pose to  omit  no  fact  which  might  be  required  to  complete  the 
record  or  to  illustrate  a  principle. 

The  author  makes  no  apology  for  the  absence  of  orn amenta- 


PREFACE.  Vll 

tion,  dissertations,  or  criticisms.  The  various  papers  and  reports 
of  the  Society  contain  all  that  need  be  said  in  its  defence ;  while 
the  speeches  and  debates  of  the  learned  controversialists,  whose 
arguments  are  here  collected,  afford  sufficient  relief  to  the  mat- 
ter-of-fact style  of  the  History.  The  large  amount  of  material 
clamoring  for  preservation  has  excluded  original  discussion. 

The  plan  of  the  work  is  simply  chronological.  The  chapters 
are  devoted  to  periods  of  longer  or  shorter  duration,  marked  by 
some  special  event,  which  is  made  the  occasion  of  a  pause  in  the 
narrative.  The  controversy  relative  to  the  school  fund,  1822-'25, 
the  legislation  and  reorganization  of  the  system  in  1826,  the 
Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum  controversy  in  1831,  and  the 
great  school  controversies  of  1840-'42,  are  made  the  subjects  of 
special  chapters,  in  which  the  facts  relative  thereto  are  collected 
without  disturbing  the  narrative  of  the  text. 

During  nearly  twenty-five  years,  the  Public  School  Society 
was  compelled  to  become  the  defendant  in  the  various  discussions 
relative  to  the  sectarian  distribution  of  the  Common  School 
Fund.  Having  been  organized  for  the  express  purpose  of  estab- 
lishing schools  "for  the  children  of  such  parents  as  do  not  belong 
to,  or  are  not  provided  for  ly,  any  religious  society"  it  bore  the 
responsibility,  in  a  special  manner,  of  providing  a  common  school 
education  for  the  masses  of  the  people.  Hence,  when  the  custo- 
dians of  this  broad  trust  witnessed  the  efforts  made  to  obtain, 
for  sectarian  uses,  the  moneys  secured  by  their  agency,  from  a 
public  which  itself  called  upon  the  Legislature  to  be  taxed  for 
this  special  purpose,  they  felt  that  they  would  have  been  recreant 
to  their  duty,  had  they  allowed  these  funds  to  be  disturbed, 
without  an  emphatic  protest.  How  earnestly  and  ably  they 
carried  on  the  defence,  the  pages  of  this  volume  will  abundantly 
show. 

In  placing  on  record  the  several  controversies,  the  author  has 
preferred  to  preserve  the  memorials,  speeches,  and  printed  ad- 
dresses in  full,  although  some  repetition  thereby  becomes  un- 
avoidable. He  has  chosen  to  do  this,  rather  than  by  revisions 


Vlll  PSEFACE. 

and  abridgements  to  afford  any  reader  grounds  for  surmise  that 
lie  had  excluded  important  passages  from  a  desire  to  conceal  on 
the  one  hand,  or  to  magnify  on  the  other.  So  far  as  the  compass 
of  the  volume  would  permit,  everything  is  given  complete.  Not 
one  line  has  been  omitted  from  a  motive  of  partiality  for  the 
Society,  or  of  antagonism  to  its  opponents. 

It  has  been  deemed  proper  to  insert  the  various  papers  and 
documents  in  their  order  in  the  text,  rather  than  in  the  form  of 
lengthened  notes,  or  an  appendix.  It  is  believed  that  this  ar- 
rangement will  be  found  the  most  convenient  for  the  reader. 

In  the  hope  that  this  work  will  be  found  valuable  in  connec- 
tion with  the  interests  of  popular  education,  it  is  committed  to 

the  press. 

W.  0.  B. 


NOTE  TO  THE  READER. 

The  reader  of  this  volume  may  perhaps  detect  occasional  errors  in  the 
names  of  persons  introduced  in  the  history.  They  are  requested  to  communi- 
cate all  corrections  to  the  author. 

All  persons  having  documents,  facts,  and  personal  recollections  relative  to 
the  Public  School  Society,  or  any  of  its  officers  in  their  official  capacity,  are 
requested  to  communicate  them  to  the  author,  care  of  the  publishers.  All 
communications  must  be  accompanied  with  the  name  and  address  of  the  writer. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ORIGIN   OF   THE   SOCIETY,   AND   PROGRESS   TO   THE   YEAR    1817. 

Large  Cities — Public  Instruction  of  the  Poor — City  of  New  York  in  1800 — Parochial 
Charity  Schools — An  Unoccupied  Field — Proposition  to  Establish  a  New  School — 
The  First  Meeting — A  Committee  Appointed — Memorial  to  the  Legislature — An 
Act  of  Incorporation  Passed — The  Society  Organized — The  First  Board  of  Trus- 
tees— Address  to  the  Public — Subscriptions — The  Lancastrian  System — The  New 
School  Opened — Lot  of  Ground  Presented  by  Col.  Rutgers — Clothing  for  Poor 
Children — Memorial  to  the  Legislature — Application  to  the  Common  Council — 
The  School  Fund — "  The  Free  School  Society  " — New  Apartments  for  the  School 
— Grant  of  Lots  for  a  Building — New  School  House  No.  1 — Donations — Opening 
of  the  School— De  Witt  Clinton's  Address— The  Law  Amended— School  No.  2— 
Death  of  Benjamin  D.  Perkins — A  School  Library — Grant  of  Money  by  the  Legis- 
lature— Land  Presented  by  Trinity  Church — Opening  of  No.  2. — Additional  Trus- 
tees— Moral  and  Religious  Instruction Page  1 

CHAPTER    II. 

HISTORY     FROM     1817-1822. 

New  Schools  Proposed — Lancasterian  Teacher  from  England — A  Legacy — Instruction 
of  Monitors — Economy — Discipline — School  No.  3 — School  No.  4— School  Libra- 
ries— Teachers  Trained — Charles  Picton — The  Freemasons — Monitors  and  Ap- 
prentices— "  Morning  Schools  " — New  Regulations — Manual — Shepherd  Johnson 
— Joseph  Lancaster — Visit  to  New  York — Finances — Memorial  to  the  Legislature 
— Grant  of  $5,000 — Address  to  the  Parents  and  Guardians  of  Children — Sunday 
and  Sunday  Schools — The  Female  Association — School  No.  4  Opened — Death  of 
John  Murray — New  Building  for  No.  3 — Manual  of  Instruction — State  of  the 
Schools— Rev.  J.  N.  Maffit's  Address  to  the  Schools— School  No.  2 — Catechism 
Adopted — Visit  of  a  Committee  of  the  Legislature — The  Bethel  Baptist  Church — 
Special  Privileges — School  No.  5 — Plans  and  Estimates  for  Extension  of  the  Sys- 
tem— A  Man  of  Fortune,  and  a  Man  in  Independent  Circumstances — Lots  for 
School  No.  5  Purchased— The  Bethel  Baptist  Church Page  28- 

CHAPTER    III. 

THE     BETHEL    BAPTIST    CHURCH     CONTROVERSY. 

Sectarian  Influence — Church  Schools — The  School  Fund — The  Bethel  Baptist  Church 
— Privileges  Granted — School  No.  5 — Memorial  to  the  Legislature — Memorial  to 
the  Corporation — Proceedings  in  the  Legislature— Hiram  Kctchum  Elected  a  Trus1 


CONTENTS. 

tee,  and  requested  to  proceed  to  Albany — Negotiations  Between  the  Two  Boards 
of  Trustees— The  Bill  Laid  Over  by  the  Legislature— The  Bethel  Schools— The 
"  Trustees  of  the  Fire-Department  Fund  " — Certificate  of  Mr.  Andrews — Certifi- 
cate of  Mr.  Buyce — Certificate  of  Mr.  Farden — New  Church  Schools — Proceed- 
ings in  the  Common  Council — Memorial  Adopted — New  Memorials  to  the  Legisla- 
ture— Proceedings  of  the  Legislature — Report  of  the  Committee  on  Colleges,  &c. 
— Adjournment  of  the  Legislature — The  Extra  Session — The  Bill  Amended — The 
Common  Council  to  Apportion  the  School  Fund — The  Bill  Becomes  a  Law — The 
Controversy  Closed Page  48 


CHAPTER    IV. 

HISTORY     F.KOM     1822-1826. 

The  Annual  Meeting — School-House  No.  5 — Annual  Exhibit  and  Expenses  for  1822— 
Systematic  Visitation — "  Sections  " — No.  6  Opened — Real  Estate — Building  Fund 
1  — Corporal  Punishment — Hiram  Ketchum — New  School  Law — Application  to  the 
Legislature — Committee  of  Ladies  for  Visiting  Girls'  Schools — ^School  Sections 
Appointed — School  at  Bellevue  Hospital — No.  6 — Visit  of  the  Common  Council 
to  the  Schools — Resolutions — Pay  System — The  School  Fund  Controversy — The 
Museum — Mrs.  Scudder — Charles  Picton  Resigns,  and  Returns  to  England — Gen- 
eral La  Fayette — Visit  to  New  York — Inspection  of  the  Schools — The  New 
School  Law — New  Plans — The  Pay  System — The  Common  Council — Plans  Ap- 
proved— Proceedings  in  the  Legislature — The  New  Law — Name  of  the  Society 
Changed — "  The  Public  School  Society  " — Reorganization  and  Measures.  .Page  76 


CHAPTER    V. 

HISTOBT     FROM    1  826-1  831. 

New  Schools — No.  7  Opened — School  No.  8 — Schools  at  Harlem,  Manhattanville,  and 
Bloomingdale — School  No.  9 — Columbia  College — New  Locations — School  No.  10 
Organized — School  No.  11 — Finances  and  Attendance — High  School — The  Pay 
System — Lotteries — Sunday  Scholars — Infant  Schools — Death  of  the  President, 
DE  WITT  CLINTON — New  Measures — Additional  Tax — Address  to  the  Public — 
Vagrancy — Visitor — Samuel  W.  Seton — Memorials — Power  to  Mortgage  and  Con- 
vey Property — The  New  Tax  Obtained — The  Schools  of  New  York  City — School 
No.  12 — School  No.  13 — The  School  Fund — Application  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Orphan  Asylum. Page  104 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE     ROMAN    CATHOLIC     ORPHAN     ASYLUM    AND     METHODIST     CHARITY 

SCHOOL. 

Application  from  the  Asylum  for  a  Portion  of  the  School  Moneys — Memorial  and 
Remonstrance  of  the  Society — Proceedings  of  the  Common  Council — Address 
of  the  Trustees,  and  Reasons  for  their  Remonstrance — The  Methodist  Charity 
Free  School — Report  of  the  Law  Committee — A  Proposition — Report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Arts  and  Sciences  of  the  Board  of  Assistants,  on  the  Application  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Methodist  School — Memorial  of  the  Public  School  Society- 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Schools,  of  the  Board  of  Alder 
men — Decision  Thereon Page  124 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER  VH. 

HISTORY   FKOM      1831-1834. 

Infant  Schools — Primary  Departments — Harlem  School — Pay  System  Abolished — Lot. 
teries — Deaf  and  Dumb  Institution — Transfer  of  Property  to  the  Corporation — 
New  Plans — Delegation  to  Boston — Primary  Schools — Female  Teachers  Em- 
ployed — Vagrancy  and  Truantship — Ordinance  of  the  Common  Council — New 
Public  Schools,  Nos.  13  and  14 — The  Asiatic  Cholera — Hospital  School-Houses — 
Evening  Schools — African  Free  Schools — Report  on  Reorganization — Manhattan- 
ville  Free  School— Samuel  F.  Mott— Public  School  No.  15— Opening  of  No.  14— 
Normal  School — Salaries  of  Teachers — Evening  Schools Page  149 

CHAPTER  Vin. 

BISHOP      DUBOIS      AND      PUBLIC     SCHOOL     NO.    5.  — 1834. 

Application  of  Bishop  Dubois  to  the  Trustees — Action  of  the  Board — Committee 
Appointed — Report  of  the  Committee — Expurgation  of  School-Books. Page  160 

CHAPTER   IX. 

HISTORY    CONTINUED. — 1834-1839. 

Transfer  of  the  African  Schools  to  the  Public  School  Society — The  Manumission  Soci- 
ety— School  for  Female  Monitors — George  T.  Trimble — Transfer  of  Property  to 
ihe  Corporation — Library  for  Teachers — House  of  Refuge — School  for  Male  Moni- 
tors— Public  School  No.  16 — School  for  Colored  Children — Music  in  No.  10 — 
Death  of  Lloyd  D.  Windsor — School  in  Oak  Street — Superintendent  of  Repairs — 
Workshop — Loan — Schools  for  German  Children — Study  of  French — Public 
School  No.  16  Opened — Surplus  Revenue  and  the  School  Fund — Opening  of  Cen- 
tre Street — Public  School  No.  1  Removed  to  William  Street — African  Schools — . 
Trustees'  Hall — Death  of  Joseph  Lancaster — Vagrancy — Religious  Instruction — 
Primary  Schools — School  for  German  Children — Lots  for  the  Trustees'  Hall  Pur- 
chased  Page  1C4 

CHAPTER    X. 

THE    EOMAN     CATHOLIC     SCHOOL     QUESTION. 1840. 

Annual  Message  of  Governor  Seward — Petition  of  Roman  Catholics  to  the  Common 
Council — Remonstrance  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society — Remon- 
strance of  the  Executive  Committee — Commissioners  of  School  Money — Commu- 
nication from  Rev.  Felix  Varela — School  Books — Roman  Catholic  Association — 
The  Freeman's  Journal  Established — Public  Meetings  of  Roman  Catholics — Bishop 
Hughes — Resolutions — Address  to  the  Public — Rev.  Dr.  Pise — Catholic  Memorial 
to  the  Common  Council'— Board  of  Aldermen — Committee  Appointed — Remon- 
strance of  Public  School  Society — Remonstrance  of  Methodists— Special  Meeting 
of  Common  Council  to  Hear  the  Petitioners  and  Remonstrants — Speech  of  Bishop 
Hughes — Speech  of  Theodore  Sedgwick — Speech  of  Hiram  Ketchum — Rev.  Dr. 
Bond — Bishop  Hughes — Samuel  F.  Mott — Second  Session — Speech  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Bond — Speech  of  David  M.  Reese,  M.  D. — Speech  of  Rev.  John  Knox — Speech 


XU  CONTENTS. 

of  Rev.  Dr.  Bangs — Speech  of  Rev.  Dr.  Spring — Closing  Speech  of  Bishop 
Hughes — Rejoinder  of  Mr.  Ketchum — Report  of  the  Committee — Application  of 
Roman  Catholics  for  School  Fund  Distribution  Negatived Page  178 


CHAPTER   XL 

EXPURGATION     OF     SCHOOL     BOOKS — 1840-1841. 

Propositions  of  Bishop  Dubois  relative  to  School-Books — Rev.  Felix  Varela — Commit- 
tee of  Examination  and  Correspondence  Appointed — Report  of  the  Committee — 
Letter  of  Rev.  Felix  Varela — Letter  to  the  Freeman's  Journal  by  Rev.  John 
Power,  D.D. — Letter  to  Dr.  Power  from  the  Committee— Address  of  the  Roman 
Catholics — Reply  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Society — Letter  to  Bishop  Hughes — 
Reply  of  Bishop  Hughes — Letter  of  David  Graham  to  the  Society — Reply  of  the 
Committee — Expurgation  of  School-Books Page  324 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE     SCHOOL     CONTROVERSY      OF     1841-1842. 

Meeting  of  Roman  Catholics  at  Washington  Hall — Addresses  by  Rev.  Dr.  Power  and 
Bishop  Hughes — Central  Committee  Appointed — Ward  Meetings  and  Committees 
— Petitions  to  the  Legislature — Hon.  John  L.  O'Sullivan's  Bill — Action  of  the 
House  of  Assembly — Action  in  the  Senate — Governor  Seward's  Message — Re- 
monstrance from  the  City  of  New  York — Hon.  John  C.  Spencer — Report  on  the 
School  Question — The  Committee  on  Literature — Speech  of  Hiram  Ketchum — 
Memorial  and  Remonstrance  of  the  Pubh'c  School  Society — Proceedings  in  the 
Senate — Speech  of  Bishop  Hughes — Public  Meetings  of  Catholics — Election  of 
Members  of  the  Legislature — Roman  Catholic  Ticket  Nominated.  NOTE. — The 
Journal  of  Commerce— Review  by  one  of  its  Contributors — Roman  Catholic  Ex- 
communications— Bishop  Hughes — Tristam  Shandy. Page  350 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE     SCHOOL     QUESTION     OF      1842. 

Hon.  John  C.  Spencer — The  Legislature  of  1842 — Appointment  of  Committees — Com- 
mittee  on  Colleges,  Academies,  and  Common  Schools — Hon.  William  B.  Maclay — 
Hon.  John  A.  Dix — Governor  Seward's  Message — Report  on  the  School  Question — 
Proceedings  of  the  Legislature — Mr.  Maclay's  Bill  Passed Page  496 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

HISTORY     FBOM     1840-1853. 

Position  of  the  Society — Views  of  the  Board  of  Trustees — Policy  of  the  Board — 
Trustees'  Hall  Completed — Annual  Exhibit — Powers  of  the  Society  under  the 
Law  of  1842 — Erection  of  New  Buildings — Amendments  to  the  Law — High 
School — School  for  Italians — Change  of  Official  Year — Public  Schools  Nos.  17 
and  18 — Josiah  Holbrook — Natural  History — Text-Books — Uniformity  of  System 
— Committee  on  Condition  of  the  Schools— Corporal  Punishment — Female  Asso- 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

elation — Death  of  Robert  C.  Cornell,  President  of  the  Society — Proceedings  of 
the  Society — Public  School  No.  18 — Board  of  Education  and  Normal  Schools — 
Controversy  of  the  Board  of  Education  with  the  Society,  relative  to  New  Build- 
ings— Proceedings  of  both  Boards — Speeches  of  Hiram  Ketchum,  John  L.  Mason, 
and  Joseph  S.  Bosworth,  Esqs. — Law  of  March  4,  1848 — Death  of  Lindley  Mur- 
ray, President  of  the  Society — Sale  of  Property  in  Oak  Street — Deficiency — 
Application  to  the  Board  of  Education — Transfer  of  Property  Proposed — Amend- 
ments to  the  School  Law — Union  of  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  Society  Pro- 
posed— Loan — Sale  of  Property  in  Twenty-Fifth  Street — Sale  of  Public  School 
No.  10 , Page  526 

CHAPTER    XV. 

UNION   OP   THE    PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY   AND    THE     BOARD     OF     EDU- 
CATION  1853. 

Corporate  and  Popular  Boards  of  School  Officers — Resources — Importance  of  a  Uni- 
form System — Proceedings  of  the  Board  of  Education — Committee  of  Conference 
Appointed — Basis  of  Union  Adopted — Proposed  School  Bill — Proceedings  of  the 
Society — Legislative  Compromises — Extra  Session — Bill  Passed — Commissioners 
and  Trustees  Appointed  by  the  Society — Transfer  of  Property  to  the  Corporation 
— Report  of  the  Committee — Address  of  Peter  Cooper — Meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Education — Reception  of  the  Members  Appointed  by  the  Society — Resolutions 
of  Hon.  Erastus  C.  Benedict,  President  of  the  Board — Remarks  of  William  D. 
Murphy,  Esq Page  676 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

ADMINISTEATION     OF     THE     SOCIETY. 

The  Lancasteriau  System — Social  Problems — Elevation  of  the  Masses — Educational 
Systems — Progress  and  Development — The  Public  School  Society — Visitation  and 
Division  of  Labor — Teachers  and  Salaries — Monitors — Economy — Workshop — 
Depository — Rewards  and  Libraries — Corporal  Punishment — Moral  Power  of  the 
Teacher— Extract  from  the  Manual — Lotteries — Music  Introduced,  but  Discon- 
tinued— Vagrancy,  Agent,  and  Visitors — How  Shall  the  Poor  be  Reached  ? — Com- 
pulsory Measures — The  Social  Problem  Unsolved— Evening  Schools — The  Pay  and 
Free  Systems — Pay  System  Abandoned — Moral  and  Religious  Instruction — Sec- 
tarianism— The  Position  of  the  Society — Sunday  Schools  and  their  Influence — 
Religious  and  Moral  Education  Essential  to  the  Welfare  of  Society — Sectarian 
Movements — Concluding  Observations Page  600 

CHAPTER    XVH. 

NORMAL     AND     HIGH     SCHOOLS. 

Monitorial  Classes  Organized — Central  School  for  Advanced  Studies — High  Schools— 
Normal  Schools — Classical  Institute — Free  Academy Page  645 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 

INFANT     SCHOOLS     AND     PRIMARY     SCHOOLS. 

Female  Association— Girls'  Schools — The  Infant-School  Society — Experiment  in  No.  10 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

— Junior  Department  of  No.  8 — Theory  of  Infant  Schools — The  System  Approved 
— Delegation  to  Visit  Boston — Primary  Departments  Established — Female  Teach- 
ers Introduced  to  the  Schools — Primary  Schools  Established — Catalogue  of  Schools 
Under  the  Care  of  the  Society ...  .Page  652 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

i  \ 

SCHOOLS  FOB  COLORED  CHILDREN. 

The  Manumission  Society  Organized — Objects  and  Measures — School  for  Colored  Chil- 
dren Proposed — Committee  Appointed — Report — Funds — Teachers  Employed — 
School  Organized — Purchase  of  a  School  Site — Grant  of  Land  from  Frederick  Jay 
— Legacy  from  Estate  of  John  Murray — Evening  School — The  Lancasterian  Sys- 
tem Adopted — Manumission  Society  Incorporated — Change  of  Location  of  the 
School — Grant  of  Land  in  William  Street  by  the  Corporation — Building  Erected 
— School  in  Mulberry  Street — General  La  Fayette — C.  C.  Andrews — School  No.  3 
—School  No.  4— School  No.  5— School  No.  6— Transfer  to  the  Public  School 
Society  Proposed — Proceedings  of  the  Societies — Committees  Appointed — Author- 
ity to  Transfer  Granted  by  the  Legislature — Transfer  Completed — The  Schools 
Reorganized — New  School-House  in  Laurens  Street — School  for  Colored  Monitors 
— Decline  of  Schools  and  the  Causes — Name  Changed — Dissolution  of  the  Manu- 
mission Society Page  666 


CHAPTER     XX. 

HISTORICAL   NOTES    OF   THE    SCHOOLS .  .  .  .  '. Page     680 

APPENDIX  .  ..Page  715 


INTRODUCTION. 


AT  an  early  period  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  State,  the  enlightened  men  of  that  time  took  measures  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  a  system  of  common  school  instruction,  which 
was  endowed  by  successive  appropriations  of  public  lands  and 
revenues,  until  it  has  become  one  of  the  most  important  institu- 
tions in  the  State. 

The  local  circumstances  of  cities  and  large  towns  made  spe- 
cial organizations  of  the  school  systems  expedient  and  necessary, 
and  called  for  legislative  action  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  people. 
These  modifications  of  the  district  system  have  all  been  found  to 
justify  the  foresight  of  their  projectors. 

The  system,  however,  had  not  become  developed  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  present  century  to  such  an  extent  as  to  meet 
the  wants  of  the  city  of  New  York,  where  the  schools  of  pri- 
vate instructors,  and  the  parochial  schools,  were  the  only  institii- 
tions  of  an  educational  kind  then  in  existence.  The  necessities 
of  a  large  portion  of  the  population  called  for  some  effort  on  the 
part  of  benevolent  men,  and  the  institution  known,  as  the  PUB- 
LIC SCHOOL  SOCIETY  was  the  proud  development  of  those  early 
labors.  The  expansion  of  the  system  under  the  administration 
of  the  Society,  until  it  should  become  the  finest  in  the  country, 
was  fondly  looked  for  by  its  friends ;  and  their  plans  would 
doubtless  have  been  realized  under  their  control,  had  they  not 
been  anticipated  by  the  organization  of  the  Board  of  Education, 
in  1842. 

The  rise,  progress, and  termination  of  the  Society  afford  a 
noble  illustration  of  the  voluntary  system  in  our  country,  and 
presents  an  example  of  disinterested  and  faithful  labor  seldom, 
if  ever,  equalled.  The  long  periods  of  service  of  many  of  the 
trustees  are  worthy  of  special  notice,  as  an  evidence  of  their  self- 


XVI 


INTRODUCTION. 


denying  and  zealous  labors.     The  following  schedule  shows  the 
time  of  service  of  the  gentlemen  whose  names  are  given : 


Stephen  Allen, 
Leonard  Bleecker, 
Micah  Baldwin, 
James  B.  Brinsmade, 
De  Witt  Clinton, 
Benjamin  Clark, 
Robert  C.  Cornell, 
William  W.  Chester, 
Joseph  B.  Collins, 
Lyman  Cobb, 
James  F.  Depeyster, 
Mahlon  Day, 
John  Groshon,  Jr., 
John  R.  Hurd, 
Timothy  Hedges, 
Lewis  Halleck, 
Hiram  Ketchum, 
Abraham  R.  Lawrence, 
Lindley  Murray, 
Samuel  F.  Mott, 
James  McBrair, 
William  Mandeville, 
Charles  Oakley, 
James  Palmer, 
George  Pardow, 
Samuel  W.  Seton, 
Najah  Taylor, 
George  T.  Trimble, 
Samuel  Wood, 
A.  V.  .Williams, 


It  appears,  from  the  above  table,  that  thirty  trustees  gave 
seven  hundred  and  seventy-six  years  of  service  to  the  public 
schools,  being  an  average  of  nearly  twenty-five  years.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  above,  twenty-five  other  gentlemen  served  an  average 
of  fifteen  years,  among  whom  were  Peter  Cooper,  Anson  G. 
Phelps,  J.  O.  Pond,  M.  D.,  Pelatiah  Perit,  Col.  Henry  Rutgers, 


1824-'52 

28 

1805-'30 

25 

1827-'45 

18 

1827-'53 

26 

1805-'28 

23 

1814^'39 

25 

1820-'45 

25 

1827-'51 

24 

1828-'53 

25 

1834-'53 

19 

1824-'53 

29 

18,29-'53 

24 

1827->38;  '41-'53 

23 

1821-'53 

32 

1828-'53 

25 

1831-'53 

22 

1824-'50 

26 

1834-'53 

19 

1816-'45 

29. 

1826-'46 

20 

1828-'49 

21 

1835-'53 

18 

1829-'48 

19 

1818-'47 

29 

1828-'46 

18 

1824-'53 

29 

1816-'53 

37 

1818-'53 

35 

1818-'38 

20 

1830-'53 

23 

INTRODUCTION.  XV11 

and  James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.  These  facts  are  probably  without  a 
parallel.  The  objector  to  the  Public  School  Society  cannot 
urge,  in  this  connection,  that  the  men  rendering  the  service  were 
of  an  inferior  grade,  or  that  their  services  and  duties  were  either 
of  an  indifferent  character  or  indifferently  performed.  The  list 
above  given  presents  a  rare  collection  of  men  distinguished  alike 
for  their  moral  and  intellectual  character,  their  philanthropy, 
their  positions  as  business  and  professional  men,  and  the  stations 
which  some  of  them  have  held  in  the  State.  The  facts  thus  pre- 
sented will  ever  be  remarkable  in  the  history  of  public  educa- 
tion in  New  York. 

•  One  of  the  grandest  features  of  the  system  was  the  opportu- 
nity it  thus  gave  to  philanthropic  men  to  labor  for  the  public, 
untrammelled  by  political  influences  and  considerations.  The 
officers  were  independent  of  the  teachers,  as  they  were  of  the 
intrigues  of  the  political  councils,  and  knew  nothing  of  the  polit- 
ical opinions  of  the  teachers,  or  of  their  personal  influence  at  the 
ballot-box.  The  Society  was  conducted — as  a  literary  and  phi 
lanthropie  institution  should  ever  be — entirely  free  from  partisan 
interests  and  attachments. 

Its  organization  and  supervision  in  the  higher  sphere  ot 
morals  and  religion  was  not  less  catholic  and  conservative.  Yet, 
in  reference  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  its  religious  teachings,  it 
was  compelled  to  pass  through  a  severe  ordeal  of  prejudice  and 
antagonism.  The  principles  and  the  practice  of  the  Society  in 
relation  to  this  delicate  duty  are  so  fully  exhibited  in  the  pages 
of  this  work,  that  it  would  be  superfluous  to  review  them  in  this 
place.  The  author,  however,  avails  himself  of  the  opportunity 
afforded  by  this  Introduction,  to  obtrude  the  only  attempt  at  a 
presentation  of  his  own  views  which  is  made  in  this  volume. 

Systems  of  education,  however  perfectly  they  may  be  adapt- 
ed to  develop  the  intellectual  faculties,  and  to  stimulate  the 
inquisitiveness  of  the  unfolding  mind  of  youth,  must,  neverthe- 
less, possess  other  powers  and  develop  other  elements  of  charac- 
ter, or  they  must  necessarily  fail  of  their  true  end.  The  educa- 
tion of  man  consists  not  in  merely  training  the  eye  to  see,  or 
the  mind  to  think,  or  the  observation  to  seize  upon  its  object  of 
attention.  It  consists  not  in  giving  it  a  knowledge  of  handi- 
crafts, or  of  professions — nor  in  imparting  a  knowledge  of  fac- 
tors, of  exponents  and  coefficients,  of  sines  and  co-sines,  of  logi- 

B 


XV111  INTRODUCTION. 

cal  processes  or  of  metaphysical  subtleties.  It  is  not  in  impart- 
ing a  knowledge  of  facts  or  principles,  as  though  the  mind  of 
man  were  a  mere  tablet  of  record,  or  a  bundle  of  abstract  ideas. 
The  highest  province  of  education  is  that  which  it  gains  by  its 
RELATION — an  intimate  and  inseparable  relation  to  the  moral  cul- 
tivation of  an  immortal  being,  whose  character  is  to  be  the  sub- 
ject of  a  final  award. 

There  is  a  wide  distinction  between  mere  mental  operations 
and  the  moral  activities  of  the  soul.  An  educated  man  may  be 
a  monster,  viewed  from  the  moral  standpoint ;  but  the  converse 
is  not  true,  for  a  man  whose  life  is  the  exhibition  of  a  high 
standard  of  morality  must  be  more  or  less  enlightened  ;  for  an 
obedience  to  a  pure  moral  law  involves  that  acquaintance  with 
the  higher  principles  of  action  which  unites  with  it  a  good  de- 
gree ©f  intelligence  and  mental  development.  Education  is  of 
two  kinds :  that  of  a  highly  advanced  moral  standard,  which  is 
accompanied  with  spiritual  refinement  and  elevation ;  and  a 
merely  intellectual  training,  which  assigns  to  the  moral  a  subor- 
dinate rank. 

Which  of  these  two  systems  is  best  adapted  to  meet  the 
wants  of  the  State  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  has  received,  of  late  years,  and 
is  still  receiving,  the  profound  attention  of  many  of  the  master 
minds  of  both  the  Old  and  the  New  Worlds.  In  our  own  coun- 
try it  is  deepened  by  the  imperative  law  of  necessity  growing 
out  of  the  structure  of  our  political  institutions,  in  which  the 
popular  will  governs  through  the  silent  and  irresistible  verdict 
of  the  ballot-box.  Old  institutions,  founded  on  a  firmly  com- 
pacted basis,  which  have  been  strengthened  by  hundreds  of 
years  of  custom  and  usage,  and  seem  to  be  invested  with  a  pre- 
scriptive and  "  divine  right,"  may  be  perpetuated  and  upheld  by 
the  centralization  of  power  in  the  hands  of  the  few  ;  but  in  the 
young  and  swiftly-extending  States  of  our  great  confederacy — a 
power  more  fluctuating  and  without  centralization — a  power 
divided  among  millions  of  citizens,  and  combined  only  by  the 
attractive  force  of  opinions  and  sympathies — a  power  more  ca- 
pricious and  mighty,  which  reverses  its  judgments  without  noise, 
and  executes  its  volitions  without  arms — a  power  which  rolls 
over  the  land  with  the  tremendous  pressure  of  an  ocean  swelling 
on  and  overbearing  e'very  obstacle — in  our  land,  such  a  power 


INTRODUCTION.  XIX 

must  be  controlled  and  guided,  or  its  exercise  will  be  the  destruc- 
tion of  every  thing  dear  to  the  citizen  and  the  philanthropist. 

If  we  look  at  the  forces  which  are  in  action  at  the  present 
time  in  our  country,  we  shall  find  them  to  be  somewhat  different 
from  those  which  operated  at  the  foundation  of  our  institutions. 
At  that  time  there  was  a  comparatively  high  degree  of  intelli- 
gence in  certain  classes,  who  were  moved,  however,  not  so  much 
by  intellectual  convictions  as  by  that  sacred  obligation  of  duty 
to  man  and  to  God,  which  led  them  on,  "  appealing  to  the  Judge 
of  all  the  earth  for  the  rectitude  of  then*  intentions."  At  the 
present  time,  literary  and  scientific  knowledge,  or  intelligence,  is 
more  popularly  diffused  ;  but  while  the  amount  of  intelligence  is 
greater,  the  moral  forces  have  not  increased  in  proportion.  This 
arises,  in  part,  from  the  vast  and  rapid  immigration  of  a  popula- 
tion now  reaching  nearly  five  hundred  thousand  per  annum,  the 
most  of  whom  have  never  enjoyed  liberal  provisions  for  their 
education,  and  have  been  brought  up  under  the  State  establish- 
ments of  the  Old  World.  Yet  the  forces  which  act  now  belong 
to  the  same  class  as  those  which  produced  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  but 
they  are  of  a  lower  order.  They  are  not  intellectual ;  they  are 
moral.  But  while  the  founders  of  the  Government  acted  from 
the  very  highest  moral  convictions,  multitudes  of  our  recognized 
citizens  act  from  impulses,  prejudices,  and  influences  which  be- 
long to  the  lower  grade  of  moral  powers. 

The  foundation  of  character  is  laid  in  the  moral  nature.  The 
heart  is  exercised  while  the  mind  is  yet  just  unfolding  its  earli- 
est power.  The  child  loves  before  he  reasons,  and  exhibits 
anger  before  he  has  learned  to  utter  his  first  monosyllables.  His 
moral  powers  are  in  action  long  before  his  judgment  has  begun 
to  discriminate  between  right  and  wrong.  It  is  only  when  the 
mind,  by  years  of  education  and  a  force  of  character  developed 
out  of  the  moral  nature,  has  learned  to  act  in  certain  directions, 
that  the  man  may  be  at  all  claimed  as  the  subject  of  simply 
intellectual  convictions.  In  truth,  it  may  be  asserted  that  no 
man  has  ever  been  a  moral  man  simply  by  convictions  gained 
from  reasoning  alone.  When  truth,  honesty,  love,  temperance, 
and  self-denial  can  be  demonstrated  by  mathematical  problems 
or  purely  metaphysical  abstractions,  we  may  hope  to  make  men 
good  men  and  upright  citizens  by  intellectual  training  alone. 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

But  the  profoundest  mental  acquisitions  have  no  such  force. 
They  fail  of  exerting  a  controlling  influence  in  conduct  and 
character.  The  crystal,  no  matter  how  smooth  its  planes,  no 
matter  how  brilliant  and  transparent  it  may  be,  let  it  reflect 
never  so  much  light,  will  never  be  softened  and  remoulded  until 
the  solvent  shall  have  been  applied.  So  the  simply  enlightened 
mind  can  never  be  made  to  crystallize  into  beautiful  and  harmo- 
nious proportions  of  character,  unless  it  be  united  with  the  nobil- 
ity and  fervor  of  a  pure  moral  nature.  Education,  while  it  de- 
velops one,  must  rest,  for  all  its  force  in  the  individual  and 
national  life,  upon  the  moulding  and  superior  power  of  the  other. 

It  is  a  common  remark,  that  our  free  institutions  depend  for 
their  perpetuity  upon  the  intelligence  and  virtue  of  the  people. 
This  is  true.  But  the  permanence  of  a  popular  form  of  govern- 
ment in  this  country  depends  more  upon  the  pure  and  elevated 
moral  character  of  the  people  than  upon  its  intelligence.  Intel- 
lect is  not  enough.  The  diffusion  of  knowledge  will  not  secure 
permanence  and  national  honor.  The  only  strong,  sufficient,  and 
reliable  bond  of  union  and  guaranty  of  our  national  permanence 
is  in  the  virtue  of  the  nation — in  virtue  like  that  of  the  men  who 
framed  the  Government,  inspired  by  the  same  motives,  controlled 
by  the  same  sense,  and  weighed  in  the  scales  of  the  same  solemn 
responsibility.  Whatever  is  less  than  this,  or  substitutes  any 
thing  else  for  this,  will  fall  short  of  the  imperative  demands  of 
the  national  mind  and  heart. 

Regarding  the  subject  in  this  light,  it  must  be  evident  that 
the  moral  training  of  the  people  becomes  an  act  of  self-preserva- 
tion for  the  State.  There  is  no  danger  to  be  apprehended  to  our 
civil  institutions  while  every  man  is  governed  by  a  strict  rule  of 
obedience  to  the  moral  law.  The  danger  is  discernible,  and 
magnified  just  in  proportion  as  men  violate  and  overturn  this 
law  in  their  daily  practice. 

Here  naturally  arises  the  question,  how  much  and  what 
moral  instruction  shall  be  given  in  schools  supported  by  the 
State  or  towns  at  the  public  expense  ?  There  are  some  who 
maintain  that  secular  schools — the  common  schools — are  not  de- 
signed to  teach  systems  of  morals  or  of  theology,  but  simply  to 
afford  to  the  children  of  the  State  that  amount  oi  mental  train- 
ing which  shall  at  least  prepare  them  for  entering  upon  the 
duties  of  citizenship,  and  be  so  far  a  safeguard  against  the  social 


INTRODUCTION.  Xxi 

disasters  and  civil  dangers  which  arise  out  of  an  ignorant  and 
unrefined  population.  The  province  of  the  moral  teacher,  they 
contend,  is  at  the  fireside  and  the  place  of  worship,  where  each 
parent  and  pastor  can  teach  the  moral  and  religious  doctrines 
which  they  severally  believe.  This  view  is  too  narrow,  if  it  is 
not  impracticable.  To  divest  our  school  literature  of  all  that  is 
moral,  would  be  to  destroy  its  best  claims.  It  is  safe  to  say  it 
can  hardly  be  done.  The  mere  teaching  of  arithmetical  rules, 
and  the  arts  of  reading  and  penmanship  and  grammar,  will 
never  be  conducive  to  the  highest  purposes  of  education,  while 
they  may  serve  a  lower.  To  reject  all  moral  lessons,  will  be  to 
proscribe,  in  one  sense,  every  thing  like  the  moral  and  religious 
principle  in  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation.  In  tens  of 
thousands  of  cases  it  will  serve  to  deprive  the  young  mind  and 
heart  of  almost  the  only  certain  chance  of  obtaining  moral 
teaching.  There  are  many  parents  who  are  compelled  to  labor, 
often  early  and  late,  for  a  subsistence.  Many  are  not  qualified 
to  instruct  their  children,  and,  if  they  were,  are  disinclined, 
being  both  indolent  and  vicious.  As  a  consequence,  the  philan- 
thropist, the  patriot,  the  Christian,  and  the  State  itself,  must 
step  in  and  exert  all  their  combined  power  to  train  up  for  good 
citizenship  and  for  immortality  the  more  than  orphaned  chil- 
dren who  throng  our  thoroughfares. 

There  is  a  standard  of  moral  teaching  which  can  be  reached, 
and  easily  so,  without  prejudicing  the  rights  of  conscience  of 
any  but  those  who  positively  ignore  it  altogether,  and  prefer  the 
dangers  of  a  helmless  skepticism  to  the  elevated  obligations  of 
duty.  Morality  all  will  agree  in  teaching,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent ;  but  when  a  child  is  taught  to  love  good  and  avoid  evil, 
and  the  lessons  of  moral  rectitude  are  pressed  upon  his  mind, 
there  is  a  step  higher  than  this.  "Why  should  he  do  right? 
Now,  unless  the  higher  motives  of  Divine  love  or  displeasure, 
and  the  obligations  of  the  law  of  God,  are  written  upon  his 
heart,  there  is  little  reason  for  his  doing  right  except  that  of  in- 
terest, convenience,  and  policy.  But  selfish  appeals  to  the  moral 
sense  of  a  child  are  about  as  powerful  as  they  are  to  that  of  the 
convict  who  finds  it  inconvenient  to  be  in  a  State  prison — 
although,  had  not  that  condition  befallen  him,  his  blind  vision 
would  have  persuaded  him  that  it  was  for  his  interest  to  steal 
instead  of  work.  Take  away  all  religious  motives  for  the  observ- 


XX11  mTRODUOTION. 

ance  of  the  moral  law,  and  its  requirements  are  made  subordi- 
nate to  a  mere  principle  of  selfishness— that  very  principle 
which  is  the  root  of  all  our  evils. 

We  are  forced,  then,  to  choose  one  of  two  paths  of  action. 
We  must  either  reject  all  moral  and  the  fundamental  religious 
truths  together,  or  we  must  teach  those  principles  of  duty  which 
will  satisfy  the  wants  of  a  moral  being.  To  adopt  the  first 
course,  would  be  disastrous  to  the  welfare  of  society,  and  fatal  to 
our  civil  institutions.  To  declare  that  moral  lessons  shall  not  be 
taught  because  they  require  and  involve  the  sanctions  of  re- 
ligion, would  be  to  unhinge  all  the  bonds  which  maintain  social 
order  and  restraint.  It  would  be  a  surrender  of  the  highest 
rights  of  conscience  and  of  the  wants  of  the  soul  to  a  compro- 
mise with  moral  death. 

However  desirable  it  be  that  the  moral  and  religious  educa- 
tion of  the  young  be  conducted  by  parents,  and  their  recognized 
religious  instructors,  universal  moral  and  religious  instruction 
will  not  soon  be  secured  by  those  means.  As  already  remarked, 
thousands  of  parents  have  neither  the  literary  nor  moral  qualifi- 
cations to  fit  them  for  this  work,  and  the  consequences  are  seen 
in  the  great  disregard  of  law,  order,  and  virtue  on  the  part  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  youth  of  our  land.  These  children 
are  growing  up  like  their  parents,  and  will  only  propagate  the 
seeds  of  moral  ruin.  If  the  State,  then,  to  secure  a  system  of 
common  school  education  in  which  all  shall  harmoniously  unite, 
emasculate  the  system  by  rejecting  all  that  moral  teaching  which 
has  any  true  power  over  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  young,  it 
will  inaugurate  the  era  of  recklessness  and  corruption,  by  a 
withdrawal  of  the  safeguards  against  it.  There  are  tens  of 
thousands  kept  away  from  school,  not  because  of  the  rights  of 
conscience,  but  because  of  the  Hunting  of  conscience,  by  the  im- 
perfect and  wretched  training  under  which  their  parents  grew 
up.  Thousands  of  parents  are  intemperate,  vicious,  thriftless, 
and  improvident.  They  employ  their  children  in  begging,  steal- 
ing, and  imposture,  in  order  to  obtain  the  means  for  their  miser- 
able subsistence,  and  the  unhappy  growth  of  the  young.  This 
growth  is  more  than  a  simply  physical  growth — it  is  accompa- 
nied by  a  development  in  moral  deformity,  a  muscular  depravity 
of  heart  and  soul,  which,  Samsonlike,  snaps  the  bonds  of  moral 
obligation  like  threads,  and  defies  the  control  of  the  wise  and 


INTRODUCTION.  XX111 

good.  It  is  well  to  talk  of  the  rights  of  conscience,  and  to  de- 
fend them  to  the  last ;  but  to  speak  of  the  rights  of  conscience 
in  regard  to  a  class  of  the  people  who  know  no  conscience,  is  to 
degrade  the  question  to  the  lowest  level. 

Higher  ground  than  this  must  be  taken.  It  must  come  to  be 
received  as  the  doctrine  of  public  education,  that  morality  shall 
be  taught  in  all  our  common  schools,  if  for  no  other  reason  than 
because  it  is  essential  to  the  safety  of  the  State.  It  will  be  far 
better  to  teach  morals  to  the  young,  than  to  teach  and  practise 
the  laws  of  legal  vengeance  and  expiation  in  the  hardened  crim- 
inal. It  will  be  incomparably  cheaper  to  the  State  to  train  up 
children  in  morality  and  industry  at  the  public  expense,  than  to 
pay  five  times  the  amount  to  punish  and  incarcerate  one  in  fifty 
of  the  population  over  twelve  years  of  age,  for  crimes  against 
virtue,  order,  and  human  life.  It  will  be  a  grander  achievement 
of  our  institutions  to  see  American  youth  growing  up  under  the 
power  of  a  pure  moral  code  and  religious  inspiration,  than  to  see 
them  expert  accountants,  accomplished  penmen,  and  moral  de- 
formities. 

What  is  that  amount  of  moral  teaching  which  shall  be  given 
in  our  schools  ?  is  a  question  of  the  greatest  importance,  and  it 
must  sooner  or  later  press  itself  upon  the  people  of  this  country. 
The  distinction  must  be  fairly  drawn  between  the  fundamental 
truths  of  all  religion,  and  those  which  are  recognized  by  the  pro- 
fessions of  the  several  sects.  All  unite  in  the  belief  of  a  GOD 
superintending  and  sustaining  all  things  by  His  power  and  good- 
ness, and  all  unite  in  their  estimate  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Yet 
there  are  minor  denominational  questions  which  may,  and  always 
will,  be  excluded  from  every  school.  So  long,  then,  as  these 
fundamental  principles  are  taught,  there  need  be  no  danger  that 
the  rights  of  conscience  will  be  invaded.  It  is  only  when  press- 
ing upon  the  fields  of  sectarian  usages  and  peculiarities,  that  any 
one  can  justly  complain  of  invasion  of  the  rights  of  conscience. 
Around  the  cardinal  truths  all  may  unite,  if  they  will.  They 
who  reject  them,  and  refuse  to  learn  these  lessons,  in  common 
with  their  fellow-citizens,  have  no  just  ground  of  complaint. 

It  is  not  proposed  to  construct  a  national  creed  for  our  com- 
mon school  text-books.  There  is  no  danger  to  be  apprehended 
from  the  teaching  of  the  highest  moral  truths  in  our  schools. 
The  danger  is  in  their  exclusion.  But  when,  beside  their  exclu- 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

sion,  private  schools  shall  be  established,  to  be  supported  by  the 
public  treasury,  the  danger  will  be  largely  increased.  A  com- 
mon school  creed  cannot  be  established  by  law.  Such  a  legal 
abortion  would  be  a  grand  step  toward  an  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishment, and  such  an  establishment  would  be  the  precursor  of 
an  era  of  despotism.  A  State  creed  is  not  necessary  to  entitle  a 
nation  to  a  specific  religious  character.  Are  Great  Britain  and 
France  Christian  nations  because  they  have  establishments,  and 
the  United  States  not  a  Christian  nation  because  it  has  no  estab- 
lishment ?  Evidently  not  so.  But  if  either  of  them  is  Christian 
above  the  others,  then  is  that  character  due  to  our  own  country, 
because  here  the  law  of  Christian  liberty  is  more  fully  exhibited 
than  anywhere  else  on  the  globe. 

The  Creator  has  endowed  us  with  a  class  of  faculties  which 
are  easily  and  naturally  affected  with  the  ideas  of  a  God,  and  of 
His  goodness,  compassion,  and  power.  Whether  these  ideas  are 
or  are  not  intuitions,  which  would  spring  up  in  the  minds  of  an 
isolated  and  untaught  individual  or  community,  is  not  to  the 
present  purpose.  It  is  enough  to  know  that  we  are  so  circum- 
stanced that  these  ideas  become  a  part  of  our  mental  habit,  and 
in  some  sense  constitute  our  religious  nature.  It  is  this  convic- 
tion which  leads  the  mind  to  feel  a  shock  at  the  words  of  the 
blasphemer,  and  shrinks  from  the  chilling  and  negative  proposi- 
tions of  the  skeptic.  It  is  this  religious  nature  which  must  be 
cherished,  fed,  and  developed,  or  the  nation  will  become  a  nation 
of  skeptics,  and  virtue  almost  a  forgotten  name. 

These  religious  habitudes  must  be  fully  recognized  in  the  set- 
tlement of  this  question.  The  moral  nature  of  man  must  be 
weighed  in  the  balance  with  all  the  other  mighty  considerations 
which  cluster  around  it.  Whatever  the  ultimate  decision  may 
be,  it  seems  plain  that  no  system  of  education  can  be  productive 
of  very  durable  advantages  which  shall  entirely  reject  and  ex- 
clude that  amount  of  moral  teaching  which  shall  not  only  co- 
operate with  the  lessons  of  the  Sunday  school,  the  church,  and 
the  parent,  but  which  shall  aim  to  impart  it  where  no  such 
instruction  is  given. 

This  fact  seems  to  be  too  much  lost  sight  of  in  the  discussion 
of  this  whole  theme.  Were  all  the  children  of  the  people  under 
that  wholesome  moral  discipline  and  religious  training  which  is 
required  to  ensure,  so  far  as  such  instrumentalities  can  ensure, 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

their  becoming  virtuous  and  God-fearing  members  of  the  com- 
munity, the  common  school  could  dispense  with  such  lessons  as  a 
prominent  feature.  Yet  the  history  of  the  world  will  show  that, 
where  the  most  scrupulous  care  has  been  taken  of  the  moral 
training  of  the  young,  the  highest  estimate  has  been  attached  to 
its  value  in  connection  with  literary  culture.  But  while  there 
are  many  who  jealously  maintain  the  standard  of  moral  training, 
there  are  multitudes  who  are  entirely  reckless  of  these  obliga- 
tions. 

The  question,  placed  in  its  civil  aspect,  then,  is,  Can  the 
State  be  safe  while  hundreds  of  thousands  of  its  youth  are  grow- 
ing up  without  any  -moral  education,?  If  this  question  be  an- 
swered in  the  negative,  we  have  our  justification  for  making 
moral  lessons  an  important  part  of  our  system.  If,  in  order  to 
give  the  people  of  the  country  that  education  with  which  they 
sympathize,  and  which  they  desire  their  children  to  enjoy,  a  few 
objectors  should  be  inconvenienced  and  disregarded,  the  demand 
for  rights  of  conscience  on  the  part  of  a  few  should  not  be  a  bar 
or  an  offset  to  the  conscientious  rights  of  the  rest.  There  is 
nothing  taught  in  our  systems  of  popular  education,  in  any  part 
of  the  Union,  to  which  any  truly  American  mind  and  spirit 
might  object  as  a  fatal  or  serious  invasion  of  his  rights.  Free- 
dom is  ours,  in  obedience  not  to  merely  intellectual  attainments, 
but  to  the  pressure  of  moral  and  religious  obligation  upon  the 
consciences  of  the  noble  men  who  constructed  our  civil  edifice. 
This  same  moral  power  is  to  be  conservator  of  our  institutions. 
It  must  be  so  from  their  very  nature.  The  delegation  of  politi- 
cal power  to  the  hands  of  half  a  million  or  a  million  of  voters 
who  shall  have  grown  up  without  moral  restraint  or  education, 
will  be  placing  the  balance  of  power  in  the  hands  of  men  whose 
ignorance  and  prejudices  will  lead  them  to  vote  blindly  for  meas- 
ures which  will  precipitate  disaster  upon  the  nation.  While  an 
equilibrium  of  power  may  exist  between  parties  of  cultivated 
men  acting  under  a  conscientious  regard  to  duty,  the  balance  of 
power,  fearful  and  irresistible  in  its  consequences,  will  be  wield- 
ed by  the  ignorant  and  the  vicious.  Partial  exhibitions  of  this 
spirit  have  already  been  seen  since  the  date  of  the  confederation. 
A  jealous  regard  for  the  rights  of  conscience  must  be  main- 
tained ;  but  the  appeal  to  this  element  in  our  national  character, 
come  from  what  sources  it  may,  must  not  be  allowed  to  blind  us 


XXVI  INTRODUCTION. 

to  the  consequences  of  too  strict  a  construction  of  the  meaning 
of  the  term.  To  exclude  and  override  all  moral  teaching  in  our 
common  schools,  will  be  to  give  the  ultimate  control  of  our  insti- 
tutions to  a  mass  of  unthinking  men,  moved  by  their  passions, 
and  governed  by  the  superior  influence  of  designing  but  edu^ 
cated  men,  destitute  of  moral  principle,  and  scorning  the  control 
of  moral  power.  Such  a  state  of  things  would  soon  see  our 
happy  Union  become  the  prey  of  a  social  and  civil  despotism,  in 
which  the  rights  of  conscience  would  be  altogether  obliterated, 
and  the  rule  of  might  would  make  the  rule  of  right. 

The  law  of  Massachusetts  embodies  a  provision  which  covers 
the  ground  in  a  manner  fully  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  our 
institutions,  and,  at  the  same  time,  meets  the  wants  of  the  State. 
It  is  as  follows : 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  president,  professors,  and  trustees  of  the  Uni- 
versity at  Cambridge,  and  of  the  several  colleges,  and  of  all  preceptors  and 
teachers  of  academies,  and  all  other  instructors  of  youth,  to  exert  their  best 
endeavors  to  impress  on  the  minds  of  children  and  youth  committed  to 
their  care  and  instruction  the  principles  of  PIETY,  JUSTICE,  and  a  SACKED 

EEGARD  TO  TRUTH,  LOVE  TO  THEIR  COUNTRY,  HUMANITY  and  UNIVERSAL 
BENEVOLENCE,  SOBRIETY  and  FRUGALITY,  CHARITY,  MODERATION  and  TEM- 
PERANCE, and  those  other  virtues  which  are  the  ornament  of  human  society 
and  the  basis  upon  which  a  republican  constitution  is  founded  ;  and  it  shall  be 
the  duty  of  such  instructors  to  endeavor  to  lead  their  pupils,  as  their  ages 
and  capacities  will  admit,  into  a  clear  understanding  of  the  tendency  of  the 
above-mentioned  virtues,  to  preserve  and  perfect  a  republican  constitution,  and 
secure  the  blessings  of  liberty,  as  well  as  to  promote  their  future  happiness,  and 
also  to  point  out  to  them  the  evil  tendency  of  the  opposite  vices. 

A  common  school  system  which  does  this,  teaches  religion  in 
its  practical  relations  to  God,  to  man,  and  to  the  State — in  its 
manifestations  in  the  family  circle,  the  highway,  and  the  busi- 
ness of  life — as  a  child  and  as  a  man — as  a  citizen  and  as  a  mor- 
ally responsible  being.  It  seizes  and  writes  in  deep  lessons  upon 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  youth  the  principles  of  religious  truth 
and  conduct,  without  which  no  grouping  of  ideas  or  principles, 
ill  the  form  of  any  creed  whatever,  can  be  called  in  the  least 
sense,  religion.  Divest  religion  of  the  principles  comprehended 
in  the  above  scheme,  and  its  spirit  and  its  practice  are  alike  anni- 
hilated. Teach  these,  and  the  specific  religious  preferences  or 
professions  of  the  parents  may  be  reserved,  and  properly  so,  for 
inculcation  at  the  domestic  or  the  church  altar. 


OFFICEES  AND  TKUSTEES 


THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY,  WITH  THEIR  TIME  OF  SERVICE. 


PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 


De  Witt  Clinton,     . 
Henry  Rutgers,     . 
Peter  A.  Jay,     .     . 
Robert  C.  Cornell, 
Lindley  Murray, 
George  T.  Trimble, 


from  1805  to  1828 
"  1828  to  1830 
"  1830  to  1837 
"  1837  to  1845 
"  1845  to  1847 
"  1847  to  1853 


VICE-PRESIDENTS. 


John  Murray,  Jr.,   . 
Thomas  Eddy,      . 
Leonard  Bleecker,  . 
Robert  C.  Cornell, 
Lindley  Murray, 
George  T.  Trimble, 
Stephen  Allen, 
Peter  Cooper, 


from  1805  to  1820 
"     1820  to  1821 
1821  to  1830 
1830  to  1837 
1837  to  1846 

1846  to  1847 

1847  to  1852 
1852  to  1853 


TREASURERS. 


Leonard  Bleecker,  . 
Rensselaer  Havens, 
George  T.  Trimble,  . 
Samuel  F.  Mott,    . 
inthony  P.  Halsey, 
Joshua  S.  Underbill, 


from  1805  to  1819 
"  1819  to  1820 
"  1820  to  1830 
"  1830  to  1843 
"  1843  to  1850 
"  1850  to  1853 


SECRETARIES. 

Benjamin  D.  Perkins,  from  1805  to  1810 
Thomas  Buckley, .  .  "  1811  to  1818 
Lindley  Murray,  .  .  "  1818  to  1837 
Anthony  P.  Halsey,  .  «  1837  to  1843 
Joseph  B.  Collins,  .  .  "  1843  to  1853 

TRUSTEES   OF   THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Aspinwall,  Gilbert, 1805 

Aspinwall,  John,  ....  1814,  '15,  '25 

Adams,  John, 1816  to  '22 

Allaire,  James  P.,  ....  1821,  '22 
Allen,  Stephen,  .  .  .  1824  to  '46,  '52 
Averill,  Heraan, 1826  to  '34 


Averill,  Augustin,  ....    1839  to  '53 

Adams,  John  T., 1840  to  '53 

Atwood,  Geo.  W.,  .     .'   .     .     .    *.      1842 

Atterbury,  B.  B., 1850  to  '53 

Anderson,  H.  H 1851,  '52 

Bleecker,  Leonard,  ....  1805  to  '30 
Burling,  William  S.,  ...  1807  to  '09 
Buckley,  Thomas,  ....  1810  to '18 
Barker,"  Abraham,  ....  1810  to  '15 

Bethune,  Divie, 1810  to  '12 

Boyd,  Samuel, 1813  to  '27 

Bowne,  Walter,     ....  1816,  '28,  '33 

Brown,  Noah, 1817  to  '18 

Brown,  Adam, 1817  to  '18 

Britton,  Stephen  P., 1819 

Burtis,  Arthur,     1819  to  '22—1826  to  '30 

Bowne,  John  L., 1820  to  '29 

Burtsell,  William,  ....     1825  to  '29 

Baldwin,  Micah, 1827  to  '45 

Brinsmade,  James  B., .     .     .     1827  to  '53 

Brumley,  Reuben, 1829 

Brown,  Silas, 1883  to  '37 

Bussing,  Thomas,  ....  1835  to  '46 
Birdsall,  William,  ....  1837  to  '42 

Bartlett,  Caleb, 1838  to  '51 

Benjamin,  Meigs  D., .  .  .  .  1838  to  '41 
Blaisdell,  James  H.,  .  .  .  1838  to  '41 
Betts,  Geo.  W., .  .  .  .  •  1839  to  '41 
Blackstone,  Wyllb,  .  .  .  1843  to  '46 

Benedict,  H.  S., 1845  to  '49 

Balen,  Peter, 1846  to  '49 

Barton,  William, 1847,  '48 

Burke,  W.  C., 1848  to  '50 

Bussing,  J.  S., 1849  to  '51 

Bussing,  E.  K., 1849  to  '51 

Barrow,  H.  H., 1849  to  '53 

Brown,  E.  H., 1849  to  '53 

Buckingham,  G.  A., 1853 

Brady,  Win.  V.,  Mayor,  ex  off..,    1847,  '48 

Clinton,  De  Witt,  ....  1805  to  '28 
Clarkson,  Matthew,  .  .  .  1807  to  '09 

Clark,  Benjamin, 1810  to  '39 

Collins,  Thomas, 1811  to  '16 


XXVlll 


OFFICERS    AND   TRUSTEES. 


Golden,  Cadwallader  D.,  .  .1812  to '14 
Crosby,  William  B.,  .  .  .  1812  to  '16 
Caldwell,  John  E.,  .  .  .  .  1812  to  '16 
Com  stock,  Nathan,  .  .  .  1815  to  '18 

Cooper,  Francis, 1818  to '20 

Collins,  Isaac, 1818  to  '27 

Cairns,  William, 1818  to  '22 

Cornell,  Robert  C.,  ...  1820  to  '45 
Cowdrey,  Samuel,  .  .  1824,  '26,  '27,  '28 

Coles,  Isaac  U., 1826, '27 

Chester,  William  W.,  .  .  .  1827  to  '51 
Collins,  Joseph  B.,  .  .  .  .  1828  to  '53 

Coit,  Levi, 1829,  '80 

Cox,  Abraham  L., 1829,  '30 

Cummings,  Thomas, .  .  .  .  1831  to  '37 
Childs,  Samuel  R.,.  .  .  .  1832  to '46 
Collins,  Benjamin  S.,  ...  1832  to  '35 
Cromwell,  Richard,  ....  1832,  '33 
Clapp,  Henry  W.,  ....  1833, '34 
Cleaveland,  Etisha  W.,  .  1834  to  '46 

Cobb,  Lyman, 1834  to  '53 

Corse,  Barney, 1837,  '38 

Cooper,  Peter, 1838  to  '53 

Curtis,  Joseph, 1839  to  '53 

Chrystie,  Albert, 1841  to  '47 

Cornell,  J.  F., 1841  to  '43 

Cummings,  John  P.,  .  .1843  to  '50,  '52 
Cobb,  James  N.,  .  .  .  .  1845,  '46 

Colden,  D.  C., 1847  to  '50 

Clapp,  Isaac  H.,    .     .     .     .      1850  to  '52 

Crosby,  R.  R., 1851  to  '53 

Cooledge,  W.  P.,  .     .     .     .      1851  to '53 

Cock,  G.  E., 1851  to  '53 

Clark,  E.  S., 1852,  '53 

Clark,  Aaron,  Mayor,  ex,  offl.    1837  to  '39 

De  Peyster,  Fred'c,  1810  to '15— 1838  to '46 
Dickinson,  Charles,  .  .  .  .1812  to '16 
Dodge,  Daniel  L.,  .  .  .  .  1810,  '11,  '16 

Dean,  Israel, 1822  to  '28 

De  Peyster,  James  F.,  .  .  1824  to  '53 
Du  Bois,  Cornelius,  ....  1826  to  '28 
Demilt,  Samuel,  ....  1828  to  '45 

Day,  Mahlon, 1829  to  '53 

Delamater,  John,  ....  1832  to  '38 
Dwight,  Theodore,  Jr.,  .  .  1833  to  '37 
Dunnel,  Henry  G.,  .  .  .  1834  to  '37 
Davies,  Henry  E.,  .  .  .  .  1839  to  '43 
Durfee,  Charles,  .  .  .  .  1839  to  '46 
Denman,  Asahel  A.,  ...  1841  to  '47 
Dusenbury,  William,  .  .  .  1845  to '48 
D'Aguair,  L.  H.  F., ....  1848  to  '50 
De  Forrest,  H.  G.,  .  .  .  1849 

Davenport,  John,  ....  1849  to  '53 
Downer,  F.  W.,  .  .  .  .  1852 

Eddy,  Thomas,  .  .  1805, '12  to '19, '22 
Eckford,  Henry,  .  .  .  .  1817,  '19 
Ellsworth,  Erastus,  .  1826  to  '29,  '31,  '32 
Everitt,  Nicholas  C.,  .  .  .  1826 

Elliott,  Daniel, 1837 

Ellis,  Benjamin,  ....  1837  to  '53 
Edwards,  Ogden,  ....  1850,  '51 


Ely,  John, 


1852 


Franklin,  Thomas,  ....  1805 

Franklin,  Matthew,  .  .  .  1805  to  '09 
Franklin,  William,  .  .  .  .  1807  to  '09 
Fox,  William  W.,  .  .  .  .  1826  to  '38 

Fish,  Hamilton, 1834,  '35 

Field,  Hickson  W.,  1835  to  'S9— 1845  to  '46 
Ferris,  Edward, 1841  to  '50 


Grinnell,   Joseph,     .     . 
Gibbons,  Thomas   .     .     . 
Groshon,  Jno.,  Jr.,  1827  to 
Gray,  John,   .     .    1828  to 
Glover,  Thomas,    .     .     . 
Greene,  William,  Jr.,    . 
Gilbert,  Clinton,    .     .     . 
Gibbons,  James  S.,  .    . 
Griffing,  Samuel,    .     .     . 
Gabaudan,  A.  W.,     .     . 
Graham,  J.  A.,  .     .     .     . 
Goodwin,  Eli, .... 


.  .  1821  to  '28 
1822 

'38— 1841  to '53 

'31— 1847  to '53 

1828 

.     .  1831 

.  1835  to  '49 
.  .  1838 

.  1840  to  '49 
.  .  1846  to  '48 

.  .  1847 

.  1851,  '52,  '53 


Hegeman,  Adrian,  ....  1807  to '11 
Hicks,  Samuel,  ....  1808  to  '09 
Hicks,  Valentine,  ....  1810  to '11 
Hicks,  Whitehead,  .  .  .  1812  to  '22 
Havens,  Rensselaer,  .  .  .  1818  to  '33 
Havens,  Philetus,  ....  1819  to  '24 
Hicks,  Oliver  H.,  ....  1819 

Hyde,  John  E.,      ...  1819  to  '30,  '32 

Kurd,  John  R., 1821  to  '53 

Howard,  William,  .  .  .  .  1821  to '28 
Haines,  Charles  G.,  .  .  .  .  1822  to  '24 
Halstead,  Caleb  0.,  ...  1826  to  '37 
Hasbrouck,  Stephen,  .  .  .  1827  to  'SO 
Hedges,  Timothy,  .  .  .  1828  to  '53 

Heard,  James, 1830  to  '35 

Hoi  brook,  Lowell,       .     .     .  1830 

Hallock,  Lewis, 1831  to  '53 

Huntington,  Thomas  M.,     .      1831  to  '32 

Haff,  Stephen, 1833  to  '37 

Halstead,  John  B.,    .     .     .      1833  to  '40 

Hall,  Willis, 1833,  '34 

Halliday,  Robert,  ....     1833  to  '39 

Hoxie,  Joseph, 1833  to  '35 

Halstead,  Matthias  0.,    .     .         1834,  '35 

Haff,  James  D., 1834  to  '37 

Halsey,  Anthony  P.,  .  .  .  1834  to  '53 
Haviland,  Edmund, 

1835,  '36,  '38,  '39,  '40  to  '48 
Hinsdale,  Henry,     ....     1835  to  '39 

Halsted,  Oliver, 1838  to  '40 

Howell,  B.  B.,   .....         1838, '39 

Hogan,  Robert, 1839  to  '41 

Holmes,  Silas, 1840 

Harsen,  Jacob, 1841  to  53 

Howe,  John  W.,    ....     1841  to  '63 

Harvey,  Silas, 1843 

Havemeyer,  F.  C.,  .  1845,  '46— '50  to  '53 

Horn,  James, 1845  to  '53 

Hawley,  Irad, 1 845 

Harper,  James, 1846  to  '49 


OFFICERS   AND   TRUSTEES. 


XXIX 


Howe,  Timothy  A.,    ...     1847  to  '51 

Howe,  B.  R, 1847,  '48 

Hutchinson,  E.  F., 1848,  '49 

Hibbard,  J.  C., 1849 

Hepburn,  J.  C., 1850  to  '53 

Hibbard,  William,   ....    1850  to  '53 

Hussey,  G.  F., 1851  to  '53 

Harper,  James,  Mayor,  exofficio,  1844,  '45 
Havemeyer,  W.  F.,  Mayor, 

ex  officio,      .     .     .     1845,  '46— '48,  '49 

Ireland,  G.,  Jr.,  .....     1846  to  '51 

Johnson,  William,     ....  1805 

James,  Samuel,  .....        1818,  '19 

Jay,  Peter  A., 1830  to  '36 

Jewett,  Thomas  L.,      ...    1835  to  '37 

Jay,  John  C., 1837 

Jay,  John, 1840,  '41 

Johnson,  Leonard  L.,  1845,  '46— '49  to  '53 

Jones,  Edward, 184  5  to '48 

Jones,  George  F.,    .     .    .     .        1846,  '47 

Kirby,  Edmund, 1820  to '22 

Ketchum,  Hiram,  1823,  '28  to  '34,  '41  to  '50 
Ketchum,  Morris,  ....  1829  to  '31 
Knox,  Alexander,  Jr.,  .  .  .  1832 

Kennedy,  Samuel  L.,  .  .  .  1834  to  '40 
Knapp,  Shepherd,  .  .  .  .  1889  to  '41 
Kellogg,  J.  W.,  .  .  1847— 1850  to '53 

Kellogg,  J.  R., 1848,  "49 

Kingsland,  A.  C.,  Mayor,  ex  offi.,  1851,  '52 

Lawrence,  John  B.,  .       ...    1810  '17 

Lorillard,  Jacob, 1817,  '18 

Lord,  Eleazer, 1822  to  '28 

Lee,  Gideon, 1822  to  '24 

Lyon,  David 1822 

Lovett,  James, 1825 

Leavitt,  J.  W., 1826,  '27 

Lord,  Daniel,  Jr.,  ....         1827, '28 

Lasala,  J.  B., 1829 

Lawrence,  Thomas,     ...  1 829 

Lockwood,  Roe, 1830  to  '32 

Leveridge,  John,  .  .  .  1832,  '34  to  '36 
Lawrence,  W.  B.,  .  .  .  .  1834,  '35 
Lawrence,  Abrm.  R.,  .  .  .  1834  to  '53 
Lawrence,  Richd.  M.,  .  .  .  1834  to '43 
Leggett,  T.,  Jr.,  .  .  .  .  1842  to  '45 
Leveridge,  J.  W.  C.,  .  .  .  1847  to  '53 

Lee,  Wm.  P., 1848  to  '53 

Leigh,  Chas.  C., 1850  to  '53 

Lee,  Gideon,  Mayor,  ex  officio,  1833,  '34 
Lawrence,  C.W.,  Mayor,  ex  offi.,  1834  to  '37 


Miller,  Samuel, 
Minturn,  Benjamin  G., 
Murray,  John  R., 
Murray,  John,  Jr., 
Murray,  Lindley, 
Marshall,  Benjamin, 


1805 
1805 

.  1814  to  '21 
1805,  '20,  '22 
.  18 16  to '45 
1818  to  '22 


Miller,  Charles, 1818  to  '22 

Mason,  John, 1820  to  '22 

Mott,  Robert  F.,      ....  1822  to  '25 


Mead,  Henry, 1824  to  '28 

McDonnell,  James  J.,   .     .     .  1824 

McCarthy,  Dennis,  ....  1825  to  '35 
Mott,  Samuel  F.,  .  .  .  .  1826  to '46 
Mercein,  Thomas  R.,  .  1827,  '34,  '35,  '36 

McBrair,  James, 1828  to  '49 

McDonald,  James,       .     .     .     1833  to  '40 

Morris,  Wm.  L., 1833  to '39 

McElrath,  Thomas,     .     .     .     1834  to  '39 

Maxwell,  Hugh, 1834,  '35 

Morrison,  John,  ....  1834  to  '43 
McNevin,  Wm.  James,  .  .  1835,  '36 
Mandeville,  William,  .  .  1835  to  '53 
Murphy,  William  D.,  .  .  .  1835  to  '43 
Macy,  William  H.,  ...  1838  to  '53 
Mercein,  Wm.  A.,  ...  .  1839 

Mills,  Abner, 1841  to  '53 

McBride,  Abraham,  .  .  .  1843  to  '45 
Miller,  Nehemiah,  .  .  .  1843  to  '53 
McClure,  Alexander,  .  .  .  1845  to  '53 
Murray,  Hamilton,  .  .  .  1845  to  '46 
Mott,  Samuel  C.,  .  .  .  .  1845  to  '49 
Minturn,  Wm.  H.,  ...  1845  to  '48 
Mason,  John  L.,  .  ...  1845 

McCrackan,  John  L.  H.,      .      1845  to  '46 

Merwin,  Almon, 1846  to  '53 

McClain,  Orlando  D.,      .     .      1847  to  '53 

Marsh,  James, 1848  to '53 

Martmdale,  S.,  Jr.,    .     .     .      1850  to  '52 

Mott,  J.  H., 1850 

Mott,  M.  Hopper,  ....  1851  to  '53 
Morris,  R.  H.,  Mayor,  ex  officio,  1841  to  '44 
Mickle,A.  H.,  Mayor,  ex  officio,  1846,  '47 

Newbold,  George,     ....  1812  to  13 

Kevins,  Richard,  ....  1829 

JJelson,  James  B.,    .     .     .     .  1842  to  '50 

Neilson,  William  H.,       .     .  1850  to  '53 

Nelson,  George  P.,   ....  1850  to  '53 

Nevins,  David  H.,  .     .     .     .  1850,  !51 

Ogden,  John  L.,       ....  1816 

Ogden,  David  L.,    .     .    .     .  181f. 

Ogden,  Thomas  L.,  .     .     .     .  1816  to  '18 

Ogilvie,  Peter 1817 

Olmstead,  James,     ....  1822,  '23 

Olmstead.  Ralph,  ....  1826,'27 

Oakley,  Charles,       .     .     .     .  1829  to  '48 

Owen,  Thomas, .....  1836 

Ogden,  Benjamin,     ....  1838 

Perkins,  Benjamin  D.,  .     .     .  1805 

Palmer,  James,      ....      1817  to '47 

Pintard,  John, 1818 

Palmer,  Drake  B.,  .  .  .  1826  to '28 
Peters,  John  R ,  ....  1828  to  '33 
Palmer,  John  J.,  .  .  .  .  1829, '30 
Pardow,  George,  .  .  .  .  1828  to  '46 
Pearson,  I.  Greene,  .  .  .  1831,  '32 
Phelps,  Anson  G.,  .  .  .  1832,  '34  to  '49 

Pollock,  James, 1832  to  '39 

Pond,  J.  0., 1833  to  '49 

Peck,  Hiram  N., 1834  to '38 


XXX 


OFFICERS    AND   TRUSTEES. 


Peck,  Lewis, 1837 

Pierson,  Charles  E.,  .  .  .  1838  to '53 
Price,  Thompson,  ....  1838  to  '53 

Pent,  Pelatiah, 1838  to  '53 

Page,  Richard,        ....  1841 

Pessinger,  George,  .  .  1841  to  '47 
Pinckney,  Peter,  ....  1842  to  '46 
Palmer,  James  R.,  ....  1843 

Piercey,  Henry  R.,     .     .     .  1843 

Petrie,  James  S.,      .     .      1845  to  '49,  '51 

Platr,  Ebenezer, 1846  to  '53 

Pinckney,  William  T.,  .  .  1847  to  '53 
Patterson,  S.  P.,  .  ...  1851  to  '53 

Price,  D.  W., 1851  to  '53 

Perkins,  R.  G., 1852 

Potter,  Joseph,  ....  1852,  '53 
Paulcling,  Wm.  Mayor,  ex  offi.  1826,  '27 


Rutgers,  Henry,     .     .     . 
Rathbone,  John,  Jr.,     . 
Raymond,  Eliakim,     .     . 
Roosevelt,  James  L.,    . 
Roosevelt,  James  I.,  Jr., 
Richards,  Thomas, 


1810  to  '30 
1823 

1824  to  '28 
1824 

1824  to  '41 

1825  to  '29 

Rogers,  J.  Smyth,  .     1826,  '27,  '40  to  '51 
Robbins,  George  S.,  .     .     .  1826  '27 

Richards,  Nathaniel,     .     .     .  1828  to  '34 

Rankiu,  John, 1829  '30 

Ring,  Zebedee, 1832 

Rogers,  Nathan,     ....      1 832  to  '39 
Roe,  Stephen  C.,      ....  1833  to  '36 
Rockwell,  William,   1834,  '35, 1840  to  '42 
Raukin,  Robert  G.,      ...     1836  to  '37 
Russell,  Israel,          .     .     .     .  1843  to  '53 
Rosenmiller,  Louis  A., .  1845,  '49,'51  to  '53 
Reed,  Richard,      .     .    1847, '49, '50  to '53 

Redfield,  J.  S., 1848  to '51 

Richmond,  T.  0.,      ....      1852,  '53 
Riker,  R.,  Recorder,   exofficio  1826  to  '31 


Stevens,  Ebenezer, 
Strong,  Benjamin,    . 
Spalding,  Lyman, 
Suckley,  George, 
Slocum,  W.  T.,     .      . 
Stidell,  John,       .     . 
Seton,  Samuel  W.,    . 
Seaman,  William, 
Sheldon,  Frederick,  . 
Sedgwick,  Robert, 
Swan,  Benjamin  L., 
Shipman,  George  P., 
Spencer,  Reuben, 
Smith,  Thomas  R., 
Stewart,  James, 
Suydam,  Lumbert, 
Stone,  William  L.,   . 
Servoss,  Thomas  L., 
Stryker,  John,    .     . 
Stevens,  Linus  W., 
Smith,  Charles  J.,   . 
Schermerhorn,  Peter 
Stokes,  James,  .    . 


.      1812  to  '15 
.   1812  to  '17 
.      1818  to  '21 
.    1818  to  '22 
1807,  '19  to  '23 
.     1822  to  '25 
1823  to  '53 
.     .     .      18-24 
1825  to  '32,  '38 
.     .     .     1826  to  '37 
.     .        1827  to  '35 
.     .     .     1830  to  '32 
.     .     .  1831  to  '45 

1833 

.      1833  to  '39,  '41 
.     .        1834,  '35,  '42 
.     .     .    1836  to  '38 
.     .     .      1837  to  '48 
....  1837,  '38 
.     .    1838,  '40,  to  '53 

1838 

A.,      .       1838  to  '45 
.  1838, '39,41  to '53 


Sands,  David 1888 

Seaman,  Willet,     .     .     .     .     1838  to  '53 

Smith,  William, 1838  to  '50 

Stuyvesant,  Peter, 1838 

Stokes,  Edward  H., 1839 

Sherwood,  Burritt,  1839  to  '50,  '52,  '53 
Schieffelin,  Henry  H.,  .  1840  to  '51,  '53 
Schieffelin,  Henry  M.,  .  .  .  1840  to '63 

Schuyler,  Philip, 1840 

Smith,  Washington, 1843 

Stillman,  Thomas  B.,  1843  to  '50,  '52,  '53 

Smith,  Floyd, 1845,  '46 

Stillman,  J.  D.,  .  .  1  .  .  1846,  '47 
Stillman,  Alfred,  ....  1848  to  '50 

Seymour,  Daniel, 1848,  '50 

Swan,  Caleb, 1850  to  '53 

Stillman,  J.  D.  B.,  .  .  1848,  '51  to  '58 
Skidmore,  J.  R.,  .  .  .  .  1851  to  '53 

Ten  Brook,  Henry,  ...  1805  to  '16 
Thompson,  Jeremiah,  .  .  .  181,1  to  '22 
Taylor,  Najah,  .  .  .  .  1816  to  '53 
Taylor,  Thomas  C.,  ...  1817  to  '20 
Trimble,  George  T.,  .  .  .  .  1818  to '53 
Torrey,  William,  ....  1818  to  '29 
Taylor,  Knowles,  ....  1826,  '27 
Taylor,  Jeremiah  H.,  .  .  .  1828  to  '34 
Tracy,  Frederick  A.,  .  .  .  1831,  '32 
Thomas,  George  C.,  .  .  .  1833  to  '35 
Tiemann,  Daniel  F.,  ...  1836  to  '40 
Thorp,  George  B.,  ...  1837  to  '40 

Triglar,  John, 1837  to  '39 

Trench,  Joseph,     ....      1888  to  '40 

Talbot,  Charles  N., 1840,  '49 

Trimble,  Isaac  P.,  ....  1840,  '41 
Townsend,  J.  H.,  .  .  .  .  1848  to  '53 
Thurston,  W.  R.,  Jr.,  .  .  .  1848  to  '50 

Underbill,  Joshua,  ....  1827  to  '30 
Underbill,  Ira  B.,  ....  1835  to  '40 
Underbill,  Joshua  S.,  .  .  .  1845  to  '53 
Underbill,  Walter,  .  .  .  .  1845  to  '53 
Underbill,  James  W.,  .  .  1848  to  '53 

Van  Wagenen,  Gerritt  H.,  .  1807  to  '1-5 
Vanderbilt,  John,  Jr.,  .  .  1810  to  '15 
Vandenheuvel,  John  C.,  .  .  1819,  '20 
Van  Rensselaer,  J.,  .  .  .  1826  to  '28 
Van  Schaick,  Myndert,  .  .1829  to  '31 
Van  Rensselaer,  Jer.  H.  .  1826  to '36 
Verplanck,  Gulian  C.,  .  .  1834  to  '41 
Vermilye,  Washington  R.,  .  1845  to  '53 
Vermilye,  William  M.,  .  .  .  1S46,  '47 
Vanderpoel,  Jacob,  Jr.,  .  .  1847  to  '49 
Varnum,  J.  B.,  Jr.,  .  .  .  1850  to  '53 
Varian,  Isaac  L.,  Mayor,  ex  offi,.  1839  to  '41 

Willett,  Marinus, 1817 

Wood,  Samuel,  ....  1817  to '38 
Withington,  John,  .  .  1818,  '20,  '21,  '22 
Weeks,  Ezra,  .  1818  to  '20—1822  to  '27 

Wheeler,  Solomon, 1822 

Wheeler,  Andrew  C.,   .     .     .  1827  to  '29 


OFFICERS    AND   TRUSTEES. 


XXXI 


Willett,  Marinus,  Jr.,  1827 

to  '84,  '37,  '38 

Wandell,  Beuj.  C.,  .     .     .    . 

1849  to  '53 

W^lls  James  N.,      ... 

1828  to  '35 

W^ard  Isaac       

1845  to  '53 

Wllcox  Lewis,       .     .     . 

1828  '29 

1846  to  '53 

Wheeler,  Samuel  G.     .     . 
Waters  Talman  J.,     .     . 

.  1828  to  '32 
.     1829  to  '33 

White,  Norman  P.,     ... 
Wyckoff,  A.  R.,        .... 

1847  to  '49 
1847  '48 

Wetmore,  David  W.      .     . 

1829  to  '32  — 

Whitlock,  W.  W.,      .     .     . 

.    1848  '49 

1835  to  '40 

Waldo,  Horace,   

1848 

Williams,  Abraham  V.,    . 

.  1880  to  '53 

Whittemore,  W.  T.,    .    .     . 

.    1848  '49 

Wells  Ovid  P.,       ... 
Willets,  Edmund,     .    .     . 

.     1831  to  '37 
.  1885  to  '46 

Wilbur,  Jeremiah,  .... 
Whitlock,  W.  H.,       .     .     .     . 

1849 
1850,  '51 

Wagstaff,  William,      .     . 
Winthrop  Benj.  R.,        .     . 

.     1837  to  '39 
.  1838  to  '53 

Warren,  Richard,     .... 
Woodhull,  C.S.,  Mayor,  ex  off,., 

1850  to  '5-2 
1849  to  '51 

Washburn,  Joseph  W.,  . 
Willets,  Samuel,       .     .    . 
Willis,  William,     .    .    . 

.     1838  to  '41 
.  1840  to  '42 
.     1841  to  '48 

Westervelt,  J.  A.,  Mayor,  ex  o 
Young,  Waldron,   .... 

fi.,        1853 
1852 

XXX11 


RECEIPTS,    EXPENDITURES,    ETC. 


TABLE  showing  the  amount  of  moneys  received  and  expended  during  each  year 
of  the  existence  of  the  Public  School  Society,  with,  the  Average  Attendance 
of  Scholars,  the  Annual  Expenses,  and  the  Cost  per  Scholar,  exclusive  of 
the  Purchase  of  Real  Estate,  and  Cost  and  Repairs  of  Buildings. 


YBAK. 

Receipts. 

Expenditures. 

Attendance. 

Expenses. 

Cost. 

1807 

$4,774.00 

$1,163.09 

70 

$913.09 

$13.04 

1808 

4,960.10 

1,866.53 

200 

1,429.84 

7.14 

1809 

1,858.01 

2,516.52 

250 

1,637.11 

6.54 

1810 

4,173.47 

16,129.54 

400 

1,554.20 

3.89 

1811 

15,557.68 

8,082.45 

550 

2,639.91 

4.54 

1812 

7,331.45 

10,183.73 

712 

2,500.04 

3.89 

1813 

4,511.00 

2,788.13 

950 

2,788.13 

2.93 

1814 

3,139.00 

3,299.06 

968 

3,299.06 

2.80 

1815 

6,250.95 

4,193.61 

958 

4,193.61 

4.21 

1816 

5,369.44 

4,373.20 

974 

4,373.20 

3.80 

1817 

6,075.08 

4,347.30 

1,218 

4,347.36 

3.57 

1818 

9,174.50 

4,049.43 

1,218 

4,049.43 

3.25 

1819 

10,659.74 

19,344.26 

1,449 

7,376.02 

4.75 

1820 

7,487.70 

10,588.37 

2,145 

6,881.75 

2.79 

1821 

10,025.08 

¥6,128.07 

2,811 

6,769.55 

2.15 

1822 

10,066.83 

10,740.63 

3,412 

7,456.70 

1.37 

1823 

10,222.82 

17,341.45 

4,090 

7,364.45 

1.80 

1824 

12,973.59 

12,464.53 

4,384 

9,242.03 

2.10 

1825 

16,477.33 

14,266.07 

4,059 

10,266.07 

2.52 

1826 

50,359.36 

47,344.99 

8,739 

10,239.57 

2.74 

1827 

63,969.97 

64,724.79 

4,564 

18,645.68 

4.08 

1828 

36,651.28 

41,246.25 

5,331 

21,030.83 

3.94 

1829 

61,975.60 

61,611.18 

6,150 

22,004.80 

3.57 

1830 

58,625.25 

59,157.31 

6,178 

22,092.93 

3.57 

1831 

117,645.19 

117,232.88 

6,323 

21,938.39 

3.47 

1832 

71,765.38 

70,977.20 

6,109 

24,345.49 

3.98 

1833 

91,792.93 

89,650.84 

7,826 

25,101.95 

3.34 

1834 

95,995.57 

91,656.10 

12,537 

49,823.07 

3.97 

18S5 

108,354.83 

115,518.95 

17,318 

63,749.79 

3.68 

1836 

131,287.29 

130,587.18 

18,011 

69,229.28 

3.84 

1837 

127,224.74 

128,342.47 

17,932 

72,845.69 

4.06 

1838 

148,791.25 

129,240.81 

19,982 

78,484.33 

3.99 

1839 

112,713.25 

130,572.95 

21,206 

100,485.24 

4.73 

1840 

169,771.72 

170,792.92 

22,955 

101,960.21 

4.44 

1841 

155,815.20 

156,857.45 

23,654 

105,398.13 

4.45 

1842 

134,909.96 

134,853.16 

24,671 

99,572.31 

4.03 

1843 

123,352.98 

122,297.22 

20,136 

94,384.24 

4.68 

1844* 

277,313.12 

219,264.33 

20,236 

168,394.62 

8.32 

1845 

94,648.19 

144,690.90 

22,476 

.  119,038.62 

5.29 

1846 

158,558.12 

158,375.51 

23,392 

121,817.47 

5.20 

1847 

125,276.14 

135,023.15 

23,834 

120,530.37 

5.05 

1848 

137.963,46 

137,963.46 

24,226 

119,057.85 

4.91 

1849 

194,196.20 

192,306.32 

24,524 

136,164.81 

5.55 

1850 

153,054.17 

154,300.56 

24,290 

128,086.83 

6.26 

1851 

179,113.21 

179,756.70 

25,941 

130,216.36 

.  5.02 

1852 

177,543.02 

177,543.02 

24,320 

141,906.67 

5.83 

$3,509,755.15 

$3,525,754.63 

488,589 

4.29 

NOTE.— There  is  an  excess  of  expenditure  over  receipts  of  $15,900.48.  The  Treasurer's  ao- 
couiit  for  the  first  eight  years  could  not  be  obtained  complete. 

*  The  financial  year  of  the  Board  of  Education  commenced  on  the  1st  of  January— that  of 
the  Society  on  the  1st  of  May.  To  prevent  the  confusion  consequent  upon  this  difference  the 
time  was  altered  to  correspond  with  that  of  the  Board,  arid  the  statement  for  the  year  1844  in- 
cludes a  period  of  twenty  months.  This  gives  the  cost  per  scholar  for  twelve  months  $4.98,  and 
|8.32  for  the  whole  period. 


THE 

PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIEJY. 


CHAPTEE    I. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  SOCIETY,  AND  PROGRESS  TO  THE  YEAR  1817. 

Large  Cities — Public  Instruction  of  the  Poor — City  of  New  York  in  1800 — Parochial 
Charity  Schools — An  Unoccupied  Field — Proposition  to  Establish  a  New  School — 
The  First  Meeting — A  Committee  Appointed — Memorial  to  the  Legislature — An 
Act  of  Incorporation  Passed — The  Society  Organized — The  First  Board  of  Trus- 
tees— Address  to  the  Public — Subscriptions — The  Lancasterian  System — The  New 
School  Opened — Lot  of  Ground  Presented  by  Col.  Rutgers — Clothing  for  Poor 
Children — Memorial  to  the  Legislature — Application  to  the  Common  Council — 
The  School  Fund — "  The  Free  School  Society  " — New  Apartments  for  the  School 
— Grant  of  Lots  for  a  Building — New  School  House  No.  1 — Donations — Opening 
of  the  School — De  Witt  Clinton's  Address — The  Law  Amended — School  No.  2 — 
Death  of  Benjamin  D.  Perkins — A  School  Library — Grant  of  Money  by  the  Legis- 
lature— Land  Presented  by  Trinity  Church — Opening  of  No.  2 — Additional  Trus- 
tees— Moral  and  Religious  Instruction. 

THE  population  of  the  city  of  New  York,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  century,  was  60,489.  The  limits  of  the  city 
were  marked  on  the  north  by  the  vicinity  of  Chambers  street, 
the  population  being  located  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
island.  By  that  social  gravitation  which  seems  to  have  always 
been  inseparable  from  compacted  communities,  the  metropolis 
was  not*  exempt  from  the  characteristic  feature  of  a  substratum 
of  wretched,  ignorant,  and  friendless  children,  who,  even  though 
they  had  parents,  grew  up  in  a  condition  of  moral  and  religious 
orphanage,  alike  fatal  to  their  temporal  and  spiritual  advance- 
ment and  elevation. 

The  influence  of  that  spirit  which  is  the  outgrowth  and  the 
evidence  of  true  religious  convictions,  and  a  high  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility to  the  present  as  well  as  to  the  future,  was  not  un- 
felt  in  reference  to  this  class  of  the  population.  Public  econ- 
omy, not  less  than  religious  duty — the  merely  commercial  con- 
1 


2}  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

siderations,  not  less  than  those  that  spring  from  the  earnest  be- 
lief of  revelation— the  social  law  of  self-preservation,  not  less 
than  the  higher  law  of  duty — taught  some  of  the  best  arid  most 
honored  men  and  women  of  that  day  the  truth  which  half  a  cen- 
tury has  elaborated  into  a  mighty  demonstration,  that  the  liter- 
ary and  moral  instruction  of  every  child  in  the  State  is  a  prime 
necessity.  If  the  parent  fails  in  this  work,  then  the  State  must 
assume  the  task,  and  provide  for  its  performance.  The  answer 
given  to  the  question  as  then  discussed,  originated  the  institu- 
tion, a  record  of  whose  labors,  for  nearly  fifty  years,  is  deemed 
worthy  of  preservation. 

There  were  several  schools  known  as  "  Charity  Schools  "  in 
existence  at  the  time,  but  they  were  under  denominational  or 
other  control ;  while  a  large  class  of  children  were  practically 
unsupplied  with  the  means  of  instruction.  An  Association  of 
Ladies,  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  organized  for  benev-' 
olent  purposes,  had  established  a  Free  School  for  girls,  in  1802, 
which  was  in  successful  operation  in  its  peculiar  sphere.  This 
school  suggested  the  establishment  of  other  schools  on  the  same 
plan  and  for  the  same  class  of  children  ;  and  the  names  of  the 
founders  and  friends  of  both  institutions  show  the  connection 
and  origin  of  the  Society  which  afterward  became  so  efficient  in 
the  instruction  of  the  youth  of  New  York.  To  extend  the 
benefits  of  education  to  all  who  were  excluded  from  the  various 
schools  already  established,  became  an  object  of  earnest  desire 
with  several  philanthropic  men  who  had  observed  the  condition 
of  these  children.  At  the  request  of  Thomas  Eddy  and  John 
Murray,  whose  attention  had  been  particularly  directed  to  the 
subject,  a  meeting  was  called  of  such  persons  as  were  likely  to 
unite  in  the  effort.  On  the  19th  of  February,  1805,  this  meet- 
ing was  held  at  the  house  of  John  Murray,  in  Peaul  street. 
Twelve  persons  were  present,  whose  names  are  the  following : 
Samuel  Osgood,  Brockholst  Livingston,  John  Murray,  Jr.,  Sam- 
uel Miller,  Joseph  Constant,  Thomas  Eddy,  Thomas  Pearsall, 
Thomas  Franklin,  Matthew  Clarkson,  Leonard  Bleecker,  Samuel 
Russell,  and  William  Edgar.  After  a  full  discussion  of  the 
object  for  which  they  had  been  called  together,  they  were  unani- 
mous in  the  opinion  that  the  establishment  of  schools,  for  the 
education  of  children  not  provided  for  by  the  parochial  schools, 
was  a  measure  of  high  importance,  not  only  to  them,  but  to  the 


MEMORIAL   TO   THE   LEGISLATURE.  3 

whole  community,  of  wliich  they  formed  so  considerable  a  por- 
tion. At  this  meeting  a  committee  was  appointed  to  devise 
such  plans  as  they  might  deem  expedient,  and  report  thereon  at 
a  subsequent  meeting. 

"With  a  zeal  and  promptitude  which  were  in  harmony  with 
the  noble  objects  proposed,  the  Committee  gave  their  immediate 
attention  to  the  duty  assigned  them,  and  in  a  few  days  called  a 
second  meeting,  at  which  they  submitted  their  report. 

Among  the  recommendations  of  that  report  was  one  to  the 
effect  that  application  be  made  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State, 
then  in  session,  for  an  act  of  incorporation.  A  memorial  was 
accordingly  prepared,  which  was  signed  by  about  one  hundred 
of  the  most  respectable  men  in  the  city,  and  was  forwarded  to 
the  Legislature.  It  was  as  follows  : 

To  the  Representatives  of  the  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  Senate  and 

Assembly  convened : 
The  Memorial  of  the  Subscribers,  Citizens  of  New  York, 

RESPECTFULLY  SHEWETH, 

That,  impressed  with  a  solicitude  for  the  general  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity, they  feel  it  their  duty  to  address  your  Body  on  a  subject  which 
they  regard  as  of  deep  concern. 

Your  memorialists  have  viewed  with  painful  anxiety  the  multiplied  evils 
which  have  accrued,  and  are  daily  accruing,  to  this  city,  from  the  neglected 
education  of  the  children  of  the  poor.  They  allude  more  particularly  to 
that  description  of  children  who  do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  provided  for, 
by  any  religious  society  ;  and  who,  therefore,  do  not  partake  of  the  advan- 
tages arising  from  the  different  Charity  Schools  established  by  the  various 
religious  societies  in  this  city.  The  condition  of  this  class  is  deplorable 
indeed ;  reared  up  by  parents  who,  from  a  variety  of  concurring  circum- 
stances, are  become  either  indifferent  to  the  best  interests  of  their  offspring, 
or,  through  intemperate  lives,  are  rendered  unable  to  defray  the  expense  of 
their  instruction,  these  miserable  and  almost  friendless  objects  are  ushered 
upon  the  stage  of  life,  inheriting  those  vices  which  idleness  and  the  bad 
example  of  their  parents  naturally  produce.  The  consequences  of  this  neg- 
lect of  education  are  ignorance  and  vice,  and  all  those  manifold  evils  result- 
ing from  every  species  of  immorality,  by  which  public  hospitals  and  alms- 
houses  are  filled  with  objects  of  disease  and  poverty,  and  society  burthened 
with  taxes  for  their  support.  In  addition  to  these  melancholy  facts,  it  is  to 
be  feared  that  the  laboring  class  in  the  community  is  becoming  less  indus- 
trious, less  moral,  and  less  careful  to  lay  up  the  fruit  of  their  earnings. 
What  can  this  alarming  declension  have  arisen  from,  but  the  existence  of  an 
error  which  has  ever  been  found  to  produce  a  similar  effect — a  want  of  a 
virtuous  education,  especially  at  that  early  period  of  life  when  the  impres- 
sions that  are  made  generally  stamp  the  future  character  ? 


4  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

The  rich  having  ample  means  of  educating  their  offspring,  it  must  be 
apparent  that  the  laboring  poor — a  class  of  citizens  so  evidently  useful — 
have  a  superior  claim  to  public  support. 

The  enlightened  and  excellent  Government  under  which  we  live  is  favor- 
able to  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge ;  but  the  blessings  of  such  a 
Government  can  be  expected  to  be  enjoyed  no  longer  than  while  its  citizens 
continue  virtuous,  and  while  the  majority  of  the  people,  through  the  advan- 
tage of  a  proper  early  education,  possess  sufficient  knowledge  to  enable 
them  to  understand  and  pursue  their  best  interests.  This  sentiment,  which 
must  meet  with  universal  assent,  was  emphatically  urged  to  his  countrymen 
by  WASHINGTON,  and  has  been  recently  enforced  by  our  present  Chief  Ma- 
gistrate in  his  address  on  the  necessity  of  supporting  schools,  and  promot- 
ing useful  knowledge  through  the  State. 

Trusting  that  the  necessity  of  providing  suitable  means  for  the  preven- 
tion of  the  evils  they  have  enumerated  will  be  apparent  to  your  honorable 
Body,  your  memorialists  respectfuly  request  the  patronage  and  assistance  of 
the  Legislature  in  establishing  a  free  school,  or  schools,  in  this  city,  for  the 
benevolent  purpose  of  affording  education  to  those  unfortunate  children  who 
have  no  other  mode  of  obtaining  it. 

The  personal  attention  to  be  bestowed  on  these  children  for  the  improve- 
ment of  their  morals,  and  to  assist  their  parents  in  procuring  situations  for 
them,  where  industry  will  be  inculcated  and  good  habits  formed,  as  well  as 
to  give  them  the  learning  requisite  for  the  proper  discharge  of  the  duties  of 
life,  it  is  confidently  hoped  will  produce  the  most  beneficial  and  lasting 
effects. 

The  more  effectually  to  accomplish  so  desirable  an  object,  your  memorial-' 
ists  have  agreed  to  form  an  association  under  the  name  of  "  The  Society  for 
Establishing  a  Free  School,  in  the  City  of  New  York."  They  therefore  re- 
spectfully solicit  the  Legislature  to  sanction  their  undertaking  by  an  Act  of 
Incorporation,  and  to  grant  them  such  pecuniary  aid  or  endowment  as,  in 
your  wisdom,  may  be  deemed  proper  for  the  promotion  of  the  benevolent 
object  of  your  memorialists. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

N«W  YOHK,  25*  February,  1805. 

The  nature  and  importance  of  the  enterprise  proposed  by  the 
petitioners  were  fully  comprehended  by  the  members  of  the 
Legislature,  who  sympathized  with  its  objects,  and  promptly  re- 
sponded to  the  appeal  thus  made  to  their  wisdom  and  patriotism. 
On  the  9th  of  April  following,  an  Act  was  passed,  entitled,  "  An 
Act  to  incorporate  the  Society  instituted  in  the  City  of  ISrew 
York,  for  the  Establishment  of  a  Free  School  for  the  Education 
of  Poor  Children  who  do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  provided  for 
by,  any  religious  society."  The  Act  constituted  De  "Witt  Clin- 
ton, Samuel  Osgood,  Brockholst  Livingston,  John  Murray,  Jr., 


ACT   OF   INCORPORATION.  5 

Jacob  Morton,  Samuel  Miller,  Joseph  Constant,  Thomas  Eddy, 
Thomas  Pearsall,  Robert  Bowne,  Matthew  Clarkson,  Archibald 
Grade,  John  M'Vickar,  Charles  Wilkes,  Henry  Ten  Brook,  Gil- 
bert Aspinwall,  Valentine  Seaman,  William  Johnson,  William 
Coit,  Matthew  Franklin,  Adrian  Hegernan,  Benjamin  G.  Min- 
turn,  Leonard  Bleecker,  Thomas  Franklin,  Samuel  Russell,  Sam- 
uel Doughty,  Alexander  Robertson,  Samuel  Forbes,  John  With- 
ington,  William  Edgar,  George  Trumbnll,  Daniel  D.  Tompkins, 
William  Boyd,  Jacob  Mott,  Benjamin  Egbert,  Thomas  Farmar, 
and  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill,  a  body  corporate  under  the  style  of 
"  The  Society  for  establishing  a  Free  School  in  the  City  of  New 
York,  for  the  education  of  such  poor  children  as  do  not  belong 
to,  or  are  not  provided  for ',  by  any  religious  society" 

The  provisions  of  this  Act  were,  that  the  yearly  income  of 
the  Society  should  not  exceed  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  that  on 
the  first  Monday  in  May  in  each  year  there  should  be  elected 
thirteen  Trustees  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  Society,  who 
should  be  members  of  the  said  corporation,  and  actually  residing 
in  the  city  of  New  York ;  that  the  Trustees  should  meet  regu- 
larly on  the  second  Monday  in  every  month,  arid  that  seven  or 
more  of  them  so  convened  should  be  a  legal  meeting  of  the 
Board :  That  any  person  who  should  contribute  to  the  Society 
the  sum  of  eight  dollars,  should  be  a  member  thereof;  and  that 
any  person  who  should  contribute  the  sum  of  twenty-five  dollars, 
should  be  a  member,  and  be  further  entitled,  during  the  life  of 
such  contributor,  to  send  one  child  to  be  educated  at  any  school 
under  the  care  of  the  Society  ;  and  whoever  should  contribute 
the  sum  of  forty  dollars,  should  be  a  member,  and  be  entitled  to 
send  two  children  to  be  educated  at  any  school  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  said  Society.  The  second  section  of  the  Act  consti- 
tuted the  twe]ve  gentlemen  present  at  the  original  meeting,  to- 
getljer  with  Do  Witt  Clinton,  the  first  Board  of  Trustees,  who 
should  hold  office  until  the  time  fixed  by  the  Act  for  the  first 
election  of  officers. 

The  limitation  of  the  income  of  the  Society  to  the  sum  often 
thousand  dollars  is  an  indication  of  the  rigid  views  of  responsi- 
bility, as  well  as  of  economy,  which  controlled  the  founders  and 
early  patrons  of  the  Society.  Experience  and  philanthropy  soon 
taught  a  more  enlarged  view  of  the  necessities  of  the  enterprise. 

In  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  this  Act,  thirteen  Trus- 


6  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

tees  were  elected  at  a  meeting  held  on  the  6tli  of  May,  1805,  and 
the  Board  thus  elected  was  organized  as  follows : 

'  DE  WITT  CLINTON,  President. 

JOHN  MURRAY,  Jr.,  Vice-President. 

LEONARD  BLEECKER,  Treasurer. 

BENJAMIN  D.  PERKINS,  Secretary. 
Gilbert  Aspinwall,  Adrian  Hegeinan, 

Thomas  Eddy,  William  Johnson, 

Thomas  Franklin,  Samuel  Miller, 

Matthew  Franklin,  Benjamin  G.  Minturn, 

Henry  Ten  Brook. 
/ 

The  Society  had  now  assumed  a  responsible  form,  and  the 
Trustees  soon  began  to  realize  the  magnitude  of  the  enterprise 
which  they  had  undertaken.  With  a  labor  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance before  them,  a  wide  field  and  an  organization  perfect- 
ed, they  were  now  to  provide  means  for  carrying  on  their  work. 
A  building  was  required  for  the  school,  and  funds  were  needed 
to  pay  the  salary  of  the  teachers  and  the  other  expenses  incident 
to  such  an  institution.  Sensible  of  the  necessity  of  the  under- 
taking, and  anxious  that  the  friendless  children  whose  welfare 
they  had  in  view  should  begin  to  participate  in  the  benefits  de- 
signed to  be  bestowed  upon  them,  the  Trustees  determined  to 
make  an  immediate  application  to  their  fellow-citizens  for  pe- 
cuniary assistance.  The  following  address  was  therefore  pub- 
lished in  the  journals  of  the  city : — 

TO  THE  PUBLIC. 

Address  of  the  Trustees  of  the  "  Society  for  Establishing  a  Free  School  in  the 
City  of  New  Yorlc,  for  the  Education  of  such,  Poor  Children  as  do  not 
Belong  to,  or  are  not  Provided  for  ly,  any  Religious  Society." 

"  "While  the  various  religious  and  benevolent  societies  in  this  city,  with  a 
spirit  of  charity  and  zeal  which  the  precepts  and  example  of  the  Divine 
Author  of  our  religion  could  alone  inspire,  amply  provide  for  the  education 
of  such  poor  children  as  belong  to  their  respective  associations,  there  still  re- 
mains a  large  number  living  in  total  neglect  of  religious  and  moral  instruc- 
tion, and  unacquainted  with  the  common  rudiments  of  learning,  essentially 
requisite  for  the  due  management  of  the  ordinary  business  of  life.  This 
neglect  may  be  imputed  either  to  the  extreme  indigence  of  the  parents  of 
such  children,  their  intemperance  and  vice  ;  or  to  a  blind  indifference  to  the 
best  interests  of  their  offspring.  The  consequences  must  be  obvious  to  the 


ADDRESS   TO   THE   PUBLIC.  7 

most  careless  observer.  Children  thus  brought  up  in  ignorance,  and  amidst 
the  contagion  of  bad  example,  are  in  imminent  danger  of  ruin ;  and  too 
many  of  them,  it  is  to  be  feared,  instead  of  being  useful  members  of  the 
community,  will  become  the  burden  and  pests  of  society.  Early  instruction 
and  fixed  habits  of  industry,  decency,  and  order,  are  the  surest  safeguards 
of  virtuous  conduct ;  and  when  parents  are  either  unable  or  unwilling  to 
bestow  the  necessary  attention  on  the  education  of  their  children,  it  be- 
comes the  duty  of  the  public,  and  of  individuals,  who  have  the  power,  to 
assist  them  in  the  discharge  of  this  important  obligation.  It  is  in  vain  that 
laws  are  made  for  the  punishment  of  crimes,  or  that  good  men  attempt  to 
stem  the  torrent  of  irreligion  and  vice,  if  the  evil  is  not  checked  at  its 
source ;  and  the  means  of  prevention,  by  the  salutary  discipline  of  early 
education,  seasonably  applied.  It  is  certainly  in  the  power  of  the  opulent 
and  charitable,  by  a  timely  and  judicious  interposition  of  their  influence  and 
aid,  if  not  wholly  to  prevent,  at  least  to  diminish,  the  pernicious  effects  re- 
sulting from  the  neglected  education  of  the  children  of  the  poor. 

Influenced  by  these  considerations,  and  from  a  sense  of  the  necessity  of 
providing  some  remedy  for  an  increasing  and  alarming  evil,  several  individ- 
uals, actuated  bjt  similar  motives,  agree  to  form  an  association  for  the  pur- 
pose of  extending  the  means  of  education  to  such  poor  children  as  do  not 
belong  to,  or  are  not  provided  for,  by  any  religious  society.  After  different 
meetings,  numerously  attended,  a  plan  of  association  was  framed,  and  a 
Memorial  prepared  and  addressed  to  the  Legislature,  soliciting  an  Act  of 
Incorporation,  the  better  to  enable  them  to  carry  into  effect  their  benevolent 
design.  Such  a  law  the  Legislature,  at  their  last  session,  was  pleased  to 
pass ;  and  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society,  under  the  Act  of  Incorporation,  on 
the  sixth  instant,  thirteen  Trustees  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year. 

The  particular  plan  of  the  school,  and  the  rules  for  its  discipline  and 
management,  will  be  made  known  previous  to  its  commencement.  Care 
will  be  exercised  in  the  selection  of  teachers,  and,  besides  the  elements  of 
learning  usually  taught  in  schools,  strict  attention  will  be  bestowed  on  the 
morals  of  the  children,  and  all  suitable  means  be  used  to  counteract  the  dis- 
advantages resulting  from  the  situation  of  their  parents.  It  is  proposed, 
also,  to  establish,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  a  school,  called  a  Sunday 
School,  more  particularly  for  such  children  as,  from  peculiar  circumstances, 
are  unable  to  attend  on  the  other  days  of  the  week.  In  this,  as  in  the  Com- 
mon School,  it  will  be  a  primary  object,  without  observing  the  peculiar 
forms  of  any  religious  Society,  to  inculcate  the  sublime  truths  of  religion 
and  morality  contained  in  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

This  Society,  as  will  appear  from  its  name,  interferes  with  no  existing 
institution,  since  children  already  provided  with  the  means  of  education,  or 
attached  to  any  other  Society,  will  not  come  under  its  care.  Humble  glean- 
ers in  the  wide  field  of  benevolence,  the  members  of  this  Association  seek 
such  objects  only  as  are  left  by  those  who  have  gone  before,  or  are  fellow- 
laborers  with  them  in  the  great  work  of  charity.  They,  therefore,  look 
with  confidence  for  the  encouragement  and  support  of  the  affluent  and 
charitable  of  every  denomination  of  Christians;  and  when  they  consider 


8  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

that  in  no  community  is  to  be  found  a  greater  spirit  of  liberal  and  active 
benevolence  than  among  the  citizens  of  New  York,  they  feel  assured  that 
adequate  means  for  the  prosecution  of  their  plan  will  be  easily  obtained. 
In  addition  to  the  respectable  list  of  original  subscriptions,  considerable 
funds  will  be  requisite  for  the  purchase  or  hire  of  a  piece  of  ground,  and 
the  erection  of  a  suitable  building  for  the  school,  to  pay  the  teachers,  and 
to  defray  other  charges  incident  to  the  establishment.  To  accomplish  this 
design,  and  to  place  the  Institution  on  a  solid  and  respectable  foundation, 
the  Society  depend  on  the  voluntary  bounty  of  those  who  may  be  charita- 
bly disposed  to  contribute  their  aid  in  the  promotion  of  an  object  of  great 
and  universal  concern. 

DE  WITT  CLINTON,  President. 
JOHN  MURRAY,  Jr.,  Vice-President. 
LEONARD  BLEECKER,  Treasurer. 
B.  D.  PERKINS,  Secretary. 

Gilbert  Aspinwall,  Adrian  Hegeman, 

Thomas  Eddy,  "William  Johnson, 

Thomas  Franklin,  Samuel  Miller,  D.  D., 

Matthew  Franklin,  Benjamin  G.xMinturn, 

Henry  Ten  Brook. 

NEW  YORK,  May  (bth  Month)  18, 1805. 

After  the  appearance  of  this  address,  the  labor  of  soliciting 
subscriptions  was  commenced,  but,  in  consequence  of  adverse 
circumstances,  among  which  was  the  occurrence  of  the  yellow 
fever  during  the  summer  and  autumn  months,  the  progress  made 
was  slow  ;  and  it  was  not  until  after  numerous  meetings,  and 
great  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  Trustees,  during  the  ensuing 
twelve  months,  that  the  subscriptions  amounted  to  a  sum  suffi- 
cient to  warrant  them  in  hiring  a  teacher  and  opening  the  school. 

The  subscription  list,  still  preserved  among  the  papers  of  the 
Society,  bears  at  its  head  the  honored  name  of  DE  WITT  CLIN- 
TON, opposite  to  which  is  a  donation  of  $200,  followed  by  that 
of  W.  EDGAB,  for  $50,  and  MATTHEW  CLARKSON,  for  $25,  to- 
gether with  many  of  the  most  prominent  and  influential  men  of 
the  time. 

The  enterprise,  thus  originated  and  endowed,  had  reached, 
at  the  end  of  the  year  1805,  a  position  which  led  the  Trustees  to 
mature  their  plans  for  the  opening  of  the  school  at  as  early  a 
day  as  practicable-.  They  had  entered  upon  a  work  in  which  the 
adaptation  of  small  means  to  produce  the  greatest  result  was  a 
question  of  much  importance.  Diligent  inquiry  was  accordingly 
made  as  to  the  best  methods  of  instruction,  and  the  systems 


A    SCHOOL   ESTABLISHED.  0 

adopted  in  other  cities  and  countries  in  educating  the  same  class- 
es of  children.  Efficiency  in  operation,  facility  and  simplicity, 
attractiveness  and  thoroughness,  combined  with  economy,  were 
eminently  desirable,  and  care  was  taken  to  examine  the  merits 
of  the  various  known  systems  of  instruction.  Among  those 
which  presented  themselves  prominently  to  the  attention  of  the 
trustee?,  was  that  which  had  been  for  a  few  years  successfully 
established  in  London  by  JOSEPH  LANCASTER,  and  known  as  the 
LAKCASTEEIAN  SYSTEM.  This  gentleman  was  then  conducting  his 
school  in  the  British  metropolis,  with  an  average  attendance  of 
about  one  thousand  pupils,  and  his  extraordinary  success  and 
reputation  as  an  instructor,  together  with  the  noticeable  reform 
which  had  been  effected  in  the  moral  and  social  condition  of  that 
class  in  the  vicinity  of  his  school,  were  such  that  the  attention 
of  the  British  public  had  not  only  been  drawn  toward  the  estab- 
lishment, but  it  had  received  the  notice  of  members  on  the  floor 
of  Parliament.  The  fame  of  the  indefatigable  founder  had, 
moreover,  become  known  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

A  system  of  instruction  which  had  been  so  honorably  en- 
dorsed and  supported,  could  not  fail  to  command  the  considera- 
tion of  the  trustee's.  Economy  in  expense,  and  facility  in  com- 
municating instruction,  were  the  characteristic  features  of  this 
system.  It  comprehended  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic. 
The  pupils  them  selves 'were  made  the  instruments  of  their  own 
instruction.  A  school  was  divided  into  classes  of  ten  or  fifteen 
scholars,  who  were  placed  under  the  care  of  a  monitor,  while  he 
was  himself  a  scholar  in  a  class  of  a  superior  grade. 

The  managers  of  the  Society,  after  a  carefal  consideration  of 
the  system  devised  by  LANCASTER,  with  its  apparatus  and  illus- 
trations, did  not  long  hesitate  in  regard  to  the  propriety  of  an 
experimental  test  in  their  new  school.  In  its  introduction  they 
derived  "essential  aid  from  one  of  their  own  number,  Benjamin 
D.  Perkins,  who  had  seen  it  in  full  operation  in  England,  and 
who  was  acquainted  with  its  regulations  from  a  personal  com- 
munication with  its  author.  A  teacher  who  appeared  to  be  well 
qualified  for  the  undertaking,  William  Smith,  and  who  was  em- 
ployed by  the  Society  for  several  years,  was  selected  ;  and  under 
his  superintendence  a  school  was  opened  on  the  19th  of  May, 
1SOG,  in  a  small  apartment  in  Bancker  (now  Madison)  street. 
In  a  few  days  the  attendance  rose  to  forty-two,  and  the  whole, 


10  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

together  with  those  who  were  afterward  added  to  the  school, 
were  under  the  direction  of  one  teacher,  the  "  monitors  "  render- 
ing all  the  assistance  in  their  power. 

The  Lancasterian  system  of  instruction  was,  by  the  organiza- 
tion of  this  school,  transplanted  to  the  Western  world,  and  for 
many  years  was  almost  universally  adopted  in  large  schools  of 
even  the  higher  classes  of  pay  schools.  The  New  York  High 
School,  which  for  a  number  of  years  held  the  first  rank,  under 
Daniel  H.  Barnes,  Shepherd  Johnson,  John  Griscom,  and  others, 
was  conducted  on  the  Lancasterian,  or  monitorial,  system. 

One  clause  in  the  act  of  incorporation,  which  regulated  the 
meetings  of  the  trustees,  being  productive  of  inconvenience,  an 
act  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  on  the  2d  of  April,  1806,  pro- 
viding that  the  trustees  might  hold  their  monthly  meetings  on 
any  day  of  the  week  they  might  deem  convenient.  It  was  there- 
fore immediately  resolved,  that  their  regular  meetings  should  in 
future  be  held  on  the  first  Friday  in  every  month. 

In  the  same  month,  Col.  Henry  Kutgers,  with  characteristic 
liberality,  presented  to  the  Society  a  lot  of  ground  in  Henry 
street,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  thereon  a  school-house,  to 
meet  the  wants  of  the  indigent  in  that  populous  part  of  the  city. 
He  afterward  added  an  adjoining  lot  to  this  generous  donation  ; 
the  estimated  value  of  the  whole  being  $2,500. 

The  labors  of  the  instructor  are  either  very  much  embar- 
rassed or  aided  by  the  social  condition  of  the  pupils.  The 
struggle  for  bread,  and  the  physical  necessities  of  children  who 
suffer  from  cold,  hunger,  and  wretchedness,  are  not  only,  from 
the  very  nature  of  the  case,  impediments  to  progress  in  educa- 
tion, but  they  serve  to  blunt  the  sensibilities,  and  make  intellec- 
tual effort  a  toilsome  and  unwelcome  task.  Hunger  and  cold 
make  their  appeals  very  bitterly  oftentimes,  and  efforts  for  self- 
preservation,  or  struggles  against  suffering,  absorb  the  .thoughts 
and  energies,  and  become  the  chief  care  of  beings  thus  situated. 
The  moral,  the  intellectual,  and  the  spiritual  wants  are  far  less 
keenly  felt,  or  even  perceived  ;  and  the  condition  of  dependence 
thus  imposed  upon  thousands  becomes  a  bequest  in  perpetuity, 
from  which  few  rise  to  a  higher  level  except  by  accident,  or  a 
native  force  of  character  which  overcomes  all  obstacles  by  a 
resolute  purpose  to  triumph.  It  was  among  this  class  that  the 
Society  laid  its  foundation  ;  and  the  trustees  found,  at  the  ap- 


ADDITIONAL  RESOURCES.  11 

proacli  of  the  winter  of  1806-7,  that  their  labor  of  benevolence 
would  fail  very  materially  were  they  to  neglect  some  of  those 
humane  offices  which  poverty  demands  at  the  hand  of  the  philan- 
thropist and  the  Christian.  They  therefore  determined  to  ex- 
amine into  tl^e  personal  wants  of  their  beneficiaries,  and  they 
were  not  long  in  becoming  convinced  that  clothing  of  every  de- 
scription would  be  required  for  their  use.  Efforts  were  accord- 
ingly made  to  supply  these  wants,  and  the  trustees  were  gratified 
by  the  receipt  of  liberal  donations  of  clothing,  shoes,  and  hats, 
which,  being  distributed  among  the  children,  were  sufficient  to 
make  them  all  comfortable  for  the  winter.  This  continued  to  be 
the  case  for  some  years,  but  was  finally  abandoned  when  the 
schools  increased  in  number  and  were  more  numerously  attended. 
In  January,  1807,  the  trustees,  not  only  encouraged  with 
their  success,  but  anxious  to  extend  their  labors,  presented  a 
memorial  to  the  Legislature,  containing  a  statement  of  what 
they  had  done,  and  soliciting  pecuniary  assistance  to  enable  them 
to  extend  the  operations  of  the  association.  The  memorial  met 
with  a  very  favorable  reception,  and  soon  afterward  the  trus- 
tees were  able  to  congratulate  the  friends  of  the  institution  on 
the  passage  of  an  act  appropriating  four  thousand  dollars 
toward  building  a  house,  and  one  thousand  to  be  paid  annually 
toward  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  school.  These  moneys 
were  paid  out  of  the  moneys  appropriated  by  the  act  entitled 
"  An  Act  to  lay  a  duty  on  strong  liquors,  and  for  regulating  inns 
and  taverns,"  to  the  payment  of  the  contingent  charges  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  the  annuity  to  continue  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  Legislature.  The  act  was  passed  on  the  27th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1807,  and  was  deemed  of  higher  interest  from  the  fact  that 
this  liberal  appropriation  received  the  unanimous  consent  of  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature. 

•  While  these  proceedings  were  transpiring  at  the  Capitol,  the 
trustees  made  an  application  to  the  Corporation  of  the  city  for 
their  assistance  in  promoting  an  enterprise  which  promised  to  be 
of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  public.  A  committee  from  that 
body  was  accordingly  appointed,  who  visited  the  institution,  and 
soon  afterward  a  building  adjacent  to  the  Almshouse  was  appro- 
priated for  the  temporary  accommodation  of  the  school,  with  an 
additional  appropriation  of  five  hundred  dollars  to  assist  in  put- 
ting it  into  a  suitable  condition  for  school  purposes.  As  a  con- 


12  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

sideration  for  these  advantages,  the  Society  agreed,  on  their  part, 
to  receive  and  educate  fifty  children  belonging  to  the  Almshouse. 
To  tliis  building  the  school  was  removed  on  the  28th  of  April, 
1807,  and  before  the  close  of  the  year  it  numbered  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pupils. 

lu  the  year  1808,  the  trustees  had  the  pleasure  of  witnessing 
the  growing  utility  of  the  institution,  and  the'  union  of  public 
and  private  exertions  in  their  favor.  The  charter  of  the  Society 
was  deemed  not  to  be  sufficiently  comprehensive,  as  it  did  not 
embrace  all  classes  of  poor  children  ;  and,  desirous  that  the 
benefits  of  the  establishment  should  not  be  restricted,  they  so- 
licited and  obtained  from  the  Legislature  an  act,  which  was 
passed  on  the  1st  of  April,  1808,  ordaining  that  the  corpora- 
tion should  in  future  be  denominated  "  The  Free  School  So- 
ciety of  New  York,"  and  that  its  powers  should  extend  to  all 
children  who  should  be  the  proper  objects  of  a  gratuitous  educa- 
tion. 

In  order  to  provide  effectually  for  the  future  wants  of  the 
school,  on  an  enlarged  plan,  the  trustees  petitioned  the  Legisla- 
ture, at  the  same  session,  for  a  liberal  portion  of  the  school  fund 
of  the  State,  whenever  it  should  be  deemed  advisable  to  make  a 
distribution.     The  preamble  to  the  bill,  by  which  the  name  of 
the  Society  was  changed,  recites,  that,  "  Whereas,  the  trustees 
of  the  Society  for  establishing  a  free  school  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  for  the  education  of  such  poor  children  as  do  not  belong 
to,  or  are  not  provided  for  'by,  any  religious  society,  have,  by 
their  petition,  represented  to  the  Legislature,  that  the  act  incor- 
porating that  Society  restrains  them  unnecessarily  in  the  com- 
munication of  the  advantages  of  their  establishment,  by  confin- 
ing them  to  a  certain  description  of  poor  children ;  and  have  also 
petitioned  for  a  competent  portion  of  the  school  fund  applicable 
to  the  city -of  New  York,  in  order  to  be  the  better  enabled  *o 
proceed  in  the  execution  of  their  important  duties;  and,  where- 
as, the  said  fund  does  not  as  yet  amount  to  a  sum  sufficiently 
large  to  render  an  immediate  distribution  advisable,  but  as  the 
Legislature  are  desirous  of  encouraging  an  institution  so  laud- 
able and  useful,  by  granting  the  petition  of  the  said  trustees  in 
other  respects,"  it  was  enacted  that  the  name  of  the  Society  be 
changed  to  that  of  the  "  FREE-SCHOOL  SOCIETY."     This  measure, 
although  unaccompanied  with   any  provision  of  moneys,  was 


A    SCHOOL-BUILDING.  13 

valuable  in  extending  the  sphere  of  the  institution  and  increas- 
ing its  claims  upon  the  liberality  of  the  public. 

The  tenement  adjacent  to  the  Almshouse  in  which  the  school 
was  kept,  could  not  accommodate  more  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  children.  This  number  was  soon  reached,  and  numerous 
demands  for  admission  continued  to  be  made  far  beyond  the 
capacity  of  the  house.  The  Almshouse  was  a  long  building 
of  two  stories  in  height,  with  a  basement,  and  occupied  the 
north  end  of  the  Park,  parallel  with  Chambers  street,  extending 
from  Broadway  nearly  to  the  line  of  what  is  now  Centre  street. 

The  demand  for  more  ample  accommodation  pressed  urgently 
upon  the  trustees,  an4  as  the  most  direct  and  certain  source  of 
aid,  a  further  application  for  assistance  was  made  to  the  Corpo- 
ration in  the  autumn  of  1808,  and  that  body  presented  to  the 
Society  an  extensive  lot  of  ground  in  Chatham  street,  on  which 
stood  the  State  arsenal.  This  donation  was  made  on  condition 
that  the  Society  should  receive  and  educate  gratuitously  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Almshouse,  in  the  performance  of  which  task  it  was 
eminently  fulfilling  both  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  design  of 
its  founders  and  friends.  The  value  of  the  ground  and  the  build- 
ing upon  it  was  estimated  at  ten  thousand  dollars.  To  this  im- 
portant donation  the  Corporation  afterward  added  the  sum  of 
fifteen  hundred  dollars,  to  aid  in  preparing  a  new  building  for 
the  reception  of  the  school. 

These  handsome  appropriations  enabled  the  trustees  to  prose- 
cute their  work  with  a  more  hopeful  confidence  than  they  had 
yet  entertained,  and  during  the  year  1809  they  were  principally 
occupied  in  the  completion  of  the  new  building.  A  brick  edifice 
was  erected,  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  length  and  fifty  feet 
in  width,  capable  of  accommodating  in  one  room  five  hundred 
children.  In  the  lower  story  there  were  apartments  for  the  fam- 
ily of  the  teacher,  for  the  meeting  of  the  trustees,  and  for  an- 
other school,  which  would  accommodate  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pupils.  In  the  adoption  of  their  plan,  the  trustees  had  economy 
constantly  in  view ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  they  were  desirous 
that  the  style  of  architecture,  and  the  external  appearance  of  the 
building,  should  comport  with  the  liberal  patronage  which  the 
institution  had  received,  and  with  the  resources  of  a  great  and 
flourishing  metropolis.  Among  the  means  of  lessening  the  ex- 
penses of  the  establishment,  they  solicited  and  obtained,  from 


14:  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

4 
several  benevolent  individuals,  contributions  of  timber  and  other 

materials  to  the  amount  of  one  thousand  dollars.  They  also  ne- 
gotiated with  a  master-mason  and  two  master-carpenters,  who 
generously  superintended  the  work,  and  paid  the  laborers,  with- 
out any  pecuniary  advantage  to  themselves.  In  the  erection 
anfl  completion  of  this  extensive  building,  the  Society  expended 
more  than  thirteen  thousand  dollars. 

The  gentlemen  to  whose  benevolence  the  Society  was  indebt- 
ed for  their  contributions  of  building  materials,  and  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  construction  of  the  edifice,  are  worthy  of  an 
honorable  place  among  the  early  friends  of  the  enterprise,  and 
are  as  follows  :  « 

Abraham  Kussell,  Isaac  Sharpies,   - 

William  Tilton,  Jones  &  Clinch, 

J.  G.  Pierson  &  Brothers,  George  Youle, 

Whitehead  Hicks,  John  Youle, 

M.  M.  Titus,  Forman  Cheesman, 

Bichard  Titus,  John  Rooke, 

Joseph  Watkins,  George  Lindsay, 

B.  "W.  Rogers  &  Co.,  Jonathan  Dixon, 

Richard  Speaight,  J.  Sherred, 

Abraham  Bussing,  Alexander  Campbell, 

Daniel  Beach,  Wm.  &  G.  Post, 

P.  Schermerhorn,  Jr.,  Joel  Davis, 

Thomas  Stevenson,  Henry  Hillman, 

Thomas  Smyth,  Ebenezer  Basset, 

John  McKie,  Peter  Fenton, 

Wm.  Wickham,  Wm.  McKenny. 

Liberal  donations  were  also  received  from  the  public,  amounting 
to  about  ten  thousand  dollars. 

The  building  being  completed,  it  was  opened  for  school  pur- 
poses, and  dedicated  by  public  exercises  of  an  interesting  charac- 
ter, on  the  llth  of  December,  1809.  The  president,  DE  WITT 
CLINTON,  delivered  the  following  address  : 

DE  WITT  CLINTON'S  ADDRESS. 

On  an  occasion  so  interesting  to  this  institution,  when  it  is  about  to 
assume  a  more  reputable  shape,  and  to  acquire  a  spacious  and  permanent 
habitation,  it  is  no  more  than  a  becoming  mark  of  attention  to  its  patrons, 


ADDRESS   BY   DE   WITT   CLINTON.  15 

benefactors,  and  friends,  assembled  for  the  first  time  in  this  place,  to  deline- 
ate its  origin,  its  progress,  and  its  present  situation.  The  station  which  I 
occupy  in  this  association,  and  the  request  of  my  much-respected  colleagues, 
have  devolved  this  task  upon  me — a  task  which  I  should  perform  with  un- 
mingled  pleasure,  if  my  avocations  had  afforded  me  time  to  execute  it  with 
fidelity ;  and  I  trust  that  the  humble  objects  of  your  bounty,  presented  this 
day  to  your  view,  will  not  detract  from  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion — 
"  that  ambition  will  not  mock  our  useful  toil,  nor  grandeur  hear  with  a  dis- 
dainful smile  the  simple  annals  of  the  poor." 

In  casting  a  view  over  the  civilized  world,  we  find  an  universal  accord- 
ance in  opinion  on  the  benefits  of  education,  but  the  practical  exposition  of 
this  opinion  exhibits  a  deplorable  contrast.  While  magnificent  colleges  and 
universities  are  erected  and  endowed  and  dedicated  to  literature,  we  be- 
hold few  liberal  appropriations  for  diffusing  the  blessings  of  knowledge 
among  all  descriptions  of  people.  The  fundamental  error  of  Europe  has 
been,  to  confine  the  light  of  knowledge  to  the  wealthy  and  the  great,  while 
the  humble  and  the  depressed  have  been  as  sedulously  excluded  from  its 
participation,  as  the  wretched  criminal,  immured  in  a  dungeon,  is  from  the 
light  of  heaven.  This  cardinal  mistake  is  not  only  to  be  found  in  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  Old  World,  and  in  the  condition  of  its  inhabitants,  but  it  is 
to  be  seen  in  most  of  the  books  which  have  been  written  on  the  subject  of 
education.  The  celebrated  Locke,  whose  treatises  on  government  and  the 
human  understanding  have  crowned  him  with  immortal  glory,  devoted  the 
powers  of  his  mighty  intellect  to  the  elucidation  of  education ;  but  in  the 
very  threshold  of  his  book  we  discover  this  radical  error :  his  treatise  is 
professedly  intended  for  the  children  of  gentlemen.  "  If  those  of  that  rank 
(says  he)  are,  by  their  education,  once  set  right,  they  will  quickly  bring  all 
tlie  rest  in  order ;  "  and  he  appears  to  consider  the  education  of  other  chil- 
dren as  of  little  importance.  The  consequence  of  this  monstrous  heresy  has 
been,  that  ignorance,  the  prolific  parent  of  every  crime  and  vice,  has  pre1- 
dominated  over  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and  a  correspondent  moral 
debasement  has  prevailed.  "  Man  differs  more  from  man  than  man  from 
beast,"  says  a  writer,*  once  celebrated.  This  remark,  however  generally 
false,  will  certainly  apply  with  great  force  to  a  man  in  a  state  of  high  men- 
tal cultivation,  and  man  in  a  state  of  extreme  ignorance. 

This  view  of  human  nature  is  indeed  calculated  to  excite  the  most  pain- 
ful feelings,  and  it  entirely  originates  from  a  consideration  of  the  predomi- 
nating error  which  I  have  expressed.  To  this  source  must  the  crimes  and 
the  calamities  of  the  Old  World  be  principally  imputed.  Ignorance  is  the 
cause  as  well  as  the  effect  of  bad  governments,  and  without  the  cultivation 
of  our  rational  powers,  we  can  entertain  no  just  ideas  of  the  obligations  of 
morality  or  the  excellences  of  religion.  Although  England  is  justly  re- 
nowned for  its  cultivation  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  although  the  poor- 
rates  of  that  country  exceed  five  millions  sterling  per  annum,  yet  (I  adopt 
the  words  of  an  eminent  British  writer)  "  there  is  no  Protestant  country 

*  Montaigne's  Essays. 


16  THE    PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

where  the  education  of  the  poor  has  been  so  grossly  and  infamously  neglect- 
ed as  in  England."  *  If  one  tenth  part  of  that  sum  had  been  applied  to  the 
education  of  the  poor,  the  blessings  of  order,  knowledge,  and  innocence 
would  have  been  diffused  among  them,  the  evil  would  have  been  attacked 
at  the  fountain-head,  and  a  total  revolution  would  have  taken  place  in  the 
habits  and  lives  of  the  people,  favorable  to  the  cause  of  industry,  good 
morals,  good  order,  and  rational  religion. 

More  just  and  rational  views  have  been  entertained  on  this  subject  in  the 
United  States.  Here,  no  privileged  orders,  no  factitious  distinctions  in 
society,  no  hereditary  nobility,  no  established  religion,  no  royal  preroga- 
tives, exist  to  interpose  barriers  between  the  people,  and  to  create  distinct 
classifications  in  society.  All  men  being  considered  as  enjoying  an  equality 
of  rights,  the  propriety  and  necessity  of  dispensing,  without  distinction,  the 
blessings  of  education,  followed  of  course.  In  New  England,  the  greatest 
attention  has  been  invariably  given  to  this  important  object.  In  Connecti- 
cut, particularly,  the  schools  are  supported,  at  least  three  fourths  of  the 
year,  by  the  interest  of  a  very  large  fund  created  for  that  purpose,  and  a 
small  tax  on  the  people ;  the  whole  amounting  to  seventy-eight  thousand 
dollars  per  annum.  The  result  of  this  beneficial  arrangement  is  obvious  and 
striking.  Our  Eastern  brethren  are  a  well-informed  and  moral  people.  In 
those  States  it  is  as  uncommon,  to  find  a  poor  man  who  cannot  read  and 
write,  as  it  is  rare  to  see  one  in  Europe  who  can. 

Pennsylvania  has  followed  the  noble  example  of  New  England.  On  the 
4th  of  April  last,  a  law  was  passed  in  that  State,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  provide 
for  the  education  of  the  poor,  gratis."  The  expense  of  educating  them  is 
made  a  county  charge,  and  the  county  commissioners  are  directed  to  carry 
the  law  into  execution. 

New  York  has  proceeded  in  the  same  course,  but  on  a  different,  and,  peY- 
haps,  more  eligible  plan.  For  a  few  years  back  a  fund  has  been  accumulat- 
ing with  great  celerity,  solemnly  appropriated  to  the  support  of  Common 
Schools.  This  fund  consists,  at  present,  of  nearly  four  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  in  bank-stock,  mortgages,  and  bonds,  and  produces  an  annual 
interest  of  upwards  of  twenty-four  thousand  dollars.  The  capital  will  be 
augmented  by  the  accumulating  interest,  and  the  sale  of  three  hundred  and 
thirty-six  thousand  acres  of  land.  When  the  interest  on  the  whole  amounts 
to  fifty  thousand  dollars,  it  will  be  in  a  state  of  distribution.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  the  whole  fund  will,  in  a  few  years,  amount  to  twelve  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  yielding  a  yearly  income  of  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars.  If  population  is  taken  as  the  ratio  of  distribution,  the 
quota  of  this  city  will  amount  to  seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars — a 
sum  amply  sufficient  on  the  plan  of  our  establishment,  if  judiciously  applied, 
to  accommodate  all  our  poor  with  a  gratuitous  education. 

On  a  comparison  of  the  plan  of  this  State  with  that  of  Pennsylvania,  it 
will  probably  be  found  that  we  are  entitled  to  the  palm  of  superior  excel- 
lence. Our  capital  is  already  created,  and  nothing  more  is  requisite  than  a 

*  Edinburgh  Review. 


ADDRESS   BY   DE    WITT   CLTNTOX.  17 

judicious  distribution  ;  whereas  the  expense  of  school  establishments  in 
that  State  is  to  be  satisfied  by  annual  burdens.  The  people  of  Pennsylvania 
are  therefore  interested  against  a  faithful  execution  of  the  plan,  because  the 
less  that  is  applied  to  education,  the  less  they  will  have  to  pay  in  taxation. 
Abuses  and  perversions  will  of  course  arise  aad  multiply  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  public  bounty.  And  the  laws  of  that  State  being  liable  to  alter- 
ation or  repeal,  her  system  has  not  that  permanency  and  stability  to  which 
ours  can  lay  claim.  It  is  true  that  our  Legislature  may  divert  this  fund ; 
but  it  would  justly  be  considered  a  violation  of  public  faith,  and  a  measure 
of  a  very  violent  character.  As  long  as  the  public  sentiment  is  correct  in 
this  respect,  we  have  no  reason  to  apprehend  that  any  Legislature  will  be 
hardy  enough  to  encounter" the  odium  of  their  constituents  and  the  indig- 
nation of  posterity.  And  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  this  great 
fund,  established  for  sinking  vice  and  ignorance,  will  never  be  diverted  or 
destroyed,  but  that  it  will  remain  unimpaired  and  in  full  force  and  vigor  to 
the  latest  posterity,  as  an  illustrious  establishment,  erected  by  the  benevo- 
lence of  the  State,  for  the  propagation  of  knowledge  and  the  diffusion  of 
virtue  among  the  people. 

A  number  of  benevolent  persons  had  seen,  with  concern,  the  increasing 
vices  of  the  city,  arising,  in  a  great  degree,  from  the  neglected  education  of 
the  poor.  Great  cities  are,  at  all  times,  the  nurseries  and  hot-beds  of  crimes. 
Bad  men  from  all  quarters  repair  to  them,  in  order  to  obtain  the  benefit  of 
concealment,  and  to  enjoy  in  a  superior  degree  the  advantages  of  rapine  and 
fraud.  And  the  dreadful  examples  of  vice  which  are  presented  to  youth, 
and  the  alluring  forms  in  which  it  is  arrayed,  connected  with  a  spirit  of  ex- 
travagance and  luxury,  the  never-failing  attendant  of  great  wealth  and  ex- 
tensive business,  cannot  fail  of  augmenting  the  masS  of  moral  depravity. 
"  In  London,"  says  a  distinguished  writer  on  its  police,  "  aboVe  twenty  thou- 
sand individuals  rise  every  morning  without  knowing  how,  or  by.  what 
means,  they  are  to  be  supported  through  the  passing  day,  and,  in  many 
instances,  even  where  they  are  to  lodge  on  the  ensuing  night."  *  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  hundreds  are  in  the  same  situation  in  this  city,  prowling 
about  our  streets  for  prey,  the  victims  of  intemperance,  the  slaves  of  idle- 
ness, and  ready  to  fall  into  any  vice,  rather  than  to  cultivate  industry  and 
good  order.  How  can  it  be  expected  that  persons  so  careless  of  themselves, 
will  pay  any  attention  to  their  children  ?  The  mendicant  parent  bequeaths 
his  squalid  poverty  to  his  offspring,  and  the  hardened  thief  transmits  a  lega- 
cy of  infamy  to  his  unfortunate  and  depraved  descendants.  Instances  have 
occurred  of  little  children,  arraigned  at  the  bar  of  our  criminal  courts,  who 
have  been  derelict  and  abandoned,  without  a  hand  to  protect,  or  a  voice  to 
guide  them,  through  life.  "When  interrogated  as  to  their  connections,  they 
have  replied  that  they  were  without  home  and  without  friends.  In  this 
state  of  turpitude  and  idleness,  leading  lives  of  roving  mendicancy  and 
petty  depredation,  they  existed,  a  burden  and  a  disgrace  to  the  community. 

True  it  is  that  charity  schools,  entitled  to  eminent  praise,  were  estab- 

*  Colquhoun  on  Police  of  London. 


18  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

lished  in  this  city  ;  but  they  were  attached  to  particular  sects,  and  did  not 
embrace  children  of  different  persuasions.  Add  to  this  that  some  denomi- 
nations were  not  provided  with  these  establishments,  and  that  children  the 
most  in  want  of  instruction  were  necessarily  excluded,  by  the  irreligion  of 
their  parents,  from  the  benefit  of  education. 

After  a  full  view  of  .the  case,  those  persons  of  whom  I  have  spoken 
agreed  that  the  evil  must  be  corrected  at  its  source,  and  that  education  was 
the  sovereign  prescription.  Under  this  impression  they  petitioned  the  Legis- 
lature, who,  agreeably  to  their  application,  passed  a  law,  on  the  9th  of  April, 
1805,  entitled  "  Au  Act  to  incorporate  the  Society  instituted  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  for  the  establishment  of  a  free  school  for  the  education  of  poor 
children  who  do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  provided  for  by,  any  religious 
society."  Thirteen  trustees  were  elected  under  this  act,  on  the  first  Mon- 
day of  the  ensuing  May,  with  power  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  corpora- 
tion. On  convening  together,  they  found  that  they  had  undertaken  a  great 
task  and  encountered  an  important  responsibility ;  without  funds,  without 
teachers,  without  a  house  in  which  to  instruct,  and  without  a  system  of 
instruction  ;  and  that  their  only  reliance  must  be  on  their  own  industry,  on 
the  liberality  of  the  public,  on  the  bounty  of  the  constituted  authorities, 
and  the  smiles  of  the  Almighty  Dispenser  of  all  good. 

In  the  year  1798,  an  obscure  man  of  the  name  of  Joseph  Lancaster,  pos- 
sessed of  an  original  genius  and  a  most  sagacious  mind,  and  animated  by  a 
sublime  benevolence,  devoted  himself  to  the  education  of  the  poor  of  Great 
Britain.  Wherever  he  turned  his  eyes  he  saw  the  deplorable  state  to  which 
they  were  reduced  by  the  prevalence  of  ignorance  and  vice.  He  first  plant- 
ed his  standard  of  charity  in  the  city  of  London,  where  it  was  calculated 
that,  forty  thousand  children  were  left  as  destitute  of  instruction  as  the  sav- 
ages of  the  desert.  And  he  proceeded,  by  degrees,  to  form  and  perfect  a 
systeni  which  is,  in  education,  what  the  neat  finished  machines  for  abridg- 
ing labor  and  expense  are  in  the  mechanic  arts. 

It  comprehends  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  the  knowledge  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  It  arrives  at  its  object  with  the  least  possible  trouble  and 
at  the  least  possible  expense.  Its  distinguishing  characters  are  economy, 
facility,  and  expedition,  and  its  peculiar  improvements  are  cheapness,  activ- 
ity, order,  and  emulation.  It  is  impossible  on  this  occasion  to  give  a  de- 
tailed view  of  the  system.  For  this  I  refer  you  to  a  publication  entitled 
"  Improvements  in  Education,  &c.,  by  Joseph  Lancaster ; "  and  for  its  prac- 
tical exposition  I  beg  you  to  look  at  the  operations  of  this  seminary.  Read- 
ing, in  all  its  processes,  from  the  alphabet  upwards,  is  taught  at  the  same 
time  with  writing,  commencing  with  sand,  proceeding  to  the  slate,  and  from 
thence  to  the  copy-book.  And,  to  borrow  a  most  just  and  striking  remark, 
"  the  beauty  of  the  system  is,  that  nothing  is  trusted  to  the  boy  himself;  he 
does  not  only  repeat  the  lesson  before  a  superior,  but  he  learns  before  a  supe- 
rior." *  Solitary  study  does  not  exist  in  the  establishment.  The  children 
.are  taught  in  companies.  Constant  habits  of  attention  and  vigilance  are 

*  Edinburgh  Review. 


ADDRESS   BY   DE   WITT   CLINTON.  19 

formed,  and  an  ardent  spirit  of  emulation  kept  continually  alive.  Instruc- 
tion is  performed  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  scholars.  The  school 
is  divided  into  classes  of  ten,  and  a  chief,  denominated  a  monitor,  is  ap- 
pointed over  each  class,  who  exercises  a  didactic  and  super-visional  author- 
ity. The  discipline  of  the  school  is  enforced  by  shame,  rather  than  by  the 
infliction  of  pain.  The  punishments  are  varied  with  circumstances ;  and  a 
judicious  distribution  of  rewards,  calculated  to  engage  the  infant  mind  in 
the  discharge  of  its  duty,  forms  the  key-stone  which  binds  together  the 
whole  edifice." 

Upon  this  system  Lancaster  superintended  in  person  a  school  of  one 
thousand  scholars,  at  an  annual  expense  of  three  hundred  pounds  sterling. 
In  1806,  he  proposed,  by  establishing  twenty  or  thirty  schools  in  different 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  to  educate  ten  thousand  poor  children,  at  four  shil- 
lings per.  annum  each.  This  proposition  has  been  carried  into  effect,  and  he 
has  succeeded  in  establishing  twenty  schools  in  different  parts  of  the  king- 
dom, all  of  which  are  under  the  care  of  teachers  educated  by  him,  few  of 
whom  are  more  than  eighteen  years  old.  Several  of  the  schools  have  each 
about  300  scholars;  that  at  Manchester  has  400.  His  great  school  in 
Borough  Road,  London,  flourishes  Very  much ;  it  has  sometimes  1,100  chil- 
dren— seldom  less  than  1,000. 

When  I  perceive  that  many  boys  in'  our  school  have  been  taught  to  read 
and  write  in  two  months,  who  did  not  before  know  the  alphabet,  and  that 
even  one  has  accomplished  it  in  three  weeks — when  I  view  all  the  bearings 
and  tendencies  of  this  system — when  I  contemplate  the  habits  of  order 
which  it  forms,  the  spirit  of  emulation  which  it  excites,  the  rapid  improve- 
ment which  it  produces,  the  purity  of  morals  which  it  inculcates — when  I 
behold  the  extraordinary  union  of  celerity  in  instruction  and  economy  of 
expense— rand  when  I  perceive  one  great  assembly  of  a  thousand  children, 
under  the  eye  of  a  single  teacher,  marching,  with  unexampled  rapidity  and 
with  perfect  discipline,  to  the  goal  of  knowledge,  I  confess  that  I  recognize 
in  Lancaster  the  benefactor  of  the  human  race.  I  consider  his  system  as 
creating  a  new  era  in  education,  as  a  blessing  sent  down  from  heaven  to  re- 
deem the  poor  and  distressed  of  this  world  from  the  power  and  dominion 
of  ignorance.  .; 

Although  the  merits  of  this  apostle  of  benevolence  have  been  generally 
acknowledged  in  his  own  country,  and  he  has  received  the  countenance  and 
protection  of  the  first  men  of  Great  Britain,  yet  calumny  has  lifted  up  her 
voice  against  him,  and  attempts  have  been  made  to  rob  him  of  his  laurels. 
Danger  to  the  Established  Church  and  to  Government  has  been  apprehended 
from  his  endeavors  to  pour  light  upon  mankind.  This  insinuation  has  been 
abundantly  repelled  by  the  tenor  of  his  life — his  carefully  steering  clear,  in 
his  instructions,  of  any  peculiar  creed,  and  his  confining  himself  to  the  gen- 
eral truths  of  Christianity.  "I  have,"  says  Lancaster,  "been  eight  years 
engaged  in  the  benevolent  work  of  superintending  the  education  of  the 
poor.  I  have  had  three  thousand  children,  who  owe  their  education  to  me, 
some  of  whom  have  left  school,  are  apprenticed  or  in  place,  and  are  going 
on  well.  I  have  had  great  influence  with  both  parents  and  children,  among 


20  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

whom  there  is,  nevertheless,  no  one  instance  of  a  convert  to  my  religious 
profession."  That  knowledge  is  the  parent  of  sedition  and  insurrection, 
and  that,  in  proportion  as  the  public  mind  is  illuminated,  the  principles  of 
anarchy  are  disseminated,  is  a  proposition  that  can  never  admit  of  debate, 
at  least  in  this  country. 

But  Lancaster  has  also  been  accused  of  arrogating  to  himself  surrep- 
titious honors,  and  attempts  have  been  made  to  transfer  the  entire  merit  of 
his  great  discovery  to  Dr.  Bell.  Whatever  he  borrowed  from  that  gentle- 
man he  has  candidly1  acknowledged.  The  use  of  sand,  in  teaching,  un- 
doubtedly came  to  him  through  that  channel ;  but  it  has  been  practised  for 
ages  by  the  Brahmins.  He  may  also  be  indebted  to  Bell  for  some  other 
improvements,  but  the  vital  leading  principles  of  his  system  are  emphatically 
an  original  discovery. 

The  trustees  of  this  institution,  after  due  deliberation,  did  not  hesitate 
to  adopt  the  system  of  Lancaster ;  and,  in  carrying  it  into  effect,  they  de- 
rived essential  aid  from  one  of  their  body  .who  had  seen  it  practised  in  Eng- 
land, and  who  had  had  personal  communication  with  its  author.  A  teacher 
was  also  selected  who  has  fully  answered  every  reasonable  expectation.  He 
has  generally  followed  the  prescribed  plan.  "Wherever  he  has  deviated,  he 
has  improved.  A  more  numerous,  a  better  governed  school,  affording  equal 
facilities  to  improvement,  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  United  States. 

Provided  thus  with  an  excellent  system  and  an  able  teacher,  the  school 
was  opened  on  the  6th  of  May,  1806,  in  a  small  apartment  in  Bancker  street. 
This  was  the  first  scion  of  the  Lancaster  stock  in  the  United  States ;  and 
from  this  humble  beginning,  in  the  course  of  little  more  than  three  years, 
you  all  observe  the  rapidity  with  which  we  have  ascended. 

One  great  desideratum  still  remained  to  be  supplied.  Without  sufficient 
funds,  nothing  could  be  efficiently  done.  Animated  appeals  were  made  to 
the  bounty  of  our  citizens,  and  five  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-eight 
dollars  were  collected  by  subscription.  Application  was  also  made  to  the 
Legislature  of  this  State  for  assistance,  and  on  the  27th  of  February,  1807, 
a  law  was  passed  appropriating  four  thousand  dollars,  "  for  the  purpose  of 
erecting  a  suitable  building,  or  buildings,  for  the  instruction  of  poor  chil- 
dren ;  and  every  year  thereafter,  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars,  for  the 
purpose  of  promoting  the  benevolent  objects  of  the  Society."  The  pream- 
ble of  this  liberal  act  contains  a  legislative  declaration  of  the  excellence  of 
the  Lancaster  system,  in  the  following  words :  "  Whereas,  the  Trustees  of 
the  Society  for  establishing  a  Free  School  in  the  City  of  New  York  for  the 
education  of  such  poor  children  as  do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  provided 
for  by,  any  religious  society,  have,  by  their  memorial,  solicited  the  aid  of 
the  Legislature ;  and  whereas  their  plan  of  extending  the  benefits  of  educa- 
tion to  poor  children,  and  the  excellent  mode  of  instruction  adopted  by 
them,  are  highly  deserving  of  the  encouragement  of  Government." 

Application  was  also  made  to  the  Corporation^  the  city  for  assistance  ; 
and  the  tenement  in  Bancker  street  being  in  all  respects  inadequate  to  the 
accommodation  of  the  increasing  establishment,  that  body  appropriated  a 
building  adjacent  to  the  Almshouse,  for  the  temporary  accommodation  of 


ADDRESS   BY   DE   WITT   CLINTON.  21 

the  school,  and  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  towards  putting  it  in  repair ; 
the  Society  agreeing  to  receive  and  educate  fifty  children  from  the  Alms- 
house.  To  this  place  the  school  was  removed  on  the  1st  of  May,  1807, 
where  it  has  continued  until  to-day. 

The  Corporation  also  presented  the  ground  of  this  edifice,  on  which  was 
an  arsenal,  to  the  Society,  on  condition  of  their  educating  the  children  of 
the  Almshouse  gratuitously  ;  and  also  the  sum  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  to 
aid  in  the  completion  of  this  building.  The  value  of  this  lot  and  the  old 
building,  may  be  fairly  estimated  at  ten  thousand  dollars ;  and  the  Society 
hav.e  expended  above  thirteen  thousand  dollars  in  the  erection  and  comple- 
tion of  this  edifice  and  the  adjacent  buildings.  The  income  of  the  school 
during  the  last  year  has  been  about  sixteen  hundred  dollars,  and  its  expense 
did  not  differ  much  from  that  sum.  This  room  will  contain  nearly  six  hun- 
dred scholars,  and  below  there  are  apartments  for  the  family  of  the  teacher, 
for.the  meeting  of  the  trustees,  and  for  a  female  school,  which  may  contain 
one  hundred  scholars,  and  may  be  considered  as  an  useful  adjunct  to  this 
institution.  This  seminary  was  established  about  twelve  years  ago  by  a 
number  of  young  women  belonging  to,  or  professing  with,  the  Society  of 
Friends,  who  have,  with  meritorious  zeal  and  exemplary  industry,  devoted 
much  of  their  personal  attention,  and  all  their  influence,  to  the  education  of 
poor  girls  in  the  elementary  parts  of  education  and  needle-work.  The  sig- 
nal success  which  attended  this  Free  School  animated  the  trustees  with  a 
desire  to  extend  its  usefulness,  and  to  render  it  coextensive  with  the  wants 
of  the  community  and  commensurate  with  the  objects  of  public  bounty. 
A  statute  was  accordingly  passed,  on  their  application,  on  the  1st  of  April, 
1808,  altering  the  style  of  this  corporation,  denominating  it  "  The  Free- 
School  Society  of  New  York,"  and  extending  its  powers  to  all  children  who 
are  the  objects  of  a  gratuitous  education. 

From  this  elevation  of  prosperity  and  this  position  of  philanthropy,  the 
Society  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  that  the  wise  and  the  good  of  this  and 
the  neighboring  States  had  turned  their  attention  to  this  establishment.  A 
number  of  ladies  of  this  city,  distinguished  for  their  consideration  in  soci- 
ety, and  honored  and  respected  for  their  undeviating  cultivation  of  the 
charities  of  life,  established  a  society  for  the  very  humane,  charitable,  and 
laudable  purposes  of  protecting,  relieving,  and  instructing  orphan  children. 
This  institution  was  incorporated  on  the  7th  of  April,  1807,  under  the  style 
of  "  The  Orphan  Asylum  Society  in  the  City  of  New  York  ;  "  and  at  a  sub- 
sequent period  the  Legislature,  under  a  full  conviction  of  its  great  merits 
and  claims  to  public  patronage,  made  a  disposition  in  its  favor,  which  will, 
in  process  of  time,  produce  five  thousand  dollars. 

A  large  building,  fifty  feet  square  and  three  stories  high,  has  been  erect- 
ed for  its  accommodation,  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  and  it  now  contains 
seventy  children,  who  are  supported  by  the  zeal  and  benevolence  of  its  wor- 
thy members,  and  educated  on  the  plan  of  this  institution,  at  an  annual  ex- 
pense of  two  thousand  dollars. 

An  economical  school,  whose  principal  object  is  the  instruction  of  the 
children  of  the  refugees  from  the  West  Indies,  was  opened  some  time  since 


22  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

in  this  city,  where,  in  addition  to  the  elementary  parts  of  education,  gram- 
mar, history,  geography,  and  the  French  language  are  taught.  It  is  con- 
ducted on  the  plan  of  Lancaster,  with  modifications  and. extensions,  and  is 
patronized  and  cherished  by  French  and  American  gentlemen  of  great  worth 
and  respectability,  who  are  entitled  to  every  praise  for  their  benevolence. 
Children  of  either  sex  are  admitted,  without  distinction  of  nation,  religion, 
or  fortune.  This  seminary  is  in  a  flourishing  condition,  and  contains  two 
hundred  scholars.  There  are  two  masters  in  this  seminary,  and  two  women 
who  teach  needle-work ;  and  there  is  a  printing-press,  where  such  as  have 
any  talents  in  that  way  are  taught  that  important  art. 

We  have  also  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  benefits  of  this  system  ex- 
tended, either  in  whole  or  in  part,  to  the  charity  schools  of  the  Dutch, 
Episcopal,  and  Methodist  Churches,  and  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Rut- 
gers street ;  and  also  to  the  school  founded  by  the  Manumission  Society,  for 
the  education  of  the  people  of  color,  which  lias,  in  consequence  of  this 
amelioration,  been  augmented  from  seventy  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  chil- 
dren. 

In  Philadelphia  the  same  laudable  spirit  has  been  manifested.  Two 
deputations  from  that  city  have  visited  us  for  the  express  purpose  of  exam- 
ining our  school.  One  of  these  made  so  favorable  a  report  on  their  return, 
that  a  number  of  the  more  enterprising  and  benevolent  citizens,  composed 
of  members  belonging  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  immediately  associated 
under  the  name  of  the  "  Adelphi  Society,"  and  raised,  by  private  subscrip- 
tion, a  sum  sufficient  to  purchase  a  suitable  lot  of  ground,  to  erect  a  hand- 
some two-story  brick  building  seventy-five  feet  in  length  and  thirty-five  in 
breadth,  in  which  they  formed  two  spacious  rooms.  The  Adelphi  school 
now  contains  two  hundred  children,  under  the  care  of  one  teacher,  and  is 
eminently  prosperous.  The  other  deputation  made  also  a  favorable  report, 
and  "The  Philadelphia  Free-School  Society,"  an  old  and  respectable  institu- 
tion, adopted.,  in  consequence,  our  system,  where  it  flourishes  beyond  expec- 
tation. 

Two  female  schools,  one  called  the  "  Aimwell  School,"  in  Philadelphia, 
and  another  in  Burlington,  N.  J.,  have  also  embraced  our  plan  with  equal 
success. 

I  trust  that  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  this  detail.  The  origin  and  progress 
of  beneficial  discoveries  cannot  be  too  minutely  specified ;  and  when  their 
diffusion  can  only  be  exceeded  by  their  excellence,  we  have  peculiar  reason 
to  congratulate  the  friends  of  humanity.  This  prompt  and  general  encour- 
agement is  honorable  to  our  national  character,  and  shows  conclusively  that 
the  habits,  manners,  and  opinions  of  the  American  people  are  favorable  to 
the  reception  of  truth  and  the  propagation  of  knowledge.  And  no  earthly 
consideration  could  induce  the  benevolent  man  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for 
what  we  see  this  day,,  to  exchange  his  feelings,  if  from  the  obscure  mansions 
of  indigence,  in  which,  in  all  human  probability,  he  now  is  instilling  com- 
fort into  the  hearts  and  infusing  knowledge  into  the  minds  of  the  poor,  he 
could  hear  the  voice  of  a  great  and  enlightened  people  pronouncing  his 
eulogium,  and  see  this  parent  seminary,  and  the  establishments  which  have 


ADDRESS   BY   DE   WITT   CLINTON.  23 

sprung  from  its  bosom,  diffusing  light,  imparting  joy,  and  dispensing  virtue. 
His  tree  of  knowledge  is  indeed  transplanted  to  a  more  fertile  soil  and  a 
more  congenial  clime.  It  has  flourished  with  uncommon  vigor  and  beauty  ; 
its  luxuriant  and  wide-spreading  branches  afford  shelter  to  all  who  require 
it ;  its  ambrosial  fragrance  fills  the  land,  and  its  head  reaches  the  heavens  ! 

Far  be  it  from  my  intention  to  prevent  future  exertion.  For,  although 
much  has  been  done,  yet  much  remains  to  do,  to  carry  into  full  effect  the 
system.  It  would  be  improper  to  conceal  from  you,  that,  in  order  to  finish 
this  edifice,  v/e  have  incurred  a  considerable  debt,  which  our  ordinary  in- 
come cannot  extinguish ;  and  that,  therefore,  we  must  repose  ourselves  on 
the  public  beneficence.  It  has  been  usual  to  supply  the  more  indigent  chil- 
dren with  necessaries,  to  protect  them  against  the  inclemencies  of  winter ; 
for  without  this  provision  their  attendance  would  be  utterly  impracticable. 
This  has  hitherto  been  accomplished  by  the  bounty  of  individuals,  and  to 
no  other  source  can  we  at  present  appeal  with  success. 

The  law  from  which  we  derive  our  corporate  existence  does  not  confine 
us  to  one  seminary,  but  contemplates  the  establishment  of  schools.  A  re- 
striction to  a  single  institution  would  greatly  impair  our  usefulness,  and 
would  effectually  discourage  those  exertions  which  are  necessary  in  order  to 
spread  knowledge  among  all  the  indigent. 

Col.  Henry  Rutgers,  with  his  characteristic  benevolence,  has  made  a  do- 
nation of  two  lots  in  Henry  street,  worth  at  least  twenty-five  hundred  dol- 
lars, to  this  corporation.  By  a  condition  contained  in  one  of  the  deeds,  it  is 
necessary  that  we  should  erect  a  school-house  by  June,  1811 ;  and  it  is  high- 
ly proper,  without  any  reference  to  the  condition,  that  this  should  be  accom- 
plished as  soon  as  possible,  in  order  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  indigent  in 
that  populous  part  of  the  city.  If  some  charitable  and  public-spirited  citi- 
zen would  follow  up  this  beneficence,  and  make  a  similar  conveyance  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  city,  and  if  the  liberality  of  the  public  shall  dispense 
the  means  of  erecting  the  necessary  buildings,  then  the  exigencies  of  all  our 
poor,  with  respect  to  education,  would  be  amply  supplied  for  a  number  of 
years. 

.  After  our  youth  are  instructed  in  the  elements  of  useful  knowledge,  it  is 
indispensable  to  their  future  usefulness  that  some  calling  should  be  marked 
out  for  them.  As  most  of  them  will  undoubtedly  be  brought  up  in  useful 
trades,  pecuniary  means  to  facilitate  their  progress  to  this  object  would,  if 
properly  applied,  greatly  redound  to  the  benefit  of  the  individual,  as  well  as 
to  the  poor  of  the  community. 

In  such  an  extensive  and  comprehensive  establishment  we  are  to  expect, 
according  to  the  course  of  human  events,  that  children  of  extraordinary- 
genius  and  merit  will  rise  up,  entitled  to  extraordinary  patronage.  To  select 
such  from  the  common  mass — to  watch  over  their  future  destiny — to  advance 
them  through  all  the  stages  of  education  and  through  all  the  grades  of 
knowledge,  and  to  settle  them  in  useful  and  honorable  professions,  are  duties 
of  primary  importance,  and  indispensable  obligations.  This,  however,  will 
require  considerable  funds ;  but  of  what  estimation  are  pecuniary  sacrifices, 
when  put  in  the  scale  against  the  important  benefits  that  may  result  ?  And 


24:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

if  we  could  draw  aside  the  veil  of  futurity,  perhaps  we  might  see  iu  the  off- 
spring of  this  establishment,  so  patronized  and  so  encouraged,  characters 
that  will  do  honor  to  human  nature — that  will  have  it  in  their  power 

The  applause  of  listening  senates  to  command, 

The  threats  of  pain  and  ruin  to  despise  ; 
To  scatter  plenty  o'er  a  smiling  land, 

And  read  their  history  in  a  nation's  eyes. 

The  experience  of  the  Society  having  made  the  expediency 
of  an  amendment  of  the  law  apparent,  the  trustees  memorial- 
ized the  Legislature  accordingly,  and  on  the  24th  of  March, 
1810,  an  act  was  passed,  directing  that  no  person  should  be 
thereafter  entitled  to  become  a  member  of  the  Society  unless  he 
should  contribute  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  ;  and  that  every  mem- 
ber hereafter  admitted  should  have  the  right  to  send  one  child 
to  one  of  the  schools  of  the  Society ;  but  that  nothing  in  the 
act  should  be  deemed  to  affect  the  rights  of  those  who  were 
members  at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  act. 

It  was  also  enacted,  that  at  each  first  meeting  of  the  trus- 
tees, after  every  annual  election,  it  should  be  in  their  discretion 
to  appoint,  out  of  the  members  of  the  Society,  an  additional 
number  of  trustees,  not  exceeding  five.  In  the  same  act  the 
Legislature  made  a  further  Appropriation  of  the  sum  of  four 
thousand  dollars  for  the  Society. 

The  trustees  deeming  it  advisable  to  establish,  without  loss 
of  time,  another  school  on  the  ground  presented  by  Col.  Henry 
Rutgers,  subscriptions  were  opened  early  m  the  year  1810,  for 
the  purpose  of  enabling  them  to  erect  the  contemplated  build- 
ing. The  benevolence  of  the  citizens  of  New  York,  great  on  all 
occasions,  promptly  responded  to  this  effort ;  and  although  the 
trustees  had  so  recently  collected  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars, they  obtained,  on  this  occasion,  an  additional  subscription 
of  over  thirteen  thousand  dollars. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  the  trustees  were  deprived 
of  the  services  of  one  of  their  ablest  coadjutors,  by  the  death  of 
their  Secretary,  BENJAMIN  D.  PERKINS.  His  labors  in  behalf  of 
the  Society  had  been  of  marked  value,  and  a  record  was  entered 
on  the  minutes  expressive  of  their  sense  of  the  loss  which  had 
been  sustained,  and  of  their  respect  and  esteem  for  the  memory 
of  their  fellow-laborer. 

A  committee  having  been  appointed  to  proceed  with  and 


SCHOOL   NO.    2.  25 

superintend  the  erection  of  the  school-house  in  Henry  street,  and 
the  necessary  contracts  having  been  completed,  the  corner-stone 
of  the  new  building  was  laid  on  the  llth  of  November,  1810,  by 
the  benevolent  donor  of  the  site.  The  ceremony  was  witnessed  by 
several  members  of  the  Corporation  of  the  city,  and  other  citizens. 

In  December  of  the  same  year,  one  hundred  dollars  were 
appropriated  to  the  purchase  of  suitable  books,  to  commence  a 
circulating  library  for  the  school,  additions  to  which  were  solicit- 
ed from  the  members  of  the  Society.  During  the  same  month  a 
legacy  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  was  bequeathed  to  the 
Society  by  CHARLES  LE  Roux,  Esq. 

The  year  1811  was  marked  by  the  further  extension  of  public 
patronage  and  assistance.  The  Legislature  again  testified  their 
approbation  of  the  institution,  by  the  passage  of  an  act,  on  the 
30th  of  March,  in  which  a  grant  of  four  thousand  dollars  was 
made  to  tlie  Society  for  building  purposes,  and  an  additional 
annual  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars,  until  the  pleasure  of  the 
Legislature  should  otherwise  determine. 

Two  eligible  positions  for  schools  having  now  been  obtained, 
it  appeared  to  the  trustees  that  an  additional  school  in  the  north- 
western part  of  the  city  would  enable  them  to  extend  the  sphere 
of  their  usefulness  with  great  benefit  to  that  vicinity.  The  vil- 
lage of  Greenwich  at  that  time  comprised  a  suburban  population 
of  considerable  magnitude,  presenting,  in  the  character  of  a  large 
class  of  its  population,  a  ripe  field  for  the  labors  of  the  Society. 
A  large  portion  of  the  landed  property  belonged  to  the  corpora- 
tion of  Trinity  Church ;  and,  inspired  with  some  hope  that  the 
petition  would  be  responded  to,  the  trustees  appealed  to  the 
vestry,  in  the  spring  of  1811,  for  a  site  for  a  new  free  school. 
The  vestry  promptly  and  generously  granted  to  the  Society  two 
large  lots  of  ground  at  the  corner  of  Hudson  and  Grove  streets, 
near  the  village  of  Greenwich.  The  estimated  value  of  the  lots 
was  one  thousand  dollars. 

The  building  in  Henry  street  being  completed,  it  was  opened 
on  the  13th  of  November,  1811,  and  known  as  School  No.  2. 
The  edifice  was  eighty  feet  in  length  and  forty  in  width,  and 
accommodated  three  hundred  children  ;  while  in  the  lower  story 
was  an  apartment  suitable  for  the  use  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
others.  The  building  resembled  that  erected  for  No.  1,  in  Chat- 
ham street,  although  much  smaller  in  size,  and,  like  it,  had  ac- 


26  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

commodations  for  the  family  of  the  teacher.  It  was  completed 
at  an  expense  of  about  $11,000. 

The  increasing  labor  and  responsibility  devolving  upon  the 
trustees  led  them  to  desire  a  further  addition  to  their  working 

C3 

force  by  an  increase  of  their  number,  and  they  applied  to  the 
Legislature  for  authority  to  make  this  election.  In  compliance 
with  the  request,  that  body  passed  an  act,  on  the  28th  of  Febru- 
ary, 1812,  directing  that  the  Society  should  thereafter  elect  six 
trustees  in  addition  to  those  primarily  authorized  by  law. 

The  system  which  had  been  commenced  with  so  much  solici- 
tude and  care  had  now  reached  a  point  in  its  history  when  it  was 
regarded  as  being  not  only  a  permanent,  but  an  expansive,  institu- 
tion. The  responsibility  of  so  organizing  and  maturing  the  sys- 
tem of  instruction  as  to  make  it  at  once  thorough  in  its  operations 
and  as  faultless  as  possible  in  its  details,  in  order  that  it  should 
commend  itself  to  the  public  favor  and  confidence,  was  deeply  felt. 

The  original  object  of  the  Society  having  been  to  provide  for 
the  education  of  those  children  "  who  did  not  belong  to,  or  were 
not  provided  for,  by  any  religious  society,"  the  question  would 
naturally  present  itself  to  the  minds  of  all  who  were  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  inculcating  moral  and  religious  truth, 
whether  such  a  class  of  children,  and  so  numerous  as  they  ap- 
peared to  be,  should  be  left  without  such  instruction.  Pleasure 
and  satisfaction  were  expressed  by  all  acquainted  with  the  schools 
at  the  results  which  had  been  reached  in  the  literary  training  of 
the  pupils,  and  the  improvement  in  their  conduct  and  inter- 
course, to  which  special  attention  was  given.  Yet  there  were 
some  who  thought  that  sufficient  care  had  not  been  bestowed  in 
the  communication  of  specific  religious  instruction.  A.  concern 
of  such  high  importance  had  not,  however,  been  overlooked  by 
the  trustees ;  and  they  had  pursued  such  measures  in  regard  to 
it  as  they  considered  to  be  most  expedient.  The  board  was 
composed  of  persons  of  almost  every  religious  denomination — 
men  who  were  attached  to  their  respective  creeds,  and  who 
would  not  fail,  on  suitable  occasions,  to  recommend  them  to  the 
attention  of  others.  But,  in  the  schools  under  their  care,  they 
had  studiously  avoided  the  inculcation  of  the  peculiar  tenets  of 
any  one  religious  society  or  denomination.  From  the  commence- 
ment of  their  effort,  they  had  directed  that  the  Holy  Scriptures 
should  be  read  daily  in  the  schools  ;  and  it  was  thought  that  the 


THE   FEMALE   ASSOCIATION.  27 

minds  of  the  children  could  not  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the 
sublime  precepts  and  the  inspired  teachings  of  the  Sacred  Vol- 
ume. In  order,  however,  to  meet  the1  wishes  of  all,  it  was 
deemed  expedient  to  suspend  the  exercises  of  the  school  on  Tues- 
day afternoon  of  each  week,  and  devote  the  time  of  the  session 
exclusively  to  the  religious  instruction  of  the  children.  An  asso- 
ciation of  more  than  fifty  ladies  of  the  first  position  and  charac- 
ter, and  belonging  to  the  different  religious  denominations  in  the 
city,  volunteered  their  services ;  and  they  accordingly  met  at  the 
schools  to  examine  the  children  in  their  respective  catechisms  on 
the  day  appointed  for  that  purpose. 

In  addition  to  these  labors,  it  was  also  determined  that  the 
children  should  assemble  at  their  respective  schools  on  the  morning 
of  every  Sunday,  and  proceed,  under  the  care  of  a  monitor,  to  the 
places  of  public  worship  to  which  they  respectively  belonged. 

Thus  far  the  schools  had  been  organized  for  males  only  ;  but 
apartments  were  reserved -in  both  the  buildings  for  the  use  of 
female  schools,  and  in  these  rooms  the  FEMALE  ASSOCIATION, 
composed  of  ladies,  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  conduct- 
ed schools  for  girls.  They  adopted  the  Lancasterian  plan  cf 
instruction,  similar  to  that  of  the  male  schools,  and  besides  the 
elementary  parts  of  education,  they  taught  needle-work  and 
other  useful  employments.  The  two  schools  were  attended  by 
about  three  hundred  girls,  while  the  boys'  schools  numbered 
about  eight  hundred  pupils  as  the  average  attendance. 

Kine  years  had  now  elapsed  since  the  foundation  of  the  Soci- 
ety, and  the  trustees  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  their  efforts 
not  only  crowned  writh  success,  but  their  enterprise  placed  on  a 
liberal  and  permanent  basis,  which  exceeded  all  the  anticipations 
they  had  dared  to  entertain.  They  had  introduced  to  this  coun- 
try a  method  of  instruction  well  adapted  to  effect  its  objects, 
comprehensive  and  economical.  It  had  demonstrated  its  utility, 
its  simplicity,  and  its  value,  and  had  so  stimulated  the  labors  of 
philanthropists  in  other  cities  and  towns,  that  many  similar  insti- 
tutions had  sprung  into  existence,  modelled  after  the  parent  so- 
ciety in  New  York.  The  benefits  thus  positively  reaped  were 
multiplied,  and  an  impetus  was  given  to  the  work  of  popular 
education,  which  could  scarcely  have  been  gained  by  any  other 
method,  however  good,  which  did  not  possess  its  novelty  and  its 
characteristics. 


28  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


%  CHAPTER   II. 

HISTORY    FROM    1817-1822. 

New  Schools  Proposed— Lancasterian  Teacher  from  England — A  Legacy — Instruction 
of  Monitors — Economy — Discipline — School  No.  3 — School  No.  4 — School  Libra- 
ries— Teachers  Trained — Charles  Picton — The  Freemasons— Monitors  and  Ap- 
prentices— "  Morning  Schools  " — New  Regulations — Manual — Shepherd  Johnson 
— Joseph  Lancaster — Visit  to  New  York — Finances — Memorial  to  the  Legislature 
— Grant  of  $5,000 — Address  to  the  Parents  and  Guardians  of  Children — Sunday, 
and  Sunday  Schools — The  Female  Association — School  No.  4  Opened — Death  of 
John  Murray — New  Building  for  No.  3 — Manual  of  Instruction — State  of  the 
Schools — Rev.  J.  N.  Maffit's  Address  to  the  Schools — School  No.  2 — Catechism 
Adopted — Visit  of  a  Committee  of  the  Legislature — The  Bethel  Baptist  Church — 
Special  Privileges — School  No.  5 — Plans  and  Estimates  for  Extension  of  the  Sys- 
tem— A  Man  of  Fortune,  and  a  Man  in  Independent  Circumstances — Lots  for 
School  No.  5  Purchased— The  Bethel  Baptist  Church. 

THE  population  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  city  increased,  and 
offered  a  growing  field  for  the  operations  of  the  Society.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  year  181T,  the  propriety  of  erecting  a  school- 
house  in  a  central  location,  between,  the  Bowery  and  the  East 
River,  was  discussed  ;  and  Thomas  Eddy,  James  Palmer,  Henry 
Eckford,  Xoah  Brown,  and  "Whitehead  Hicks  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  ascertain  what  amount  of  subscriptions  could  be 
obtained  toward  the  purchase  of  lots  and  the  erection  of  a 
building,  and  also  to  obtain  plans  and  estimates.  In  consequence 
of  the  difficulty  of  procuring  a  proper  site,  the  purchase  was  not 
made  until  1818,  when  three  lots  were  obtained  in  Rivington 
street,  upon  which  the  school  known  as  Ko.  4  was  afterward 
erected. 

The  employment  of  competent  teachers  for  the  schools  sug- 
gested to  the  board  the  propriety  of  securing  the  services  of  an 
experienced  teacher,  well  qualified  to  conduct  a  school  on  the 
Lancasterinn  system  as  taught  in  England.  A  committee  of 
three  was  appointed  to  correspond  with  gentlemen  in  that  coun- 
try, who  should  select  a  teacher  thus  qualified. 


NEW   SCHOOLS.  29 

During  the  year,  a  legacy  of  two  hundred  ajid  fifty  dollars 
was  received  from  the  estate  of  Mary  McCrea,  and  another  of 
five  hundred  dollars,  bequeathed  by  John  Van  Blarcom,  which 
were  valuable  contributions  to  the  means  of  the  Society. 

The  organization  of  a  class  of  monitors,  who  should  enjoy 
the  benefits  of  a  systematic  training  in  advanced  studies,  formed 
an  important  measure  in  the  work  of  the  year. 

The  necessity  of  an  economical  administration  of  the  affairs 
of  the  Society,  which  had  always  been  of  primary  consideration 
with  the  trustees,  was  urged  upon  the  attention  of  the  board, 
and  referred  to  a  committee.  The  report  embraced  the  follow- 
ing recommendations : 

1st.  That  the  office  of  assistants  be  abolished. 

2d.  That  no  rewards  be  given  to  the  monitors  in  money,  nor 
in  any  tiling  else,  except  on  extraordinary  occasions,  arid  those 
of  but  small  value. 

3d.  That  one  or  two  persons  be  appointed  whose  business  it 
should  be  to  purchase  all  supplies  for  the  institution,  on  the  low- 
est possible  terms. 

The  first  recommendation  was  promptly  adopted,  and  a  reso- 
lution was  passed  terminating  the  engagements  of  the  assistant 
teachers  at  the  expiration  of  the  several  terms  for  which  they 
were  employed.  Jacob  Lorillard  and  Lindley  Murray  were  ap- 
pointed supply  committee ;  and  the  question  in  reference  to 
monitors  entered  into  the  general  plan  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, and  the  organization  of  the  monitorial  class. 

The  system  of  rewards  and  discipline  occupied  the  special 
attention  of  the  board  during  a  part  of  the  year,  and  the  report 
of  the  committee  to  whom  that  subject  had  been  assigned  was 
submitted  at  the  first  meeting  held  in  1818. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  year,  the  residents  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  city  known  as  Corlear's  Hook  presented  a  petition  for 
the  establishment  of  a  free  school  in  then*  vicinity ;  but  the 
trustees  were  unable  to  comply  with  the  application. 

In  the  early  part  of  1818,  information  was  communicated  to 
the  board  that  a  room  in  the  building  on  the  corner  of  Hudson 
and  Christopher  streets  could  be  procured  from  the  Corporation 
of  the  city  for  school  purposes ;  and  Thomas  C.  Taylor,  Najah 
Taylor,  and  John  K.  Murray  Were  named  as  a  committee  to 
make  application  for  the  premises,  if  found  suitable,  and  super- 


30  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

intend  their  preparation  for  the  reception  of  pupils.  The  com- 
mittee reported,  on  the  1st  of  May,  that  the  arrangements  had 
been  made ;  and  SHEPHERD  JOHNSON,  who  had  heen  trained  in 
Free  School  No.  1,  was  appointed  teacher,  at  a  salary  of  five 
hundred  dollars  per  annum.  The  school  was  opened  on  the  25th 
of  the  same  month,  with  51  pupils,  the  number  of  which  was 
increased  to  196  before  the  5th  of  June. 

The  school  increased  in  numbers  with  such  rapidity,  that,  at 
the  meeting  of  the  board  held  on  the  23d  of  the  same  month, 
the  committee  reported  that  216  scholars  had  been  admitted, 
with  a  regular  attendance  of  over  200.  The  room,  however,  not 
being  large  enough  to  accommodate  more  than  164  scholars,  a 
recommendation  was  submitted  that  application  be  made  to  the 
Corporation  for  the  use  of  another  apartment  in  the  same  build- 
ing. This  application  was  made  and  promptly  granted. 

At  the  meeting  held  on  the  1st  of  May,  the  committee  for 
the  purchase  of  lots  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  city  reported  that 
they  had  contracted  with  John  K.  Livingston  for  the  purchase 
of  three  lots  of  ground  in  Kivington  street,  between  Ridge  and 
Pitt  streets,  for  seven  hundred  dollars  each.  The  action  of  the 
committee  was  approved  by  the  board,  .and  they  were  author- 
ized to  make  the  purchase.  The  treasurer  was  directed  to  sell 
sufficient  stock  held  by  the  Society  to  meet  the  warrant  of  the 
committee  of  purchase.  The  report  of  plans  and  estimates  for 
the  building  was  submitted  in  September,  and  the  sum  of 
§10,724.36  was  named  as  the  cost  of  the  erection  of  the  new 
house,  which  became  known  as  No.  4.  The  contract,  however, 
was  made  for  $9,000. 

At  the  close  of  the  year,  a  committee  on  the  "  state  of  the 
New  York  Free  School  "  reported  several  measures  of  improve- 
ment, among  which  was  the  establishment  of  school  libraries. 
The  resolution  of  the  committee  called  for  the  expenditure  of 
fifty  dollars  for  books  for  a  library  for  each  school,  the  use  to  be 
limited  to  the  best  scholars,  who  should  form  a  "  class  of 
merit." 

The  same  committee  recommended  that  young  men  wishing 
to  qualify  themselves  for  the  profession  of  teaching  on  the  sys- 
tem of  Joseph  Lancaster,  should  be  allowed  to  visit  the  schools 
and  assist  the  teacher  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  and,  after  a 
period  of  six  weeks  spent  in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  sys- 


THE   FREEMASONS.  31 

tern,  they  should  be  furnished  with  a  certificate  k>  that  effect, 
signed  by  the  president  and  secretary. 

The  committee  appointed  to  correspond  with  the  secretary 
of  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society,  with  reference  to  the 
selection  of  an  experienced  Lancasterian  teacher,  reported,  early 
in  June,  that  they  had  received  a  letter  from  that  gentleman, 
communicating  the  fact  that  they  had  made  choice  of  Mi\ 
CHARLES  PICTON,  who  was  approved  by  the  Society,  and  had 
been  engaged  on  the  terms  offered  by  the  committee,  and  that 
he  would  sail  for  New  York  in  June.  A  resolution  of  thanks  to 
the  secretary  was  adopted,  and  the  committee  directed  to  re- 
ceive Mr.  Picton  on  his  arrival. 

At  the  meeting  held  on  September  4,  the  chairman  laid  be- 
fore the  board  a  letter  from  the  British  and  Foreign  School 
Society,  introducing  Mr.  Picton,  the*  teacher,  who  had  arrived, 
and  awaited  the  action  of  the  board.  Mr.  Picton  was  present 
and  introduced  to  the  trustees,  and  cordially  welcomed  to  his 
new  field  of  labor. 

During  the  year  1810,  an  arrangement  had  been  made  be- 
tween a  committee  of  the  Free-School  Society  and  a  committee 
acting  on  behalf  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Freemasons,  for  the 
education  of  fifty  children  of  members  of  that  Society,  on  the 
annual  payment  of  three  hundred  dollars.  The  arrangement 
was  approved  by  the  board  on  the  4th  of  June,  1810,  and  was 
continued  until  the  close  of  1817,  when  the  treasurer  was  noti- 
fied that  the  Grand  Lodge  desired  to  terminate  the  agreement. 

In  January,  1818,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  board 
to  report  upon  the  communication  from  the  Grand  Lodge ;  and 
in  June  the  committee  reported  in  favor  of  terminating  the 
arrangement,  and  at  the  same  time  recommended  that  the  chil- 
dren presented  for  admission  by  the  Masons  should  enjoy  all  the 
advantages  of  the  Free-School  Society,  without  any  discrimina- 
tion. The  report  was  unanimously  adopted. 

The  committee  on  the  classification  and  education  of  moni- 
tors, besides  other, recommendations,  in  October  submitted  a  re- 
port, in  which  it  was  advised  that  monitors  should  be  indentured 
as  apprentices  to  the  Society,  to  learn  the  art  of  teaching  by  a 
regular  form,  as  in  other  pursuits.  The  matter  was  discussed  at 
several  meetings,  and  finally  recommitted,  as  the  power  of  the 
board  to  hold  apprentices  was  doubtful.  The  committee  was 


32  TIIE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

enlarged,  and  authorized  to  prepare  a  memorial  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, asking  for  the  proper  legal  assistance  in  perfecting  the 
measure,  if  deemed  advisable. 

The  report  on  the  general  interests  of  the  institution,  which 
was  presented  by  the  committee  in  November,  contained  several 
propositions,  which  were  adopted  by  the  board.  Among  these 
were  the  following : "  Morning  schools  to  be  held  from  6  to  8 
o'clock,  for  the  "  apprentices,"  or  monitors,  and  the  more  merito- 
rious of  the  pupils  in  the  higher  classes ;  the  ordering  of  an 
annual  invoice  of  the  quantity  of  supplies  required  in  each  of 
the  schools  for  the  year  ;  a  provision  of  $50  for  a  library  for  the 
several  schools ;  and  the  permission  to  young  men  to  practice 
teaching  in  the  schools,  and  receive  credentials  accordingly. 

A  petition  for  the  establishment  of  a  school  in  the  northeast- 
em  section  of  the  city  was*  received,  and  referred  to  a  commit- 
tee, Consisting  of  James  Palmer,  Henry  Eckford,  Whitehead 
Hicks,  John  Withington,  and  Benjamin  Marshall,  who  were 
directed  to  report  on  all  questions  relative  to  the  enterprise. 

A  manual  of  the  system  of  instruction  adopted  in  the  schools 
being  deemed  desirable,  the  preparation  of  the  work  was  en- 
trusted to  Jeremiah  Thompson,  Rensselaer  Havens,  and  Samuel 
Wood. 

A  resolution  was  adopted,  on  the  4th  of  December,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  teacher  of  No.  3,  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That,  on  account  of  the  increased  size  of  SHEPHEBD  JOHNSON'S 
school,  and  the  satisfactory  discharge  of  duty  on  his  part,  his  salary  be  in- 
creased to  eight  hundred  dollars,  to  date  from  the  1st  of  November  last. 

JOSEPH  LANCASTER,  the  founder  of  the  system  of  instruction 
known  by  his  name,  was  at  this  time  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
on  a  visit  in  behalf  of  popular  education.  To  afford  him  the 
opportunity  of  making  his  system  known,  as  well  as  to  receive 
the  benefits  of  his  suggestions  and  long  experience,  the  board 
adopted  a  resolution,  offered  by  the  president,  DE  WITT  CLIN- 
TON, permitting  him  to  use  the  school-rooms  of  the  Society  at 
such  hours  as  were  not  devoted  to  instruction,  for  the  purpose  of 
delivering  lectures  on  the  monitorial  system. 

The  commencement  of  the  year  1819  found  the  Society  in  a 
condition  of  active  usefulness,  but  with  insufficient  means.  The 
demands  made  upon  its  resources  in  order  to  keep  the  schools  in 


MEMORIAL   TO   THE   LEGISLATURE.  33 

operation,  and  to  supply  the  books  and  other  apparatus  of  in- 
struction, were  so  considerable  as  to  make  an  effort  at  retrench- 
ment necessary,  and  almost  Imperative.  The  committee  to 
whom  the  question  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  Society  had 
been  referred,  reported  in  January,  and  submitted  the  following 
facts : 

The  payments  of  the  last  quarter,  exclusive  of  those  on  ac- 
count of  fitting  up  premises  for  ~No.  3,  and  building  No.  4,' 
amounted  to  $2,035.78,  or  $680  per  month. 

The  expenses  of  the  year,  as  estimated  by  the  committee, 
amounted  to  $14,300  ;  to  provide  for  which  there  was  a  balance 
in  the  treasury  of  $2,235  ;  probable  collections  in.  the  Seventh 
Ward,  $500 ;  rents,  &c.,  $100 ;  total,  $2,235 ;  leaving  a  deficien- 
cy of  $11,465. 

The  committee  recommended  that  an  application  be  made  to 
the  Legislature  for  pecuniary  aid,  and  that  temporary  loans  be 
secured  until  permanent  relief  should  be  afforded  from  other 
sources.  The  salaries  of  the  teachers  of  Nos.  1  and  2  were  also 
reduced  to  $800  per  annum  ;  and  it  was  also  recommended  that 
tho  regulations  allowing  board  and  clothing  to  the  monitors  gen- 
eral should  be  abolished,  and  an  annual  salary  of  $100  be 
allowed  them.  It  was  estimated  that  these  retrenchments  would 
save  the  Society  about  $1,000  yearly. 

The  committee  also  suggested  that  a  statement  of  the  finan- 
cial condition  of  the  Society  should  be  made  to  the  Female  As- 
sociation which  had  the  charge  of  the  schools  for  girls,  and  that 
they  be  informed  that  a  payment  of  $500  a  year  as  rental  would 
be  received  in  aid  of  the  Society,  but  that  the  said  communica- 
tion should  not  be  construed  as  a  demand. 

The  report  of  the  committee  was  adopted,  and  the  several 
measures  recommended  were  referred  to  appropriate  special  com- 
mittees for  their  action. 

On  the  19th  of  January,,  the  board  held  a  meeting  to  con- 
sider the  report  of  the  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  to  the 
Legislature,  which  was  adopted,  as  follows  : 

To  the  Representatives  of  the  People  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  Senate  and 

Assembly  convened  : 

The  Memorial  of  the  Free-School  Society  of  New  'Yorfc, 
RESPECTFULLY  SHEWETH, 

That,  in  the  year  1805,  your  memorialists,  under  a  deep  conviction 
3 


34r  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

that  early  and  wholesome  principles  of  education  were  of  the  first  impor- 
tance to  the  security,  prosperity,  and  happiness  of  every  community,  united 
their  exertions  to  establish  the  Free-School  Society  of  New  York. 

Feelin"  the  insufficiency  of  their  efforts,  unless  sustained  by  public  mu- 
nificence, they  have  applied  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  at  various  times 
for  aid  and  assistance,  and  met  with  an  encouragement  characteristic  of  the 
Representatives  of  an  enlightened  people. 

Fostered  by  legislative  bounty  and  private  liberality,  they  have  been 
enabled  to  persevere  in  the  prosecution  of  their  object,  and  to  crown  their 
original  design  with  great  success. 

From  the  establishment  of  the  Free-School  Society  to  the  present  time, 
7,541  children  have  been  taught  in  the  schools  under  its  superintendence ; 
and  there  are  now  in  the  schools  1,169  children  who  are  daily  instructed  in 
the  various  branches  of  elementary  education,  so  far  as  is  requisite  for  the 
transaction  of  business  in  the  ordinary  concerns  of  life. 

In  extending  these  blessings,  your  memorialists  have  adopted  the  Lan- 
easterian  plan  of  instruction,  which  was  introduced  into  the  United  States 
by  them,  and  has  been  found  preferable  to  all  others.  The  experience  of 
Europe,  wherein  its  principles  have  been  extensively  adopted,  sanctions  its 
superior  excellence ;  and  in  our  own  country,  so  far  as  it  has  been  practised, 
it  has  received  the  most  unqualified  approbation.  Its  preference  has  been 
found  in  the  saving  of  expense,  when  compared  with  the  ordinary  methods 
of  school  instruction,  and  in  the  ease  and  expedition  with  which  children 
can  be  taught  the  requisite  lessons.  The  expense  of  each  pupil  has  been 
found  to  be  less  than  four  dollars  annually,  including  teachers'  salaries,  sta- 
tionery, and  all  other  incidental  charges ;  whereas,  according  to  the  former 
method,  the  annual  expense  was  not  less  than  sixteen  dollars,  in  this  city, 
for  each  scholar — a  test  that  palpably  evinces  the  superiority  of  the  present 
imode  of  instruction. 

The  general  influence  of  our  schools  has  not  been  confined  to  the  city  of 
New  York.  In  order  to  promote  a  more  extended  knowledge  of  the  system, 
and  the  establishment  of  similar  schools,  they  have  been  and  are  open,  free 
•of  expense,  to  the  inspection  and  attendance  of  persons  from  different  parts 
of  this  and  other  States,  a  sufficient  time  to  enable  them  to  acquire  the 
•means  aad  capacity  of  imparting  instruction  to  others,  on  the  Lancasterian 
•plan,  with  ease  and  dispatch. 

By  direction  of  the  trustees,  Lancasterian  lessons  have  been  printed  for 
!the  use  of  the  Junior  classes  in  country  schools ;  and  they  are  now  engaged 
in  preparing  a  manual  of  the  system  for  the  assistance  of  teachers  in  organ- 
izing and  conducting  their  schools  on  the  plan  pursued  in  this  city. 

Public  conviction  bears  a  testimony  that,  your  memorialists  believe,  has 
no  exception  to  the  happy  results  which  have  already  been  realized  from 
these  schools.  Their  salutary  influence  is  everywhere  acknowledged,  and 
the  condition  of  the  poor  finds  a  melioration  that  not  only  imparts  present 
•comfort  and  relief,  but  which  will  be  felt  by  future  generations. 

Notwithstanding  the  liberality  of  former  Legislatures,  and  the  fruitful 
source  of  support  which  your  memorialists  have  found  in  the  contributions 


MEMORIAL   TO   THE   LEGISLATURE.  35 

of  individual  charity,  such  has  been  the  great  increase  of  population,  par- 
ticularly by  the  influx  of  foreigners  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  of  the 
number  of  poor  children  whom  the  trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society 
have  been  impelled  to  provide  for  by  the  strongest  dictates  of  duty  and 
benevolence,  that  they  have  incurred  recent  expenses  which  their  present 
resources  are  incompetent  to  discharge.  During  the  past  year  they  have 
established  a  third  school  at  Greenwich,  at  an  expense  of  about  $1,200. 
They  have  also  purchased  lots,  and  are  erecting  a  building  to  contain  nearly 
600  children,  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  city,  the  expense  of  which 
establishment  will  be  about  $13,000.  This  building  is  constructing  in  a 
quarter  of  our  metropolis  where  the  want  of  schools  is  extremely  great,  and 
where  the  blessings  of  elementary  instruction  among  the  lower  orders  were 
not  enjoyed.  Your  memorialists  could  not,  consistently  with  the  noble  plan 
of  charity  committed  to  their  charge,  hear  the  daily  calls  of  this  la  ge  por- 
tion of  the  community  in  vain,  or  behold  the  baneful  triumph  of  increasing 
ignorance  and  vice,  without  an  effort  to  remove  the  evil. 

Trusting  with  confidence  to  the  uniform  liberality  of  an  enlightened 
Legislature  in  diffusing  the  manifold  blessings  of  education,  and  considering 
the  State  Government  as  the  protecting  parent,  who  has  long  nursed  with 
parental  regard  this  adopted  child  of  her  bounty,  the  New  York  Free-School 
Society,  your  memorialists,  respectfully  petition  for  a  grant  of  ten  thousand 
four  hundred  and  sixty-five  dollars,  out  of  such  funds  as  the  wisdom  of  the 
Legislature  shall  designate,  to  enable  them  to  complete  their  new  improve- 
ments. 

In  respectfully  soliciting  this  grant,  and  in  congratulating  the  Legislature 
on  the  salutary  effects  of  their  former  encouragement,  your  memorialists 
remark,  that,  as  the  city  of  New  York  rapidly  increases  in  population,  the 
number  is  multiplied  of  poor  and  suffering  children,  who  must  progress 
from  the  cradle  to  maturity,  with  no  schools  bu£  those  of  profligacy  and 
guilt,  unless  the  hand  of  charity  be  extended  to  reclaim  their  steps.  If  we 
would  prevent  the  vices  and  crimes  of  European  cities  from  visiting  our 
own ;  if  we'  would  prohibit  the  sanguinary  penal  codes  of  Europe  from 
reaching  our  shores,  we  must  look  to  early  education  and  early  habits,  the 
fundamental  springs  of  action  and  character  in  all  communities,  as  the  pro- 
tecting resort ;  if  we  would  perpetuate  our  civil  institutions  and  our  religious 
privileges,  we  must  look  to  early  education  to  guard  and  strengthen  their 
foundation. 

Believing  these  observations  will  be  reciprocated  by  the  public  body  to 
whom  they  address  their  memorial,  they  make  their  appeal  with  confidence, 
remembering  it  is  to  a  body  to  whom  your  memorialists  have  never  appealed 
in  vain,  when  their  object  has  been  to  extend  the  cheering  light  of  edu- 
cation. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  when  the  petition  of  your  memorialists  is  consid- 
ered, that  nearly  two  thousand  children  will,  the  ensuing  season,  be  under 
their  care,  and  that  it  is  on  behalf  of  these,  and  many  thousands  more  who 
will  hereafter  claim  their  charge,  that  your  memorialists  appeal  to  the  Hon- 
orable Legislature. 


36  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

The  answer  to  this  application  was  the  passage  of  an  act,  on 
the  26th  of  March,  making  an  appropriation  of  $5,000  for  the 
use  of  the  Society. 

A  committee  having  been  appointed  to  prepare  an  address 
to  the  public  on  behalf  of  the  Society,  a  draft  thereof  was  offered 
for  acceptance,  recommitted,  and  at  the  meeting  held  on  the  9th 
of  April,  it  was  adopted.  This  address  contains  a  very  clear  ex- 
pression of  the  views  and  motives  which  governed  the  Society 
and  its  friends,  and  is  interesting  not  only  as  an  embodiment  of 
those  views,  but  as  an  authentic  avowal  of  the  nature  of  the  re- 
ligious influences  which  at  the  time  prevailed  in  the  Society. 
Whatever  differences  of  opinion  may  exist  as  to  the  theological 
character  of  the  address,  it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  men 
acting  under  such  high  convictions  could  not  be  unworthy  of 
confidence  in  the  delicate  and  responsible  work  of  training  the 
young  and  neglected  members  of  society.  The  address  is  as 
follows : 

AN    ADDRESS 

To  the  Parents  and  Guardians  of  the  Children  belonging  to  the  Schools  under 

the  care  of  the  New  York  Free-School  Society. 

SEC.  1.  The  New  York  Free  Schools,  for  the  instruction  of  such  chil- 
dren as  are  the  objects  of  a  gratuitous  education,  have  been  established 
many  years ;  and  the  trustees  have  endeavored  to  render  them  useful  and 
promotive  of  the  moral  and  literary  improvement  of  the  scholars,  and  they 
still  wish  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  advance  the  welfare  of  both  children 
and  parent. 

SEC,  2.  They  wish  to  impress  on  your  minds  the  importance  of  this 
establishment,  that  you  may  manifest  an  increasing  concern  for  its  prosper- 
ity, seeing  that  much  depends  on  your  cooperation  in  the  support  of  an 
institution  which  is  intended  to  promote  not  only  the  good  of  your  children, 
but  their  happiness  and  yours,  both  here  and  hereafter. 

SEC.  3.  It  is  of  great  importance  that  the  minds  of  your  children  should 
be  early  cultivated  and  moral  instruction  inculcated,  and  that,  by  example 
as  well  as  precept,  you  should  use  all  endeavors  to  preserve  them  in  inno- 
cency. 

SEC.  4.  As  a  good  education  is  calculated  to  lay  the  foundation  of  use- 
fulness and  respectability,  both  in  civil  and  religious  society,  it  is  your  duty 
to  improve  every  opportunity  to  promote  it. 

SEC.  5.  This  institution  holds  out  much  encouragement,  and  you  are 
bound  by  every  moral  obligation  to  avail  yourselves  of  the  advantages  which 
your  children  may  derive  from  a  steady  attendance  at  school,  where  they 
may  acquire  not  only  school  learning  to  qualify  them  for  business,  but  be 
improved  in  their  morals  and  manners. 


ADDRESS   TO   PARENTS.  37 

SEC.  6.  Many  of  you  have  not  been  favored  with  the  privileges  your 
children  now  enjoy — that  of  a  gratuitous  education.  Every  parent  who  is 
solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  his  offspring,  but  whose  circumstances  may  be 
such  as  not  to  be  able  to  pay  the  expense,  is  invited  to  come  forward  and 
place  them  where  they  may  be  instructed  in  literature,  in  the  paths  of  vir- 
tue, and  in  the  road  to  happiness. 

SEC.  7.  The  trustees  may  venture  to  say,  that  this  institution  may  be 
productive  of  great  good  to  you,  and  to  your  children  especially,  if,  on  your 
part,  there  is  a  disposition  to  promote  it.  We  wish  your  children  may  be 
furnished  with  a  good  education,  and  early  acquire  good  habits.  As  they 
grow  in  years,  they  should  be  impressed  with  the  importance  of  industry  and 
frugality.  These  are  virtues  necessary  to  form  useful  characters. 

SEC.  8.  You  know  that  many  evils  grow  out  of  idleness,  and  many  more 
out  of  the  improper  use  of  spirituous  liquors ;  that  they  are  ruinous  and 
destructive  to  morals,  and  debase  the  human  character  below  the  lowest  of 
all  created  beings ;  we  therefore  earnestly  desire  you  may  be  watchful  and 
careful  in  this  respect,  otherwise  in  vain  may  we  labor  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  your  children. 

SEC.  9.  In  domestic  life  there  are  many  virtues  which  are  requisite  in 
order  to  promote  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  families.  Temperance  and 
economy  are  indispensable,  but  without  cleanliness,  your  enjoyments  as  well 
as  your  reputation  will  be  impaired.  It  is  promotive  of  health,  and  ought 
not  to  be  neglected.  Parents  can,  perhaps,  scarcely  give  a  greater  proof  of 
their  care  for  their  children,  than  by  keeping  them  clean  and  decent,  espe- 
cially when  they  are  sent  to  school,  where  it  is  expected  they  will  appear 
with  their  hands,  faces,  and  heads  perfectly  clean,  and  their  clothing  clean 
and  in  good  order.  The  appearance  of  children  exhibits  to  every  observing 
mind  the  character  of  the  mother. 

SEC.  10.  Among  other  moral  and  religious  duties,  that  of  a  due  observ- 
ance of  the  first  day  of  the  week,  commonly  called  Sunday,  we  consider  of 
importance  to  yourselves  and  to  your  children.  Public  worship  is  a  duty  we 
owe  to  our  Creator ;  it  is  of  universal  obligation,  and  you  ought  to  be  good 
examples  therein,  encouraging  your  families  to  the  due  observance  thereof ; 
and  believing,  as  we  do,  that  the  establishment  of  what  is  called  Sunday 
schools  has  been  a  blessing  to  many,  and  may  prove  so  to  many  more,  we 
are  desirous  you  may  unite  in  the  support  of  a  plan  so  well  calculated  to 
promote  the  religious  duties  of  that  day,  which  ought  to  be  appropriated  to 
public  worship,  retirement,  and  other  duties  connected  with  the  improve- 
ment of  the  mind. 

SEC.  11.  Seeing,  next  to  your  own  souls,  your  children  and  those  placed 
under  your  care  are,  or  ought  to  be,  the  immediate  objects  of  your  constant 
attention  and  diligent  concern,  you  ought  to  omit  no  opportunity  to  instruct 
them  early  in  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  in  order  to  bring  them, 
in  their  youth,  to  a  sense  of  the  unspeakable  love  and  infinite  wisdom  and 
power  of  their  Almighty  Creator ;  for  good  and  early  impressions  on  tender 
minds  often  prove  a  lasting  means  of  preserving  them  in  a  religious  life 
even  to  old  age.  May  you,  therefore,  watch  over  them  for  good,  and  rule 


38  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

over  them  in  the  fear  of  GOD,  maintaining  your  authority  in  love ;  and  as 
very  much  depends  on  the  care  and  exemplary  conduct  of  parents,  and  the 
judicious  management  of  children  by  tutors,  we  cannot  too  strongly  recom- 
mend to  their  serious  consideration  the  importance  of  the  subject,  as  one 
deeply  interesting  to  the  welfare  of  the  rising  generation,  and  no  less  con- 
nected with  the  best  interests  of  civil  and  religious  society. 

SEC.  12.  As  the  Holy  Scriptures,  or  Bible,  with  which  you  ought  all  to 
be  furnished,  contain  a  full  account  of  things  most  surely  to  be  believed  and 
Divine  commands  most  faithfully  to  be  obeyed,  and  are  said  to  make  wise 
unto  salvation  through  faith  which  is  in  Jesus  Christ  (2  Tim.  iii.  15),  it  is 
the  duty  of  every  Christian  to  be  frequent  and  diligent  in  the  reading  of 
them  in  their  families,  and  in  privately  meditating  on  those  sacred  records. 

SEC.  13.  The  trustees  of  the  New  York  Free  School,  however  desirous 
they  may  be  to  promote  the  improvement  of  the  scholars  in  school  learning, 
to  qualify  and  fit  them  for  the  common  duties  of  life,  cannot  view  with  an 
eye  of  indifference  the  more  primary  object  of  an  education  calculated  to 
form  habits  of  virtue  and  industry,  and  to  inculcate  the  general  principles 
of  Christianity ;  for  in  proportion  as  you  are  established  in  a  life  of  piety 
and  virtue,  you  will  be  enabled  to  bring  up  your  children  in  the  nurture  and 
admonition  of  the  Lord,  ever  bearing  in  remembrance  that  example  speaks 
a  louder  language  than  precept. 

SEC.  14.  It  may  not  be  improper  to  state  to  you,  that  the  establishment 
of  the  New  York  Free  School  has  been  attended  with  much  labor  and  per- 
sonal exertions  on  the  part  of  its  Mends  and  patrons ;  great  expense  has 
also  accrued,  and  continues  to  be  the  case,  where  so  many  buildings  are 
erected  and  so  many  teachers  employed  ;  and  as  all  this  is  done  in  order  to 
promote  the  good  of  your  children,  and  to  improve  their  condition,  you  can- 
not but  feel  a  weight  of  obligation  to  the  friends  and  patroms  of  so  valu- 
able an  institution.  In  speaking  of  the  teachers,  it  is  due  to  them  and  their 
meritorious  conduct  to  say,  that  they  have  manifested  a  zeal  and  concern  for 
the  welfare  and  impovement  of  the  children  placed  under  their  care,  and  we 
wish  they  may  be  encouraged  to  persevere  in  the  arduous  service  assigned 
them. 

SCE.  15.  There  are  divers  other  things  which  we  could  enumerate  as  con- 
nected with  the  subject  of  this  address ;  but  it  cannot  be  expected,  in  a 
communication  of  this  nature,  we  should  embrace  every  duty  or  point  out 
minutely  every  thing  which  might  have  a  bearing  on  your  religious  and 
moral  character ;  but,  before  we  close,  we  think  it  necessary  to  subjoin  the 
substance  of  such  of  the  rules  of  the  schools  as  may  in  part  lay  with  the 
parents  and  guardians  to  notice  and  enforce.  -The  trustees  therefore  call  on 
you  to  see  that  these  rules  are  strictly  observed  by  your  children : 

1.  Your  children  must  be  in  school  precisely  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

2.  They  ought  to  be  sent  to  school  every  day,  both  morning  and  after- 
noon ;  otherwise  they  may  forget  in  one  day  what  they  learned  the  day 
before.    Nothing  but  sickness,  or  some  unavoidable  circumstance,  should 
induce  you  to  keep  your  children  at  home  one  day.    If  they  do  not  attend 


ADDRESS   TO   PARENTS.  39 

school  regularly,  the  teacher  is  to  send  to  you  to  know  the  reason ;  and  if 
they  are  absent  from  school  six  days  in  a  month  -without  sufficient  reason,  or 
if  they  frequently  play  truant,  they  are  liable  to  be  expelled,  and  you  may 
find  it  very  difficult  to  get  them  into  school  again.  The  trustees  therefore 
earnestly  hope  that  you  will  not,  by  keeping  your  children  at  home  without 
cause,  or  by  suffering  them  to  be  absent,  counteract  their  endeavors  to  pro- 
cure for  them 'a  good  education. 

3.  It  is  necessary  that  you  should  see  that  your  children  go  to  school 
with  clean  faces  and  hands,  their  hair  combed  and  in  good  order,  and  their 
clothes  as  clean  and  whole  as  possible ;  otherwise  they  are  liable  to  be  pun- 
ished for  your  neglect. 

4.  A  morning  school  is  intended  to  be  kept  in  the  summer,  to  begin  at  6 
o'clock,  and  close  at  8  o'clock. 

5.  A  library  of  interesting  and  useful  books  has  been  provided  for  the 
use  of  those  children  who  are  forward  in  their  learning ;  and  as  they  may 
be  indulged  at  times  to  take  them  home  for  awhile,  they  may  prove  a  source 
of  pleasure  and  improvement  to  both  children  and  parents. 

6.  If  your  children  behave  well,  and  study  their  lessons  at  home,  they 
will  be  rewarded  with  tickets ;  but  if  they  behave  badly,  and  will  not  study, 
they  must  be  punished. 

7.  In  order  to  get  a  child  into  the  Free  School,  it  is  required  that  appli- 
cation be  made  at  the  school  on  the  second  day  of  the  week,  commonly 
called  Monday,  from  the  hours  of  4  to  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

8.  No  child  can  be  admitted  under  six  years  of  age. 

9.  The  children  of  parents  who  are  able  to  pay  for  schooling  cannot  bs 
admitted. 

10.  It  is  expected  that  parents  see  that  their  children  regularly  attend 
some  place  of  worship. 

DE  WITT  CLINTON,  President. 

JOHN  MURE  AY,  Jr.,  Vice-President. 

LEONARD  BLEECKER,  Treasurer. 

LINDLEY  MURRAY,  Secretary. 

John  Adams,  John  Withington, 

Samuel  Boyd,  Rensselaer  Havens, 

Benjamin  Clark,  Ezra  Weeks, 

Nathan  Comstock,  Benjamin  Marshall, 

Thomas  Eddy,  Francis  Cooper, 

Whitehead  Hicks,  Lyman  Spalding, 

Jacob  Lorillard,  Henry  Eckford, 

Samuel  Wood,  Charles  Miller, 

John  R.  Murray,  John  Pintard, 

Thomas  L.  Ogden,  Samuel  James, 

James  Palmer,  Isaac  Collins, 

Henry  Rutgers,  William  Cairna, 

Jeremiah  Thompson,  George  T.  Trimble, 

Najah  Taylor,  William  Perry, 

Thomas  C.  Taylor,  George  Suckley. 


£0  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

The  committee  tg  prepare  a  manual  for  the  schools  report- 
ed, during  the  month  of  April,  adversely  to  the  measure  as  being 
unnecessary.  Their  recommendation  -was  laid  upon  the  table, 
and,  at  the  meeting  in  May,  was  taken  up  for  consideration,  and 
the  committee  was  discharged.  The  original  resolution  was, 
however,  referred  to  a  new  committee,  consisting  of  George  T. 
Trimble,  Samuel  Wood,  and  Lindley  Murray,  who  were  direct- 
ed to  prepare  and  submit  a  Lancasterian  manual  for  the  schools. 

The  great  influence  of  a  proper  regard  for  the  first  day  of  the 
week  on  the  moral  habits  and  character  of  the  young,  has  already 
been  alluded  to,  and  the  estimate  in  which  this  influence  was 
held  has  been  fully  shown  in  the  address  to  parents  and  guar- 
dians. A  committee  on  the  general  state  of  the  institution  made 
a  special  communication  of  the  following  facts :  In  School  No. 
1,  out  of  480  scholars  on  register,  397  attended  church  regular- 
ly ;  in  No.  2,  of  437  on  the  register,  335  attended  ;  and  in  No. 
3,  of  333  on  register,  312  were  regular  attendants  at  some  place 
of  worship.  The  trustees  regarded  this  as  an  extraordinary  and 
very  gratifying  circumstance. 

At  the  annual  election  in  May,  in  consequence  of  the  desire 
of  Leonard  Bleecker  to  resign  the  office  of  treasurer  of  the  So- 
ciety, the  duties  of  which  he  had  discharged  from  the  date  of  its 
organization,  EENSSELAER  HAVENS  was  elected  in  his  place.  This 
gentleman,  however,  declined  to  serve,  and  Mr.  Bleecker  was  re- 
quested to  discharge  the  duties  until  a  new  appointment  could  be 
made.  At  the  meeting  held  on  the  4th  of  June,  GEORGE  T. 
TRIMBLE  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

The  committee  to  confer  with  the  Female  Association  re- 
ported that  the  association,  under  a  conviction  that  its  funds 
would  be  reduced,  and  that  their  labors  were  only  a  department 
of  the  Free-School  system,  replied  that  it  would  be  inexpedient 
for  them  to  pay  the  sum  designated  as  rental ;  but,  on  a  recon- 
sideration of  the  matter,  it  was  resolved  to  allow  $400  per  an- 
num to  the  Society,  which  was  accepted. 

,  School  No.  4,  in  Rivington  street,  was  opened  on  the  1st  of 
May,  with  133  pupils  on  register,  to  which  223  others  were  add- 
ed before  the  24th  of  the  same  month,  making,  on  that  day, 
356  ;  of  which  200  were  boys  and  156  were  girls. 

Charles  Picton,  the  teacher  sent  out  from  England  for  the 
purpose,  was  appointed  teacher  of  the  new  school ;  and,  to  ena- 


SCHOOL  MANUAL.  41 

ble  him  to  carry  out  the  system  on  his  own  plan,  he  was  authorized 
to  conduct  the  school  under  such  plans  and  regulations  as  seemed 
to  him  best  calculated  to  perfect  the  objects  of  the  institution. 
By  a  subsequent  resolution,  adopted  in  September,  Mrs.  Picton 
was  appointed  to  the  girls'  school,  which  had  been  already  opened 
on  the  30th  of  August,  with  182  girls. 

During  the  month  of  August,  the  Society  was  bereaved  of  its 
vice-president,  JOHN  MURRAY,  Jr.,  who  died  on  the  4th  of  that 
month.  He  was  chosen  vice-president  at  the  organization  of 
the  Society,  and  had  held  the  office  until  his  decease.  "With  an 
enlightened  mind,  a  devoted  spirit 'of  philanthropy,  an  earnest 
zeal,  a  spotless  Christian  character,  and  independent  means,  he 
had  devoted  the  latter  thirty  years  of  his  life  to  labors  of  public 
benevolence  and  reform.  Thomas  Eddy  was  elected  as  his  suc- 
cessor in  office,  on  the  1st  of  October. 

The  great  increase  in  the  number  of  pupils  at  School  No.  3 
rendered  additional  apartments  necessary.  A  committee  was 
appointed,  and,  in  December,  a  report  was  submitted,  recom- 
mending that  a  new  building  be  erected  on  the  lots  granted  by 
Trinity  Church,  at  the  corner  of  Hudson  and  Grove  streets.  At 
the  same  time,  plans  and  estimates  for  the  building  were  submit- 
ted, the  cost  of  which  was  named  at  $8,500.  The  recommenda- 
tions of  the  committee  were  adopted. 

The  tenure  of  the  ground,  as  granted  by  the  corporation  of 
Trinity  Church,  did  not  secure  it  absolutely  to  the  Society,  and 
at  the  following  meeting  the  matter  was  reconsidered,  and  a  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  John  R.  Murray,  William  Torrey,  and  Ben- 
jamin Clark,  was  appointed  to  consult  with  the  vestry  of  Trinity 
Church,  to  obtain  the  privileges  desired.  The  conference  result- 
ed in  a  proposition  that,  if  the  Society  would  release  a  certain 
portion  of  the  property  on  Hudson  street,  the  vestry  would  con- 
vey the  title  of  the  remainder  in  fee-simple  to  the  Society. 
These  terms  were  deemed  favorable,  and  the  committee  were 
directed  to  complete  the  arrangement.  The  negotiation  was  ter- 
minated, however,  by  the  payment  of  $1,250  on  the  part  of  the 
Society,  as  the  purchase-money  for  the  whole  of  the  lots. 

At  the  first  meeting  in  1820,  the  committee  to  prepare  the 
manual  reported  that  the  British  Lancasterian  manual  had  been 
adopted  as  the  basis  of  their  own,  and  that  such  corrections  and 
changes  had  been  made  as  would  adapt  it  to  the  use  of  the 


42  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

schools  of  the  Society.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  ac- 
cepted, and  the  manual  adopted  and  ordered  to  be  printed.  The 
work  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  first  edition  was  published 
the  same  year.  A  part  of  the  edition  was  furnished  with  sam- 
ples of  sewing  by  the  girls,  which  were  attached  to  pages  of  the 
book  referred  to  in  the  text.  The  illustrated  manuals  bearing 
these  samples  were  sold  for  $1.50  each,  while  those  from  which 
they  were  omitted  were  sold  for  75  cents  each.  Charles  C.  An- 
drews, the  teacher  of  the  Colored  School,  having  contemplated 
the  publication  of  a  manual,  but  having  abandoned  it  in  order 
to  aid  the  committee,  was  awarded  75  copies  as  a  compliment- 
ary consideration. 

A  committee  was  appointed  early  in  the  year  to  procure  plans 
and  estimates  for  a  building  in  Hudson  street ;  and  after  the 
subject  had  been  fully  considered,  it  was  decided  to  erect  a  two- 
story  building,  45  by  80  feet,  with  a  cellar  7  feet  in  height,  the 
expense  not  to  exceed  $6,500.  William  Torrey,  Najah  Taylor, 
and  Samuel  Boyd  were  appointed  as  the  building  committee. 

The  finance  committee  were  authorized  to  borrow  seven 
thousand  dollars,  secured  by  bond  and  mortgage  on  the  property 
in  Hudson  street — an  arrangement  which  was  effected  with  the 
Mutual  Insurance  Company,  at  7  per  cent.  At  the  close  of  the 
year,  the  building  committee  were  able  to  report  their  task  com- 
pleted, with  a  charge  for  extra  work  of  $217.50,  which  caused 
the  total  cost  to  exceed  the  estimates  and  appropriation  only 
$109.94.  The  house  was  opened  for  the  boys  on  the  15th  of 
October,  and  for  girls  on  the  23d  of  the  same  month.  On  the 
2d  of  November,  279  girls  had  been  entered  on  the  register,  un- 
der the  care  of  Sarah  F.  Field,  who  had  been  appointed  teacher. 

At  the  close  of  1820,  a  period  of  fifteen  years  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Society,  the  trustees  were  enabled  to  view  their 
enterprise  with  high  gratification  ;  and  at  the  date  of  the  Six- 
teenth Annual  Report,  in  May,  1821,  the  following  statement  of 
the  schools  in  operation  was  published  : 

No.  1.   Lloyd  B.  Windsor,  teacher,  480  boys. 

2.  John  Missing,  "  353  boys  and  girls. 

3.  Shepherd  Johnson,       "  540  boys. 
Sarah  F.  Field,             "  289  girls. 

4.  Charles  Picton,             "  527  boys. 
Eunice  Dean,                "  400  girls. 


EEV.    J     NEWLAND   MAFFIT.  4:3 

The  Society  owned  four  commodious  buildings,  in  which  six 
schools  were  held,  attended  by  2,589  pupils.  The  treasury  was 
in  debt  about  $8,000. 

At  that  time,  Rev.  John  Newland  Maffit,  a  young  and  very 
popular  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Church,  was  attracting  much 
attention  by  his  remarkable  oratory  and  powerful  discourses. 
He  expressed  a  desire  to  visit  and  address  the  children  of  the 
free  schools ;  and  information  having  been  communicated  to 
the  board,  an  affirmative  resolution  was  adopted,  and  Leonard 
Bleecker  and  Thomas  Eddy  were  appointed  to  make  the  neces- 
sary arrangements.  A  young  and  talented  preacher  from  Eng- 
land, Rev.  GEOKGE  SUMMEBFIELD,  was  also  in  the  city,  and  the 
committee  were  authorized  to  make  such  appointments  as  they 
deemed  proper.  The  17th  day  of  May  was  chosen  for  the  occa- 
sion, and,  to  render  a  separate  visit  and  address  to  each  school 
unnecessary,  they  were  collected  in  the  Baptist  Church  in  Mul- 
berry street,  near  Chatham,  known  as  the  "  Tabernacle,"  then 
under  the  care  of  Rev.  ARCHIBALD  MACLAY.  Mr.  Maffit  was  re- 
ceived by  sixteen  of  the  trustees  at  No.  1,  and,  accompanied  by 
them,  repaired  to  the  place  of  assembly,  where  over  2,300  chil- 
dren were  in  readiness  to  join  in  the  exercises  of  the  day.  The 
committee,  in  their  report,  remark  as  follows : 

The  minister  commenced  by  reading  the  10th  chapter  of  Luke.  He 
then  engaged  in  prayer  for  the  blessing  of  God  upon  the  exercises  of  the 
day.  After  which  he  preached  from  Luke  x.  42,  "  One  thing  is  needful ;  " 
and  the  committee  mention  with  much  gratification  that  both  the  matter 
and  manner  of  his  address  were  peculiarly  adapted  to  engage  the  attention 
and  inform  the  minds  of  the  children. 

A  similar  privilege  was  soon  after  sought  by  Rev.  THADDETIS 
OSGOOD,  a  travelling  English  missionary ;  but,  in  consequence  of 
the  very  brief  time  which  had  passed  subsequent  to  Mr.  Maffit's 
address,  the  suggestion  was  not  adopted  by  the  board.  Several 
of  the  trustees,  however,  attended  Mr.  Osgood  in  his  visits  to 
Nos.  3  and  4,  where  he  addressed  the  children  in  an  appropriate 
manner. 

The  trustees,  being  desirous  of  reducing  the  expenses  as 
much  as  possible,  directed  the  treasurer  to  procure  a  loan  at  six 
per  cent,  on  the  property  of  No.  3,  and  pay  off  the  mortgage  to 
the  Mutual  Insurance  Company,  which  was  at  7  per  cent.  This 
was  accomplished,  and  the  first  mortgage  was  cancelled. 


44  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

The  principal  measure  which  occupied  the  attention  of  the 
board  during  the  year  1821,  was  the  division  of  No.  2,  in  Henry 
street,  into  two  separate  schools,  male  and  female,  the  two  sexes 
having  been  until  that  time  admitted  to  the  same  school.  This 
was  effected  during  the  year,  extensive  repairs  and  alterations 
being  made,  and  on  the  1st  of  November  the  girls'  school  was 
opened  with  90  scholars,  under  the  care  of  Eebecca  Leggett. 

Two  thousand  copies  of  the  "  Universal  Catechism  "  were  pur- 
chased for  gratuitous  distribution  to  the  pupils  belonging  to  the 
schools ;  a  stereotype  edition  of  the  "  Scripture  Lessons  "  was 
ordered  to  be  prepared,  and  one  thousand  copies  printed,  for  the 
use  of  the  several  schools. 

At  the  close  of  November,  a  delegation  of  members  of  the 
Legislature  visited  several  of  the  schools  for  the  purpose  of  be- 
coming more  fully  acquainted  with  the  system  of  instruction 
adopted  by  the  Society.  These  visits  were  very  satisfactory  to 
the  delegates,  who  were  cordial  in  their  approbation  of  the 
method  of  instruction,  the  buildings,  and  tlie  various  arrange- 
ments of  the  institution.  A  committee,  consisting  of  Benjamin 
Clark,  John  R.  Hurd,  and  William  T.  Slocum,  was  subsequently 
appointed  to  draft  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature,  asking  further 
aid  in  the  erection  of  additional  buildings.  The  paper  was  pre- 
pared and  promptly  submitted  to  the  board,  and  Mr.  Slocum 
was  appointed  delegate  to  visit  Albany  and  lay  it  before  the 
Legislature.  The  service  was  performed,  but,  in  consequence  of 
a  great  variety  of  other  measures  being  pressed  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Legislature,  an  adjournment  took  place  before  the 
object  of  the  memorial  was  attained.  It  was  deemed  proper  to 
enlarge  the  delegation,  and  James  Palmer  and  Najah  Taylor 
were  selected  for  the  purpose. 

The  trustees  and  agents  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church  were, 
at  this  period  (1821-1822),  making  diligent  efforts  to  extend  their 
schools.  As  the  bill  which  had  been  passed  by  the  Legislature, 
upon  the  appeal  of  the  trustees  and  friends  of  the  Bethel  Church, 
gave  them  special  privileges  not  enjoyed  by  other  religious  de- 
nominations, of  which  they  were  evidently  disposed  to  avail 
themselves  to  the  fullest  extent,  by  increasing  the  number  of 
their  schools,  and  their  pro  rata  of  the  school  moneys,  the  Free- 
School  Society  regarded  the  movement  with  much  concern.  The 
measures  contemplated  by  the  Bethel  Society  led  the  board  to 


ADDITIONAL   SCHOOL-TAX.  45 

apprehend  a  collision  upon  ground  which  they  had  for  some  time 
regarded  with  interest  as  a  good  location  for  a  school — that  part 
of  the  city  north  of  Walker  street  and  between  Broadway  and 
the  Bowery.  A  committee  was  accordingly  appointed,  in  March, 
1822,  to  select  and  negotiate  for  a  site  for  a  school  building  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  cathedral  in  Mott  street. 

The  estimates,  obtained  by  careful  inquiries  throughout  the 
city,  showed  the  unwelcome  fact  that  many  thousands  of  chil- 
dren were  still  vagrants,  and  unprovided  with  the  means  of  in- 
struction. This  condition  of  things  arose  partly  from  the  dis- 
abilities of  the  industrial  classes  in  large  cities,  partially  from 
the  fact  that  the  number  of  schools  was  small,  and  insufficient  to 
accommodate  the  pupils  ;  while  the  great  distances  which  many 
of  the  children  were  obliged  to  walk  in  order  to  reach  them, 
offered  a  serious  impediment  to  the  attendance  of  the  majority 
of  younger  pupils.  A  considerable  addition  to  the  number  of 
schools  was  deemed,  therefore,  to  be  a  prime  necessity,  and  the 
board  took  into  consideration  the  means  by  which  this  could  be 
accomplished.  At  the  meeting  held  on  the  13th  of  March, 
propositions  were  submitted  and  discussed,  which  were  substan- 
tially as  follows : 

To  erect  five  new  school-houses,  at  a  cost  of  $10,000  each, 
would  require  an  annual  sum  of  $5,000  for  ten  years,  and  would 
provide  for  a  new  building  every  second  year. 

The  population  of  the  city  at  the  time  was  130,000,  which,  at 
four  cents  per  capita,  would  yield  a  tax  of  $5,200. 

The  real  estate  at  the  assessed  valuation  of  the  year  amount- 
ed to  $50,619,720,  the  personal  estate  being  assessed  at 
$17,666,350,  making  a  total  of  $68,285,070.  The  sum  derived 
— $5,000 — would  be  only  -^  of  one  per  cent.,  or  one  cent  on 
$136  of  the  taxable  property  of  the  city. 

The  amount  of  taxes  for  1821  was  $299,225,  which  would  be 
increased  only  one  sixtieth  by  the  imposition  of  the  proposed  tax. 
In  the  words  of  the  proposition  : 

A  person  that  now  pays    $1  tax  would  pay  in  addition    If  cents. 

«(  «  «  Pj  U  (I  U  g  <( 

u  u  «  jo  a  u  u  KJ         u 

u  (<  u  20  "  "  "  32         " 

Or,  assessed  upon  real  and  personal  estate,  as  follows  : 


46  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

A  person  assessed  as  worth.  $100,  in  addition  to  his  tax 

would  pay  only  £  cents. 

«  -i  "  1,000,        "  "  "        7£      " 

In  independent  circumstances,     10,000,        u  "  «      75        " 

A  man  of  fortune,    .        .        .    20,000,        "  "  $1.50 

The  above  estimates  are  interesting  as  historical  facts  in 
reference  to  the  city  and  its  wealth,  while  the  modest  estimate  of 
$10,000  as  making  a  man  "  independent,"  or  ranking  the  owner 
of  $20,000  as  a  "  man  of  fortune,"  is  a  genuine  expression  of  the 
social  characteristics  of  that  period. 

To  secure  these  additional  resource?,  the  following  plans  were 
recommended  :  1.  To  circulate  petitions  among  the  peop^,  until 
several  f  onsand  names  should  be  obtained  ;  2.  When  the  peti- 
tions were  signed,  to  apply  to  the  Corporation  for  its  influence 
and  aid  before  the  Legislature  ;  3.  To  vest  the  title  of  all  pur- 
chases of  property  and  school  buildings  erected  by  the  Society  in 
the  city,  and  to  take  a  perpetual  lease  for  the  same  ;  4.  When 
the  mortgage  upon  the  property  of  No.  3  should  be  paid  by  the 
proceeds  of  the  tax,  to  convey  the  title  of  the  land  to  the  city  ; 
5.  That  the  Mayor,  Recorder,  and  First  Judge  of  the  city  and 
comity  should  be  ex-officio  members  of  the  Society  ;  6.  That  in- 
corporated religious  societies  should  not  draw  school  moneys  for 
any  other  schools  except  those  immediately  connected  with  their 
respective  churches  ;  7.  That  no  religious  society  should  estab- 
lish a  free  school,  except  for  the  children  of  their  respective 
churches  who  were  unable  to  pay  for  education. 

Without  adopting  definitely  the  measures  proposed,  the 
board  appointed  a  committee  to  take  the  whole  subject  io 
charge,  and  for  that  purpose  selected  Robert  C.  Cornell,  John  E. 
Hyde,  Rensselaer  Havens,  Benjamin  Clark,  John  Adams,  Najah 
Taylor,  and  Lindley  Murray. 

The  committee  gave  prompt  attention  to  the  measures  re- 
ferred to  them,  and  had  interviews  with  the  Mayor  and  several 
members  of  the  Corporation.  It  was  decided  to  postpone  the 
movement  until  a  later  period  in  the  year,  and  the  committee, 
ut  their  own  request,  were  discharged,  the  secretary  being  direct- 
ed, however,  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  board  two  months  pre- 
vious to  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature. 

The  committee  appointed  to  purchase  lots  for  a  new  school 
near  the  cathedral,  reported  that  they  had  selected  three  lots  in 


BETHEL   BAPTIST   CHTJKCH.  47 

« 

Mott  street,  near  Prince,  25  by  94  feet  each,  the  price  of  which 
was  $2,250,  and  interest  from  the  1st  of  January  preceding. 
The  lots  were  approved,  and  the  necessary  steps  to  have  the 
deeds  executed  were  ordered  to  be  taken,  and  the  treasurer 
directed  to  borrow  the  money  for  the  payment. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  board  held  on  the  5th  of  April,  a  let- 
ter was  received  from  the  trustees  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church, 
complaining  of  the  conduct  of  the  Society  in  purchasing  the 
property  for  the  erection  of  a  school-house  in  Mott  street,  and 
charging  the  board  with  an  improper  interference  with  their 
plans.  The  secretary  was  directed  to  reply  to  this  communica- 
tion, anf1  furnish  the  complainants  with  a  copy  of  the  original 
resolution  passed  in  1821,  appointing  a  committee  to  procure 
suitable  lots  for  a  school  site,  and  also  to  inform  them  of  the 
proceedings  already  taken  by  the  board. 

It  was  further  resolved  that  a  committee,  consisting  of  John 
E.  Hyde,  James  Collins,  and  Lindley  Murray,  be  appointed  to 
prepare  a  remonstrance  to  the  Legislature  on  the  subject  of  the 
law  giving  exclusive  privileges  to  the  Bethel  Church  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  school  fund. 

The  collision  of  interests  which  had  been  anticipated  between 
these  two  boards  had  now  assumed  a  positive  form.  The  dis- 
cussion gave  rise  to  important  subsequent  legislation,  and  is 
made  the  subject  of  review  in  the  following  chapter. 


48  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 


CHAPTEE   III. 

THE   BETHEL  BAPTIST   CHURCH   CONTROVERSY. 

Sectarian  Influence — Church  Schools — The  School  Fund — The  Bethel  Baptist  Church 
— Privileges  Granted — School  No.  5 — Memorial  to  the  Legislature — Memorial  to 
the  Corporation — Proceedings  in  the  Legislature — Hiram  Ketchum  Elected  a  Trus- 
tee, and  requested  to  proceed  to  Albany — Negotiations  Between  the  Two  Boards 
of  Trustees— The  Bill  Laid  Over  by  the  Legislature— The  Bethel  Schools— The 
"  Trustees  of  the  Fire-Department  Fund  " — Certificate  of  Mr.  Andrews — Certifi- 
cate of  Mr.  Buyce — Certificate  of  Mr.  Farden — New  Church  Schools — Proceed- 
ings in  the  Common  Council — Memorial  Adopted — New  Memorials  to  the  Legisla- 
ture— Proceedings  of  the  Legislature — Report  of  the  Committee  on  Colleges,  &c. 
— Adjournment  of  the  Legislature — The  Extra  Session — The  Bill  Amended — The 
Common  Council  to  Apportion  the  School  Fund — The  Bill  Becomes  a  Law — The 
Controversy  Closed. 

THE  Free-School  Society  had  been  in  successful  operation  for 
fifteen  years,  and  had  encountered  no  other  obstacles  than  those 
incident  to  the  progress  and  development  of  a  system  of  far- 
reaching  benevolence  and  philanthropy.  A  movement  of  a  dis- 
turbing character,  however,  arose  from  the  rivalry  and  jealousy 
of  other  institutions,  but  particularly  in  the  efforts  made  to  ob- 
tain peculiar  privileges  for  the  benefit  of  the  schools  connected 
with  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church.  The  controversy  and  the  legis- 
lation growing  out  of  these  attempts  form  an  interesting  feature 
in  the  records  of  the  Society. 

By  the  law  of  March  12,  1813,  it  was  directed  that  the  por- 
tion of  the  school  fund  received  by  the  city  and  county  of  New 
York  should  be  apportioned  and  paid  to  the  trustees  of  the  Free- 
School  Society  of  New  York,  the  trustees  or  treasurers  of  the 
Orphan  Asylum  Society,  the  Society  of  the  Economical  School, 
the  African  Free  School,  and  of  such  incorporated  religious 
societies  in  the  city  as  supported,  or  should  establish,  charity 
schools,  who  might  apply  for  the  same.  In  1822,  the  institutions 
which  drew  from  the  school  fund  in  addition  to  the  Free-School 


BETHEL   BAPTIST   CHURCH.  49 

Society,  and  those  already  named,  were  the  Female  Association, 
the  Hamilton  Free  School,  the  Mechanics'  Society,  and  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Benevolent  Society.  By  the  sixth  section  of  the 
law,  the  several  societies  therein  named  were  prohibited  from 
using  the  school  fund  for  any  other  purpose  than  the  payment 
of  teachers. 

The  privilege  of  participating  in.  the  fund  granted  by  the 
law  to  religious  societies  was  peculiar  to  the  city  of  New  York, 
no  religious  society  in  any  other  part  of  the  State  being  allowed 
such  participation.  This  privilege  was  probably  granted  them 
at  the  time,  because  the  number  of  schools  under  the  charge  of 
these  societies  was  small,  and,  with  a  single  exception,  confined 
to  the  education  of  the  poor  of  the  respective  churches  to  which 
they  were  attached. 

The  Lancasterian  system  of  education  having  been  success- 
fully practised  for  a  number  of  years  in  the  schools  of  the  Soci- 
ety, the  number  of  pupils  increased  to  such  an  extent,  that  the 
amount  drawn  from  the  common  school  fund  was  more  than 
sufficient  for  the  payment  of  teachers  employed.  Application 
was  therefore  made  to  the  Legislature,  which,  in  1817,  passed  an 
act  containing,  among  other  things,  a  provision  allowing. the 
Free-School  Society  to  appropriate  the  surplus  of  the  school 
fund,  after  the  payment  of  teachers,  to  the  erection  of  buildings 
for  schools,  the  education  of  schoolmasters  upon  the  Lancasterian 
plan,  and  to  all  the  needful  purposes  of  a  common  school  edu- 
cation. This  peculiar  privilege  was  granted  the  Society  because 
it  was  organized  for  the  sole  and  exclusive  purpose  of  educating 
the  poor ;  and,  consequently,  all  the  buildings  which  it  should 
erect  would  forever  be  devoted  to  this  object. 

In  1820,  the  trustees  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church  in  the 
city  of  New  York  opened  a  school  in  the  basement  of  their 
church,  in  Delancey  street,  for  the  reception  of  poor  children  of 
every  denomination  ;  and,  the  next  year,  received  an  apportion- 
ment from  the  common  school  fund,  under  the  provision  of  the 
law  of  1813,  granting  that  privilege  to  religious  societies.  In 
1822,  the  trustees  of  the  Bethel  Church  obtained  the  passage  of 
a  law  *  granting  them  permission  to  appropriate  the  surplus 

*  An  Act  for  the  Relief  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  in  the 
city  of  New  York. 

I.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate 
4 


50  THE   PUBLIC   SCIIOOL   SOCIETY. 

money  received  from  the  school  fund,  after  the  payment  of 
teachers,  to  the  erection  of  buildings  for  schools,  the  education 
of  schoolmasters,  and  all  the  other  needful  purposes  of  a  com- 
mon school  education — a  privilege  nearly  similar  to  that  before 
granted  to  the  Free-School  Society.  The  passage  of  this  law 
immediately  excited  the  alarm  of  the  board,  and  several  re- 
ligious societies  in  the  city.  It  was  perceived  that  it  opened  a 
wide  door  for  the  perversion  of  the  fund,  and  that  there  would 
be  a  strong  inducement  offered  to  the  church  for  the  employ- 
ment of  teachers  who  would  work  cheap,  that  thus  there  might 
be  a  surplus  to  be  used  in  the  erection  of  buildings,  which  would 
not  belong  to  the  public,  but  to  the  church,  and  would  probably 
come  to  be  used  for  other  purposes  than  the  education  of  poor 
children. 

It  has  already  been  stated,  that  the  trustees  of  the  Public- 
School  Society,  as  early  as  1821,  had  observed  the  want  of  a 
school  in  that  part  of  the  city  bounded  by  Broadway  and  the 
Bowery,  and  Bleecker  and  Grand  streets,  and  had  made  some 
inquiries  for  the  purchase  of  lots  for  a  school  site,  which  had 
been  unsuccessful,  and  the  effort  was  abandoned  for  the  time. 
The  passage  of  the  law  above  named  revived  then*  interest  in 
this  locality,  which  was  stimulated  by  the  efforts  making  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Chase,  the  pastor  of  the  church,  to  find  a  field  for  a 

and  Assembly,  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  trustees  of  the  Bethel  Baptist 
Church,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  or  their  successors  in  office,  at  any  time  hereafter  to 
sell  and  d.ispose  of  two  lots  of  ground,  with  the  meeting-house  thereon,  now  belonging 
to  the  said  church,  situate  on  the  south  side  of  Broome  street,  in  the  Eighth  Ward  of 
the  said  city,  and  to  execute  conveyances  therefor  in  fee-simple  to  the  purchaser  or 
purchasers  thereof. 

II.  And  he  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  said  trustees, 
or  their  successors  in  office,  to  mortgage,  in  fee  or  otherwise,  all  those  certain  lots  of 
ground,  and  the  meeting-house  thereon  erected,  belonging  to  the  said  church,  situate 
at  the  corner  of  Delancey  and  Chrystie  streets,  in  the  said  city,  or  any  part  or  parcel 
thereof,  for  such  sum  or  sums  as  the  said  trustees,  or  their  successors  in  office,  shall 
think  proper ;  which  mortgage  or  mortgages  so  made  and  executed  shall  be  valid 
and  effectual  in  the  law. 

III.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  if  any  moneys  be  now  remaining,  or  shall 
hereafter  remain,  in  the  hands  of  the  said  trustees,  from  the  school  moneys  received 
by  them  for  the  support  of  the  Bethel  Free  School,  after  a  sufficient  compensation  to 
the  teachers  employed  by  them,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  them  to  apply  such 
moneys  to  the  instruction  of  schoolmasters,  to  the  erection  of  buildings  for  schools, 
and  to  all  other  needful  purposes  of  a  common  school  education,  but  to  no  other  pur- 
pose whatever. 


BETHEL   BAPTIST   CHURCH.  51 

new  school  under  his  supervision.  A  consideration  of  the  mat- 
ter was  therefore  had  at  a  meeting  on  the  13th  of  March,  1822, 
when  a  resolution  was  adopted  directing  the  purchase  of  lots  in 
the  vicinity  of  St.  Patrick's  cathedral,  and  appointing  Isaac 
Collins,  Rensselaer  Havens,  William  T.  Slocum,  John  L.  Bowne, 
and  James  Palmer  a  committee  to  superintend  the  undertaking, 
and  to  procure  estimates  for  the  erection  of  a  building. 

At  a  meeting  held  on  the  5th  of  April,  a  letter  was  received 
from  the  trustees  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Free  School,  stating  that 
they  had  purchased  lots  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
cathedral,  and  making  a  complaint  that  the  purchase  of  lots  in 
Mott  street  by  the  Free-School  Society  was  an  improper  interfer- 
ence with  their  plans.  A  reply  was  directed  to  be  sent  to  the 
complainants,  and  a  committee  of  three,  consisting  of  John  E. 
Hyde,  Isaac  Collins,  and  Lindley  Murray,  was  appointed  to  pre- 
pare a  memorial  and  remonstrance  to  the  Legislature  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  late  law. 

On  the  2d  of  August,  the  trustees  adopted  the  following 
resolutions : 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  board,  the  last  section  of  the  act 
of  the  Legislature  of  this  State,  entitled  "An  Act  for  the  Relief  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  in  the  city  of  New  York,"  passed  on 
the  8th  day  of  February  last  past,  is  calculated  to  divert  a  large  portion  of 
the  common  school  fund  from  the  great  and  beneficial  object  for  which  it 
is  established,  and  to  apply  the  same  for  the  promotion  of  private  and  sec- 
tarian interests ;  and,  believing  that  the  passing  of  said  section  was  pro- 
cured either  from  the  want  of  information,  or  from  some  other  cause  not 
known  to  this  board,  they  will  use  all  the  means  in  their  power  to  procure 
a  repeal  of  the  last  clause  of  said  law. 

Resolved,  That  the  secretary  send  a  copy  of  the  preceding  resolution  to 
the  trustees  of  the  Bethel  Free  School. 

At  the  following  meeting  of  the  board,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  confer  with  the  Corporation,  the  commissioners  of 
the  school  fund,  and  the  directors  of  the  various  institutions 
entitled  to  participate  in  the  school  moneys,  to  secure  their  co- 
operation in  procuring  the  repeal  of  the  law,  and  to  prepare  a 
memorial  to  be  presented  to  the  Legislature.  The  committee 
consisted  of  Charles  G.  Haines,  John  E.  Hyde,  Isaac  Collins, 
Gideon  Lee,  and  Rensselaer  Havens. 

At  the  meeting  held  on  the  6th  of  December,  the  committee 


52  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

reported  the  following  memorial,  which  was  adopted,  and  ordered 
to  be  printed  under  the  direction  of  the  committee : 

To  ihe  Honorable  the  Senate  and  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  York  : 

The  trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society  of  New  York  respectfully  rep- 
resent, that  they  consider  the  prosperity  of  the  institution,  whose  manage- 
ment is  entrusted  to  their  charge,  as  intimately  connected  with  the  moral 
condition  of  this  metropolis.  In  all  populous  cities,  there  must  be  a  great 
disparity  in  the  pecuniary  circumstances  of  the  different  classes  of  the  com- 
munity. A  large  portion  of  the  people  must  be  indigent  and  needy.  Thou- 
sands of  the  rising  generation  must  be  emerging  into  active  life,  whose 
parents  are  unable  to  give  them  the  rudiments  of  literary  education,  and 
whose  minds  have  never  been  enlightened  or  restrained  by  the  early  incul- 
cation of  moral  lessons  and  virtuous  maxims.  Unless  some  public  establish- 
ment, or  some  voluntary  association,  embrace  and  relieve  their  condition,  it 
must  be  evident  that  they  will  be  exposed  to  temptations  of  the  most  per- 
nicious kind,  and  contract  habits  of  the  most  dangerous  tendency.  They 
will  swell  the  list  of  crimes  on  the  records  of  criminal  courts,  fill  the  peni- 
tentiaries with  convicts,  and  subsist  by  committing  depredations  on  the 
property  of  their  fellow-citizens,  and  disturb  the  peace  and  safety  of  the 
whole  community.  They  diminish  the  security  of  civil  government,  in- 
crease poverty  and  taxation,  and  promote  the  passage  of  severe  and  sangui- 
nary laws. 

To  rescue  such  children  from  the  dangers  which  naturally  surround  them, 
to  shield  them  from  temptation  and  early  depravity,  to  direct  their  paths  to 
future  usefulness  and  respectability,  is  the  grand  object  of  the  Free-School 
Society  of  New  York. 

When  these  free  schools  were  established  in  1806,  there  was  a  large 
number  of  poor  children  in  the  city  of  New  York  exposed  to  the  most  dan- 
gerous temptations,  and  whose  minds  were  destitute  of  mental  and  moral 
cultivation.  They  were  wandering  in  the  streets  in  idleness,  and  daily  fall- 
ing into  new  and  pernicious  associations.  They  were  growing  up  in  a  man- 
ner that  prepared  them  for  the  almshouse,  the  hospital,  the  Bridewell,  the 
penitentiary,  and  State  prison.  Since  their  commencement,  more  than  four- 
teen thousand  children  have  been  admitted  and  entered  on  their  registers, 
and  but  one  solitary  individual  of  this  large  number  has  been  pointed  out 
who  has  been  arraigned  in  a  criminal  court. 

The  number  daily  instructed  is  now  more  than  three  thousand.  It  is 
almost  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the  salutary  effects  of  these  schools.  When 
we  reflect  that  all  free  governments  must  rest  on  public  opinion,  and  that,  in 
proportion  as  public  opinion  is  enlightened  and  the  people  rendered  virtu- 
ous, popular  institutions  will  be  rendered  more  permanent  and  secure,  the 
diffusion  of  elementary  instruction,  and  the  timely  inculcation  of  correct 
principles  of  moral  conduct,  assume  a  consideration  that  must  appeal  to  the 
feelings  of  every  member  of  this  community  who  regards  his  own  happi- 
ness, the  happiness  of  society  generally,  and  the  well-being  of  posterity. 

No  system  of  education  has  ever  yet  been  devised  that  affords  so  many 


MEMORIAL  TO   THE  LEGISLATURE.  53 

advantages  as  the  Lancasterian  plan.  This  was  adopted  by  the  Free-School 
Society  of  New  York  before  it  was  embraced  by  any  other  State  in  the 
Union ;  and,  whether  we  consider  the  economy  of  instruction,  the  facility 
with  which  children  acquire  the  rudiments  of  education,  or  the  excellency 
of  the  discipline  which  prevails,  it  stands  without  competition. 

The  free  schools  under  our  care  are  open  to  all  religious  denominations. 
No  distinction  of  sect  or  name  is  known  in  admitting  scholars.  The  gov- 
ernment of  the  State,  in  a  spirit  of  wisdom  and  munificence,  has  made  a 
liberal  annual  allowance  toward  sustaining  the  expenses  of  their  educa- 
tion ;  and  if  our  income  exceeds  the  expenditures,  the  surplus  is  appropri- 
ated toward  erecting  buildings  for  schools,  which  are  the  property  of  the 
public,  for  the  perpetual  reception  of  indigent  children.  Five  houses  have 
already  been  constructed,  principally  by  the  aid  of  private  donations,  in  the 
different  parts  of  the  city  of  New  York.  They  constitute  a  real  estate 
which  will  be  held  in  perpetuity  for  the  benefit  of  the  lower  classes  of  the 
community,  and  which  may  be  estimated  at  the  value  of  sixty  thousand 
dollars. 

Your  memorialists  would  further  represent,  that,  with  one  exception,  the 
different  religious  denominations  of  the  city  of  New  York  who  receive  a 
portion  of  the  common  school  fund,  expend  it  in  the  education  of 'poor 
children  of  their  respective'  societies  only. 

Your  memorialists  are  fully  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of  that  provision 
of  the  general  law  regulating  the  expenditures  of  the  common  school  fund, 
which  limits  the  appropriation  of  said  fund  to  the  payment  of  teachers 
only ;  and  they  believe  it  inexpedient,  and  contrary  to  the  original  intention 
of  the  Legislature,  that  any  part  thereof  should  be  applied  to  the  erection 
of  buildings,  except  in  case  of  an  institution  expressly  incorporated  for  pur- 
poses of  educating  poor  children,  and  where  real  estate  virtually  becomes 
the  property  of  the  public.  • 

But  your  memorialists  regret  to  say,  that  a  law  was  passed  during  the 
last  session  of  the  Legislature,  which,  they  apprehend,  may  lead  to  incalcu- 
lable evils,  and  produce  consequences  never  contemplated  at  the  period  of 
its  adoption.  This  statute  is  entitled,  "  An  Act  to  relieve  the  Baptist 
Bethel  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York,"  and  it  contains  the  following  sec- 
tion :  "  And  le  it  further  enacted,  That,  if  any  moneys  be  now  remaining,  or 
shall  hereafter  remain,  in  the  hands  of  the  said  trustees  (naming  the  trus- 
tees of  the  said  church)  from  the  school  moneys  received  by  them  for  the 
support  of  the  Bethel  Free  School,  after  a  sufficient  compensation  to  the 
teachers  employed  by  them,  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  them  to  apply 
such  moneys  to  the  instruction  of  schoolmasters,  to  the  erection  of  build- 
ings for  schools,  and  to  all  other  needful  purposes  of  a  common  school  edu- 
cation, but  to  no  other  purposes  whatever."  (Vide  "  Laws  of  New  York," 
1822,  p.  22.) 

As  the  sum  drawn  from  the  common  school  fund  for  each  scholar  is 
more  than  is  requisite  to  pay  the  salaries  of  teachers  on  the  Lancasterian 
plan  of  education,  where  the  number  of  scholars  is  large,  a  very  consider- 
able surplus  may  remain.  This  surplus  may,  by  said  law,  be  devoted,  in 


54  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  opinion  of  your  memorialists,  to  the  purchase  of  real  estate,  or  to  the 
erection  of  buildings,  which  belong  not  to  the  public— not,  in  fact,  to  the 
poor  of  the  city  of  New  York,  but  to  the  Baptist  Bethel  Church.  In  this 
religious  society  the  fee  will  permanently  vest,  and  the  estate  and  property 
thus  created  may  be  sold,  and  the  fee  conveyed  to  others.  There  is  no  limit 
to  the  number  of  scholars  which  may  be  instructed  under  the  direction  of 
this  church,  and  the  sum  drawn  from  the  commissioners  of  the  school  fund 
must  conform  to  the  returns  made  to  them  by  this  religious  denomination. 
Teachers  may  be  employed  at  low  salaries,  to  increase  this  .surplus,  who  aro 
incompetent  to  the  faithful  discharge  of  their  duty  ;  and  there  is  nothing  to 
prevent  the  conversion  of  the  moneys  drawn  by  the  trustees  of  this  church 
to  the  education  of  children  who  do  not  belong  to  that  needy  class  of  schol- 
ars who  should  be  peculiar  objects  of  instruction  in  the  expenditure  of  the 
school  fund  in  this  city. 

Your  memorialists  would  respectfully  ask,  if  this  ever  could  have  been 
the  intention  of  the  Legislature  ?  Why  has  a  right  been  given  to  one  re- 
ligious society  which  is  not  imparted  to  another  ?  And  why  has  a  privilege 
been  granted  that  not  only  vitiates  the  principles  of  equality,  but  perverts  a 
part  of  the  school  fund  intended — and  wisely  and  humanely  intended— to 
be  expended  to  the  last  cent  in  the  wholesome  education  of  poor  children  ? 
When  other  religious  denominations  are  compelled  by  law  to  exhaust  all  the 
funds  which  come  into  their  hands  for  the  purposes  of  instruction,  is  it  poli- 
tic, is  it  just,  to  select  out  one  religious  society,  and  give  it  an  opportunity 
to  dispose  of  the  funds  here  spoken  of,  for  other  purposes  than  those  con- 
nected with  the  early  education  of  the  poor  ? 

Your  memorialists  have  but  one  object  in  view— the  adoption  of  the 
most  prudent  and  effectual  means  of  educating  the  poor  children  of  the  city 
of  New  York.  Whether  this  is  done  by  this  Free-School  Society,  or  by 
other  means,  is  not  a  matter  of  concern  to  them  ;  but  when  they  see  the  ex- 
istence of  a  law  which,  in  their  view,  appears  calculated  to  retard  the  great 
work  of  elementary  instruction — which  has  a  tendency  to  pervert  a  portion 
of  the  school  fund  from  its  proper  object — which  may  diminish  the  num- 
ber of  poor  children  annually  educated,  and  which  may  create  a  spirit  of 
hostility  heretofore  unknown  among  the  different  religious  denominations, 
and  is  unequal  as  well  as  pernicious,  they  conceive  that  a  regard  to  their 
duty,  and  a  sincere  desire  to  increase  the  blessings  of  elementary  instruction, 
dictates  an  appeal  to  the  Legislature.  Suppose  that  every  Christian  society 
in  the  city  of  New  York  was  empowered  to  expend  a  portion  of  its  divi- 
dend, drawn  from  the  commissionerrs  of  the  school  fund,  in  objects  differ- 
ent from  that  of  educating  poor  children,  would  not  the  Legislature  con- 
sider such  an  evil  called  for  prompt  and  complete  correction  ?  Why,  then, 
shall  the  guardians  of  our  public  prosperity  permit  a  law  to  exist  which 
sets  an  example  that  may  lead  to  such  a  grievance  ?  Have  not  the  different 
religious  denominations  of  this  metropolis  a  perfect  right  to  call  on  the 
Legislature  for  a  law  giving  them  authority  to  expend  their  surplus  funds 
as  they  may  think  proper,  or  to  erect  buildings  which  may  in  time  be  con- 
verted into  houses  for  sectarian  uses,  instead  of  being  maintained  as  school 
edifices  ? 


MEMOKIAL   TO  THE   CORPORATION.  55 

Under  these  considerations,  your  memorialists  respectfully  request  the 
Legislature  to  repeal  the  third  section  of  the  law  which  haa  been  here  re- 
ferred to.  They  conceive  that  its  being  expunged  from  the  Statute  Book 
will  seriously  benefit  the  great  interests  of  early  education  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  place  the  different  religious  societies  on  the  broad  basis  of 
equality. 

About  three  years  ago,  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Pauperism  in 
the  City  of  New  York  made  an  annual  report,  in  which  it  was  stated,  among 
other  things,  that  there  were  about  eight  thousand  poor  children  in  this 
metropolis  who  were  growing  up  destitute  of  instruction.  This  fact,  and 
others  of  a  similar  nature,  induced  this  Free-School  Society  to  make  bolder 
efforts  to  spread  the  lights  of  early  knowledge.  They  have  very  recently 
erected  two  school-houses,  in  different  sections  of  the  city,  in  the  midst  of 
the  most  indigent  portions  of  our  population,  capable  of  receiving  one 
thousand  scholars  each,  and  by  this  means  incurred  a  debt  of  sixteen  thou- 
sand dollars. 

Your  memorialists  deem  it  proper  to  state,  that  the  Free-School  Society 
of  New  York  is  composed  of  more  than  six  hundred  of  the  most  respect- 
able citizens,  and  that  religious  distinctions  are  unknown  to  their  constitu- 
tion. For  fourteen  years  they  have  prosecuted  the  grand  design  of  their 
institution  with  ardor  and  success.  They  have  contracted  debts  and  in- 
curred heavy  responsibilities  on  many  occasions. 

The  Free-School  Society  of  New  York  was  created  by  the  Legislature  to 
exercise  a  wholesome  supervision  over  the  education  of  children  who  could 
look  to  no  other  certain,  source.  This  institution  was  the  offspring  of  your 
honorable  body,  and  to  you  it  has  to  look  for  continuance  and  support.  In 
seeking  the  repeal  of  a  law  which  must  have  been  passed  without  a  compre- 
hensive view  of  its  effects  and  bearings,  they  trust  that  they  shall  not  be 
accused  of  departing  from  that  uniform  desire  to  increase  the  blessings  of  a 
free  and  enlightened  government  which  has  ever  controlled  their  action  and 
guided  their  efforts. 

Signed  by  order  and  on  behalf  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

LEONAKD  BLEECKER,  Vice-President. 
LTNDLET  MTJKKAY,  Secretary. 

NEW  YOBK,  January,  1823. 

The  committee  also  reported  the  following  memorial  to  the 
Corporation,  which  was  adopted,  and  referred  to  the  same  com- 
mittee to  present  to  that  body  : 

To  Ms  Honor  the  Mayor,  Recorder,  and  Commonalty  of  the  City  of  New  York : 
The  trustees  of  the  New  York  Free-School  Society  would  respectfully 
represent,  that  they  consider  the  diffusion  of  early  education  in  the  city  of 
New  York  as  intimately  connected  with  the  moral  condition  and  future 
prosperity  of  this  metropolis.  If  we  would  lessen  taxes,  by  preventing  pau- 
perism— if  we  would  lessen  public  burdens,  by  diminishing  crimes  and 
offences — if  we  would  render  the  city  more  wealthy,  by  increasing  individ- 


56  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

ual  exertion  and  enterprise — if  we  would  give  greater  peace  and  security  to 
our  citizens,  and  render  property  more  sacred — if  we  would  give  a  broader 
basis  and  render  firmer  the  foundation  of  our  political  and  civil  institutions, 
we  shall  oncourage  early  education  among  the  poor,  inculcate  virtuous  max- 
ima in  the  young  mind  as  its  powers  are  unfolded,  and  teach  the  principles 
of  self-respect.  Industry,  sobriety,  enterprise,  and  usefulness  will  follow. 

History  is  the  censor  of  ages.  It  teaches  us  that,  in  proportion  as  man- 
kind assemble  and  reside  in  large  bodies,  that  the  distinctions  of  rich  and 
poor  are  made  more  obvious — that  they  reciprocate  baneful  as  well  as  virtu- 
ous sympathies.  The  poor,  the  depraved,  and  the  desperate  mingle  togeth- 
er, and  a  standing  corps  of  the  base  and  the  profligate  will  appear. 

Idleness  and  want  will  stimulate  the  base  propensities  of  our  nature,  and 
crimes  and  outrages  will  follow.  Hence,  whatever  counteracts  those  evils 
which  naturally  arise  in  populous  cities,  should  be  embraced  with  ardor  and 
cultivated  with  perseverance.  And  hence  the  necessity  of  a  greater  atten- 
tion to  the  sources  and  causes  of  criminality  and  guilt. 

Your  memorialists  would  call  the  attention  of  your  honorable  body  to 
what  has  already  been  effected  by  the  Free-School  Society  of  New  York. 
They  lay  before  you  a  memorial  which  has  been  prepared  for  the  Legislature 
of  this  State,  and  also  their  last  annual  report.  And,  in  doing  this,  they 
respectfully  solicit  your  aid  in  obtaining  the  repeal  of  a  law  which  they  can- 
not but  think  is  directly  calculated  to  injure  the  interests  of  early  education 
in  this  metropolis.  In  their  view,  the  third  section  of  the  law  to  which  they 
allude,  and  a  copy  of  which  is  laid  before  your  honorable  board,  tends  to 
create  irregularity  among  different  religious  denominations,  to  pervert  a  por- 
tion of  the  school  fund  to  objects  that  may  be  foreign  to  the  purposes  of 
early  education,  and  diminish  the  number  of  children  which  might  be  daily 
instructed. 

Should  these  views  be  deemed  correct  by  your  honorable  body,  it  is 
hoped  that  you  will  present  such  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature  as  will  tend 
to  produce  a  repeal  of  that  portion  of  the  statute  to  which  reference  has 
been  made. 

NEW  YORK,  December,  1822. 

The  memorials  were  adopted,  and  Charles  G.  Haines,  Samuel 
Boyd,  John  E.  Hyde,  and  Isaac  Collins  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  correspond  with  the  Secretary  of  State  as  Commission- 
er of  the  school  fund,  and  to  confer  with  the  New  York  city 
delegation  to  the  Legislature,  relative  to  the  object  contemplated 
in  the  memorial.  It  being  deemed  of  importance  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  public  bodies  whose  action  was  to  decide  the  ques- 
tion should  have  the  opportunity  of  inspecting  the  schools,  the 
Committee  were  directed  to  invite  the  members  of  the  Corpora- 
tion and  of  the  Legislature  to  visit  the  schools  under  the  care  of 
the  Society. 


HIKAM   KETCHTTM.  57 

On  the  24th  of  January,  1823,  a  special  meeting  of  the  trus- 
tees was  held,  on  the  call  of  the  Vice-President,  to  take  into 
consideration  a  letter  which  had  been  received  from  Hon.  J.  B. 
Yates,  relative  to  the  memorial,  in  which  he  submitted  his  rea- 
sons for  a  stay  of  proceedings  in  the  Legislature  on  the  part  of 
the  Free-School  Society.  After  some  discussion  on  the  commu- 
nication, it  was  determined  to  press  the  matter  upon  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  Isaac  Collins  and  Israel  Dean  were  appointed  as  a 
committee  to  proceed  to  Albany,  to  represent  the  interests  of  the 
Society  before  that  body. 

On  the  18th  of  February  following,  another  special  meeting 
was  called  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  objects  so  earnestly 
desired,  and  to  appoint  another  delegate  from  the  board,  who 
should  proceed  to  Albany  to  advocate  the  repeal  of  the  "  third 
section."  The  committee  on  the  memorial  reported  that  the 
Corporation  had,  at  their  meeting  on  the  evening  previous, 
directed  a  memorial  to  be  prepared  and  forwarded,  praying  for 
the  same  object. 

The  resignation  of  Thomas  Gibbons  as  a  member  of  the 
board  was  presented  and  accepted,  and  HIRAM  KETCHUM,  Esq., 
was  unanimously  elected  as  trustee  to  fill  the  vacancy.  It  was 
then  resolved,  that  Hiram  Ketchum  be  authorized  and  requested 
to  proceed  to  Albany,  to  represent  the  interests  of  the  institution 
before  the  Legislature. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  board  on  the  1st  of  March,  a  propo- 
sition to  purchase  the  Baptist  school-house  was  discussed  and 
finally  negatived,  and  the  committee  were  directed  to  press  the 
application  at  Albany,  without  reference  to  the  contingencies 
which  might  arise  in  reference  to  the  property  held  by  the  Bethel 
Baptist  Church  for  school  purposes. 

Mr.  Ketchum  was,  during  this  time,  zealously  engaged  in 
Albany  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  ;  and  on  the  7th  of  March, 
a  letter  was  received  from  him  and  laid  before  the  board,  com- 
municating the  fact  that  the  committee  to  whom  the  question  of 
the  school  law  had  been  referred,  had  decided  that,  whereas  a 
resolution  had  passed  the  House  calling  for  information  at  the 
next  session  of  the  Legislature,  relative  to  all  the  free  schools 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  it  was  inexpedient  to  legislate  further 
at  that  session  on  the  subject  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  schools.  In 
consequence  of  this  decision,  the  several  committees  on  memo- 


58  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

rials  and  the  delegates  to  Albany  were  discharged  by  a  vote  on 
the  4th  of  April. 

In  anticipation  of  the  necessary  action  at  the  ensuing  session 
of  the  Legislature,  the  Board  of  Trustees,  at  a  meeting  held  on 
the  4th  of  July,  appointed  a  new  committee,  consisting  of  Isaac 
Collins,  Hiram  Ketchum,  Eobert  C.  Cornell,  and  Lindley  Mur- 
ray, to*  prepare  an  address  to  the  public,  explaining  the  position 
assumed  by  the  Free-School  Society,  which  was  subsequently 
submitted,  approved,  and  ordered  to  be  printed.  At  the  meet- 
ing of  the  board  on  the  2d  of  January,  1824,  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  draft  a  Bill,  to  be  submitted  to  the  Legislature, 
which  should  operate  as  a  general  law  relative  to  the  distribution 
of  the  school  fund  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  committee 
consisted  of  Benjamin  Clark,  Hiram  Ketchum,  Samuel  Boyd, 
and  Lindley  Murray. 

The  pamphlet  containing  the  address  of  the  trustees  to  the 
public,  with  other  matters,  excited  the  attention  of  the  trustees 
of  the  Bethel  School,  who  solicited  a  conference  between  com- 
mittees of  the  two  boards.  A  committee  was  accordingly 
named,  and,  on  the  6th  of  February,  they  reported  the  perform- 
ance of  the  service  assigned  to  them,  and  that  several  propo- 
sitions had  been  suggested  as  the  basis  of  an  adjustment.  The 
result  of  the  interview  with  Mr.  Chase,  the  pastor,  was  submit- 
ted, as  follows  :  The  trustees  of  the  Bethel  School  were  to  close 
their  No.  3,  and  transfer  the  children  to  Free  School  No.  3,  the 
Society  to  take  the  new  building  from  the  Bethel  Church  on  a 
long  lease,  they  to  continue  their  No.  1  only ;  the  whole  condi- 
tioned on  the  passage  of  the  law  repealing  the  "  third  section." 
B.  Clark,  R.  C.  Cornell,  and  Lindley  Murray  were  empowered 
to  make  the  proposed  terms  of  adjustment  as  free  from  error  as 
possible,  and  to  complete  the  negotiation  with  the  other  institu- 
tion. This  committee  subsequently  reported  that  they  had  been 
entirely  unable  to  effect  any  arrangement  whatever. 

Notwithstanding  the  unanimity  of  sentiment  in  favor  of  the 
repeal  of  the  objectionable  section  of  the  law,  and  the  numerous 
memorials  which  had  been  presented,  the  agents  of  the  Bethel 
Schoo.1  had  been  able  to  exert  a  strong  influence  in  the  House, 
where,  in  consequence  of  .the  absence  of  facts  and  the  lateness 
of  the  session,  the  subject,  as  already  stated,  was  never  reached. 
A  resolution,  however,  had  been  adopted,  calling  for  information 


BETHEL   BAPTIST   CHURCH.  59 

from  the  several  societies  and  asylums  to  which  the  money  was 
distributed  ;  and  the  compilation  of  these  facts  occupied  a  por- 
tion of  the  recess  between  the  sessions. 

The  Bethel  Baptist  Church  had,  at  the  time,  three  schools  in 
operation  :  one  situated  in  Delancey  street,  in  the  basement  of 
the  church,  one  in  Bleecker  street,  and  one  in  Vaiidam  street,  in 
the  basement  of  a  Baptist  church.  The  first  of  these  schools,  in 
Delancey  street,  was  opened  in  1820,  and  in  the  year  1821,  the 
trustees  of  the  church  drew  from  the  common  school  fund  the 
sum  of  $1,545.39  for  686  scholars  alleged  to  have  been  taught 
therein  in  the  year  preceding  the  1st  of  May  in  the  last-men- 
tioned year ;  and  on  the  1st  of  May,  1822,  the  sum  of  $1,479.80 
for  755  scholars;  and -in  the  year  1823,  $1,986.04  for  1,211 
scholars. 

The  nineteenth  annual  report  of  the  Free-School  Society 
presents  an  interesting  review  of  the  proceedings  in  the  contro- 
versy up  to  the  date  of  the  report,  which  is  substantially  em- 
bodied in  the  following  extracts  : 

After  the  passage  of  the  law  granting  the  peculiar  privilege  of  applying 
the  surplus  to  the  erection  of  buildings,  &c.,  the  pastor  of  the.  Bethel  Bap- 
tist Church,  the  Rev.  Johnson  Chase,  applied  to  his  trustees,  requesting  them 
to  erect  a  building  for  a  school  in  Elizabeth  street.  To  this  proposition  the 
trustees  were  at  first  much  opposed,  it  not  comporting  with  their  original 
design  to  have  more  than  one  school,  which  they  thought  they  should  be 
able  to  manage  to  advantage.  Their  pastor,  however,  was  very  earnest  in 
his  solicitations,  and,  to  overcome  all  objections  on  account  of  the  pecuniary 
embarrassments  into  which  the  erection  of  another  building  might  involve 
the  church,  undertook  to  encounter  all  the  expenses  himself ;  accordingly, 
to  gratify  their  pastor,  and  contrary  to  their  own  opinions  of  the  propriety 
of  the  measure,  they  yielded  their  assent  to  it,  and  lots  were  purchased  and 
a  building  commenced  in  the  summer  of  1822.  The  site  of  this  building 
was  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  place  where  the  trustees  of  the  Free- 
School  Society  had  for  some  time  previously  contemplated  the  erection  of 
anothe'r  school-house,  and  where  they  have  since  erected  Free  School  No.  5 
— a  commodious  building,  and  sufficiently  ample  to  accommodate  all  the 
poor  children  in  the  part  of  the  town  where  it  is  situated.  Mr.  Chase  was 
advised  of  the  intentions  of  the  trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society  as  to 
the  erection  of  this  building,  and  the  building  itself  was  actually  erected, 
though  not  finished,  before  he  commenced  his  building  in  Elizabeth  street ; 
and,  after  he  had  commenced  it,  an  individual  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees  offered  to  purchase  his  lots  of  ground,  and  remunerate  him  for  all 
the  expenses  to  which  he  had  been  subjected.  This  proposition  was  made, 
as  it  was  conceived  there  would  be  no  necessity  for  two  free  schools  in  the 


60  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

same  neighborhood,  and  that  the  operations  of  the  two,  if  established,  must 
necessarily  interfere  with  each  other.  The  proposition  was  not,  however, 
acceded  to,  and  the  building  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church  and  Free-School 
No.  5  were  prepared  for  the  reception  of  scholars  about  the  same  time.  One 
part  of  the  building  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church  in  Elizabeth  street  is  now 
appropriated  to  a  school-house,  and  the  other  part  is  used  by  a  religious 
society  as  a  place  of  worship.  In  the  autumn  of  1823,  the  trustees  of  the 
Bethel  Baptist  Church  opened  their  school  No.  3,  in  Vandani  street,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Free-School  No.  3.  The  immediate  effect  of  this  new  school  was 
to  draw  from  Free-School  No.  3  three  hundred  children.  Many  of  the  chil- 
dren thus  withdrawn  returned  soon  afterward  to  the  school  under  the  care 
of  the  Society. 

The  experience  of  the  operations  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  schools  had 
fully  justified  the  apprehensions  formed  of  them  by  the  board.  From  the 
document  with  which  the  trustees  have  been  furnished,  it  appears  that  the 
teachers  in  these  schools  have  been  employed  at  low  salaries,  have  labored 
under  great  disadvantages,  and  that  the  order  and  improvement  of  the 
schools  have  been  by  no  means  commendable. 

On  the  9th  of  March  last,  Jacob  Drake,  Esq.,  one  of  the  commissioners 
of  the  school  fund,  and  Jacob  B.  Taylor,  Esq.,  one  of  the  aldermen  of  the 
city,  visited  the  schools  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  and  a  number  of  the 
free  schools,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  their  condition  and  comparative  mer- 
its. The  certificates  of  these  gentlemen  set  forth  that  a  want  of  cleanliness, 
order,  and  discipline  in  the  Bethel  schools  was  very  manifest,  together  with 
the  following  extraordinary  facts  :  There  were  on  the  register  of  School  No. 
3  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  450  scholars,  when,  in  fact,  300  only  could 
be  seated  in  the  school.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the  trustees  draw  from 
the  common  school  fund  a  certain  amount  per  scholar,  for  the  number  of 
scholars  on  register.  On  the  day  when  these  gentlemen  visited  them,  there 
were  on  register,  in  all  the  schools  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  1,547  schol- 
ars, of  whom  were  present  only  886.  Stephen  Allen,  Esq.,  and  John  Targee, 
Esq.,  consented  to  visit  the  schools  on  another  day ;  and  they  have  been 
pleased  to  give  their  certificate.  This  certificate  shows  similar  results  as  to 
the  condition  of  the  schools,  the  number  of  scholars  on  register  and  in  at- 
tendance, as  that  of  Mr.  Drake  and  Alderman  Taylor.  The  trustees  also 
obtained  a  certificate  from  a  committee  of  the  Fire  Department,  as  follows  : 

To  the  Trustees  of  the  New  York  Free-School  Society  : 

The  undersigned,  a  committee  from  the  "  Trustees  of  the  Fire  Depart- 
ment Fund,"  in  answer  to  the  queries  of  some  of  your  body  relative  to  the 
Bethel  schools  in  this  city,  reply :  That  there  are  now  under  our  care  over 
three  hundred  children,  most  of  which  are  in  the  schools  under  your  charge 
— the  residue  at  the  Bethel  schools.  At  the  former,  they  improve  rapidly  in 
learning,  and  give  the  strongest  evidence  of  the  good  management  of  the 
institution.  At  the  latter,  it  is  the  reverse.  We  are  not,  of  course,  satisfied 
with  having  children  there,  and  shall  consider  it  our  duty  to  remove  them, 
or  discontinue  our  patronage,  when  parents  refuse  to  do  so.  We  have,  there- 
fore, no  hesitation  in  expressing  it  as  our  opinion,  that  public  good  requires 
the  discontinuance  of  the  State  grant  to  the  Bethel  schools,  as  the  course 


BETHEL    BAPTIST   CHUKCH.  61 

pursued  by  their  managers,  in  having  teachers  who  are  incompetent,  and 
rendering  their  schools  instruments  for.  the  furtherance  of  the  views  of  a 
particular  religious  society,  are  calculated  to  subvert  the  intention  of  the 
State  in  the  endowment  of  common  schools. 

Our  opinions  are  formed  from  personal  visits  to  both  schools,  and  from 
the  reports  of  our  School  Committee,  who  visit  every  three  months  and 
examine  into  the  progess  of  the  children  claiming  protection  from  our  insti- 
tution. 

P.  W.  ENGS, 

EDWARD  ARROWSMITH, 

JAMES  M.  TUTHELL,  !•  Committee. 

WILLIAM  VONCK, 

J.  M.  HOYT, 

NKW  YORK,  16th  March,  1824. 

From  the  certificate  of  Mr.  Andrews,*  it  appears  that  Mr.  Chase  has 

*  CERTIFICATE  OF  CHARLES  C.  ANDREWS. — I,  Charles  C.  Andrews,  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  teacher,  and  late  a  trustee  of  the  Bethel  Free-School  in  said  city,  state  as 
follows :  That,  when  it  was  proposed  by  the  Rev.  Johnson  Chase  to  establish  a  free 
school  in  the  basement  of  the  meeting-house  of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church  in  Delancey 
street,  for  the  purpose  of  educating  poor  children  connected  with  the  congregation, 
and  others  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  meeting-house,  I  readily  assented  to  aid  in  so 
good  a  work,  and  offered  my  advice,  as  a  teacher  on  the  Lancasterian  plan,  in  the  pro- 
motion of  a  school  to  be  conducted  on  that  system.  A  board  of  trustees  being 
appointed,  and  the  rooms  being  fitted  up,  a  school  was  opened  accordingly,  on  the 
plan  above  named.  Subsequently,  Mr.  Johnson  Chase,  having  obtained  a  special  act 
from  the  Legislature  respecting  the  surplus  funds  of  the  said  school,  proposed  to  buy 
lots  and  erect  a  large  school-house  in  Elizabeth  street.  This  proposition  was  objected 
to  by  all  the  trustees  as  departing  from  the  original  plan,  and  as  calculated  to  involve 
the  church  in  difficulties  which  she  was  unable  to  sustain,  and  so  greatly  to  increase 
the  duties  of  the  board,  that  a  second  school  could  not  properly  be  attended  to  on 
their  part.  However,  after  several  attempts  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  board,  even 
with  the  offer  of  said  Chase  to  build  a  school-house  on  his  own  account  and  credit,  his 
proposals  were  accepted.  A  school-house  was  built  and  a  school  opened,  contrary  to 
my  views  and  advice  frequently  expressed  to  Mr.  Chase.  My  reasons  were  in  accord- 
ance with  those  of  each  member  of  the  board,  which  I  had  frequently  an  opportunity 
of  hearing  expressed  by  them  individually  ;  and  I  am  under  the  impression  that  it  was 
principally  owing  to  the  influence  possessed  by  Mr.  Chase,  as  pastor  of  the  church, 
that  his  object  in  this  respect  was  obtained. 

The  reasons  for  not  agreeing  to  the  establishing  a  second  school  on  the  part  of  the 
board  have  already  been  given  ;  in  addition  to  which,  my  own  reasons  were,  that  there 
would  be  no  necessity  for  such  school,  as  the  Trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society  con- 
templated building  in  the  vicinity  of  the  intended  Bethel  School,  and  I  concluded  that 
it  would  create  a  strife,  far  from  being  desirable  or  useful,  between  the  two  institu- 
tions ;  nor  did  I  consider  that  the  Bethel  Board,  from  it's  infant  state,  possessed  suffi. 
cient  experience  on  such  subjects  to  undertake  a  task  so  new  and  so  arduous  as  a 
second  school  must  necessarily  impose ;  while,  on  the  part  of  the  New  York  Free. 
School  Trustees,  there  existed  all  the  requisite  means  and  qualifications,  to  carry  into 
full  effect  the  purposes  designed  by  the  establishment  of  such  schools. 

Within  a  few  months,  Mr.  Chase  proposed  to  the  Bethel  Board  to  open  another 


62  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

been  the  active  manager  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Bethel  Baptist 
Church  ;  his  conduct  as  a  trustee  of  public  funds  will  be  shown  by  the  fol- 
lowing facts : 

It  appears  that  Mr.  John  Buyce  was  the  first  teacher  employed  in  the 
Bethel  Baptist  Free-School  in  Delancey  street;  he  was  employed  in  1820, 
and  continued  till  1821.  At  this  time  the  trustees  of  the  church  were  not 

free  school  in  Vandam  street,  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  large  school  long  established 
by  the  New  York  Free-School  Society  of  this  city.  To  this  measure  I  also  objected  ; 
nor  was  there  a  member  of  the  board,  to  my  knowledge,  friendly  to  the  measure  ;  but 
the  same  partial  feeling  toward  Mr.  Chase,  which,  I  conceive,  brought  the  second 
school  into  existence,  brought  the  third  also,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  consent  of  the 
board.  When  it  was  proposed  to  employ  the  person  having  charge  of  the  last-men- 
tioned school  as  teacher,  it  never  met  my  approbation,  nor  do  I  consider  it  a  judicious 
appointment. 

The  Bethel  Board,  considering  it  necessary  that  much  time  should  be  spent  in  visit- 
ing their  schools,  and  that  their  several  occupations  would  preclude  them  from  per- 
forming that  duty,  engaged  me  to  pay  weekly  visits  to  the  schools,  and  to  superintend 
the  literary  concerns  of  the  same ;  for  which  services  the  Board  thought  proper  to 
compensate  me ;  but  from  the  views  I  have  already  expressed,  and  which  I  have  had 
ever  since  the  second  school  was  established,  together  with  a  persuasion  that  the  male 
teachers  have  never  been  so  compensated  as  to  induce  them  to  maintain  a  reputation 
equal  to  other  similar  institutions,  and  knowing  that  men  so  situated  merely  remain  in 
such  employ  to  subsist  while  they  are  anxiously  looking  for  more  favorable  opportuni- 
ties, never  can  feel  that  energy  which  is  absolutely  necessary  in  teachers  of  well-con- 
ducted Luncasterian  schools ;  finding,  also,  that  this  state  of  things  was  intended  to 
continue  notwithstanding  the  discouragement  manifested  by  teachers,  arising  from 
their  vain  attempt  to  procure  an  increase  of  pay ;  and  considering,  also,  that  I  was 
employed  by  gentlemen  who  viewed  the  operations  of  the  Bethel  Board  in  an  unfavor- 
able light,  I  considered  it  my  duty  to  relinquish  my  membership  with  the  said  Bethel 
Board,  and  to  resign  the  superintendentship  of  the  schools  under  their  care. 

In  relation  to  the  comparative  state  of  the  Bethel  Free  Schools,  and  those  under 
the  care  of  the  New  York  Free-School  Society,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  remark,  that  the 
teachers  of  the  Bethel  Schools,  Nos.  1  and  2,  were  both  taught  the  Lancasterian  sys- 
tem in  the  school  under  my  care  ;  and  considering  the  shortness  of  the  time  in  which 
they  have  been  engaged  on  the  plan,  they  have  shoVn  themselves  worthy  of  encour- 
agement ;  and  if  they  had  advantages  similar  to  the  teachers  of  the  schools  belonging 
to  the  Free-School  Society,  more  good  than  now  does,  in  my  opinion,  would  result 
from  their  labors ;  but  while  the  teacher  of  Bethel  School  No.  1  has  to  conduct  a 
school  on  a  system  requiring  uniformity  in  the  various  exercises,  in  a  room  in  which  it 
is  not  practicable  to  observe  it,  and  the  teacher  of  No.  2  has  to  contend  with  the  pres- 
sure which  an  insufficient  income  occasions,  evident  disadvantages  appear  in  these  two 
schools,  when  contrasted  with  those  of  the  New  York  Free-School  Society. 

The  salaries  of  the  Bethel  School  teachers  are  as  follows : 

School  No.  1,  A.  R.  Martin,  teacher,       .        .        .     $500  per  annum. 
No.  2,  Thos.  Fardon,       "...  400          " 

No.  3,  John  Missing,        "  ...       350  " 

The  teachers  of  other  Lancasterian  Schools  in  New  York  receive  from  $600  to  $800 
and  $1,000  per  annum.-  CHARLES  C.  ANDREWS. 

March  II,  1824. 


BETHEL    BAPTIST   CHUBOH.  63 

permitted  to  draw  from  the  school  fund  more  than  sufficient  to  pay  the  sal- 
ary of  their  teacher ;  the  privilege  not  having  been  granted  them  of  appro- 
priating the  surplus.  Mr.  Chase  asserts  that  Mr.  Buyce  was  employed  at  a 
salary  of  $900  per  annum  ;  Mr.  Buyce  alleges  that  he  was  employed  at  a  sal- 
ary of  $450  per  annum ;  *  and  that,  by  the  request  of  Johnson  Chase,  he 
took  a  draft  on  the  treasury  of  the  church  for  $900,  with  a  private  under- 
standing with  Mr.  Chase  that  he  was  actually  to  receive  only  $450.  It  will 
be  perceived  that,  by  the  operation  resorted  to  by  Mr.  Chase,  the  vouchers 
of  the  treasurer  would  show  that  $900  of  the  public  funds  went  to  the  pay- 
ment of  the  teacher,  when,  in  fact,  one  half  of  that  sum  remained  in  the 
treasury  of  the  church.  After  the  passage  of  the  law  allowing  the  church 
to  use  the  school  fund  in  the  erection  of  buildings,  Mr.  Chase  employed  a 
teacher  at  $500  per  annum.  It  also  appears,  by  the  certificate  of  Mr.  Thomas 
Fardon,f  a  teacher  of  Bethel  Free-School  No.  2,  that,  previously  to  the  de- 
parture of  Mr.  Chase  for  Albany,  during  the  session  of  the  Legislature  of 
1823,  this  gentleman  proposed  to  Mr.  Fardon  to  present  a  proposition  to  the 
board  of  trustees  of  the  church  to  give  him  $600  salary,  on  condition  that 
he  should  return  $200  as  a  donation.  The  object  of  this  certifiate  was, 
probably,  to  show  that  Mr.  Chase  did  not  employ  teachers  at  low  salaries, 
and,  consequently,  had  no  surplus  for  buildings. 

The  operation  of  the  Bethel  schools  upon  those  of  the  So- 
ciety were  twofold.  In  the  first  place,  they  drew  away  pupils 
from  the  free  schools,  and  diminished  their  revenue  ;  and,  in  the 
second  place,  by  absorbing  so  large  a  share  of  the  school  money, 
the  balance  to  be  distributed  among  the  other  institutions  was 

*  CERTIFICATE  OF  JOHN  BUYCE. — I,  John  Buyce,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  do 
certify  and  declare,  that  I  was  employed  by  Johnson  Chase  as  teacher  of  the  Bethel 
Free-School  No.  1,  in  the  basement  of  the  Baptist  meeting-house  at  the  corner  of  De- 
lancey  street  and  Chrystie  street,  for, the  years  1820  and  1821,  at  a  salary  of  about 
450  dollars  per  year.  I  further  certify,  that,  at  the  request  of  the  said  Johnson  Chase, 
I  took  a  draft  on  the  treasurer  of  said  school  for  900  dollars,  with  the  private  under- 
standing between  myself  and  said  Johnson  Chase  that  I  was  really  to  receive  but  about 
450  dollars,  and  I  believe  said  Johnson  Chase  knew  I  was  paid  but  about  450  dollars. 

JOHN  BUTCK. 

NEW  YORK,  April  1st,  1824. 

\  CERTIFICATE  OF  THOMAS  FARDON, — I  hereby  certify,  that,  in  consideration  of  fre- 
quent extra  services  rendered  the  Bethel  Free-School  establishment,  Mr.  Chase  prom- 
ised to  present  me  50  dollars  in  addition  to  my  salary  of  350.  Also,  that,  previous  to 
his  departure  to  Albany  at  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature,  he  desired  to  present  a 
proposition  to  the  board  to  give  me  600  dollars  per  annum,  on  condition  that  I  should 
return  200  as  a  donation,  considering  such  a  contract  injudicious  and  unnecessary. 
However,  being  frequently  entreated,  and  hoping  to  secure  the  50  dollars  (which,  I 
feared,  I  should  not  receive  as  a  present),  I  acceded,  and  proposed  committing  it  to 
writing ;  thus  it  remains  a  verbal  contract  between  Mr.  Chase  and  myself. 

THOMAS  FARDON,  Teacher  of  Bethel  Free  School  No.  2. 

NEW  YOEK,  March  Zllh,  1824. 


64  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

materially  diminished.  But  other  mischiefs  were  in  the  imme- 
diate future.  Several  religious  denominations,  observing  the 
special  privileges  thus  enjoyed  by  one  of  their  number,  mani- 
fested a  disposition  to  follow  the  example,  by  enlarging  their 
schools,  and  adapting  them  to  the  wants  of  the  public  by  receiv- 
ing children  of  all  denominations.  A  school  of  this  description 
was  opened  in  Grace  Church ;  another,  for  female  children,  by 
the  Congregational  Church  in  Chambers  street ;  and  a  third,  by 
the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  in  large  rooms  in  Harmony  Hall, 
at  the  corner  of  William  and  Duane  streets. 

The  board  of  trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society,  in  view  of 
these  proceedings,  deemed  it  their  duty  to  apply  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, not  only  to  repeal  the  section  of  the  law  granting  peculiar 
privileges  to  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  but  for  such  an  amend- 
ment as  would  restrict  the  action  of  religious  societies  to  the 
true  intent  of  the  common  school  law.  The  board,  therefore, 
adopted  the  draft  of  a  bill  to  be  submitted  to  the  Legislature. 

Previous  to  making  the  application  to  the  Legislature,  the 
board  thought  proper  to  obtain  the  sanction  and  aid  of  the  Com- 
mon Council.  They  were  induced  to  take  this  course  not  only 
because  the  petition  of  the  constituted  guardians  of  the  city 
would  have  great  influence  with  the  Legislature,  but  because 
they  were  interested  in  the  proper  administration  of  the  school 
interests  of  the  city.  The  application  of  the  trustees  to  the 
Common  Council  was  referred  to  a  very  intelligent  committee, 
who  heard  a  full  discussion  of  the  question  on  the  part  of  the 
Society,  by  several  members  of  the  board,  and,  on  the  oppo- 
sition, by  Rev.  Messrs.  Mathews  and  "Wainwright.  The  com- 
mittee reported  fully  and  urgently  in  favor  of  the  measures 
proposed  by  the  Free-School  Society,  and  recommended  the 
adoption,  of  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature.  The  memorial  was 
unanimously  adopted,  as  follows  : 

To  the  Honorable  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  Senate  and  As- 
sembly convened  : 

The  memorial  and  petition  of  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  respectfully  represent,  that,  as  the  constituted 
guardians  of  the  institutions  and  general  welfare  of  the  ci'y  of  New  York, 
they  think  themselves  called  upon  to  apply  to  your  honorable  body  for 
certain  amendments  in  the  laws  relative  to  the  distribution  of  the  common 
school  fund  in  said  city. 


BETHEL    BAPTIST   CHURCH.  65 

By  the  act  of  March  12th,  1813,  the  portion  of  this  fund  for  the  city  of 
New  York  is  directed  to  be  distributed  and  paid  to  the  trustees  or  treasurers 
of  certain  benevolent  institutions  in  the  act  named,  and  such  incorporated 
religious  societies  as  then  supported,  or  should  thereafter  support,  charity 
schools  within  the  said  city,  who  might  apply  for  the  same  ;  and  such  dis- 
tribution is  directed  to  be  made  to  each  school  in  proportion  to  the  average 
number  of  children,  between  the  ages  of  four  and  fifteen  years,  taught  there- 
in, free  of  expense. 

By  the  fourth  section,  the  religious  societies  in  the  city  of  New  York  are 
allowed  to  participate  in  the  common  school  fund — a  privilege  peculiar  to 
them,  as  it  is  not  enjoyed  by  any  religious  society  in  the  State  out  of  said 
city. 

Your  memorialists  respectfully  conceive  that,  at  the  passage  of  the  sec- 
tion last  referred  to,  it  was  not  contemplated  by  the  Legislature  that  the 
respective  religious  societies  provided  for  in  the  section  would  engage  in  the 
business  of  educating  the  children  of  poor  people  generally,  but  th'at,  if  any 
availed  themselves  of  the  privilege  granted  them,  they  would  do  so  in  the 
establishment  of  schools  for  the  education  of  the  poor  of  their  respective 
congregations.  This,  however,  is  not  the  practical  construction  of  the  law, 
as  some  of  the  religious  societies  in  the  city  are  in  the  habit  not  only  of 
receiving  them  in  their  schools,  but  of  soliciting  the  attendance  of  poor 
children  of  every  denomination  and  description,  and  drawing  for  them  from 
the  common  school  fund.  It  will  readily  be  perceived  that  this  course  is 
dictated  by  the  interest  of  every  religious  society  which  has  established  a 
school ;  for  the  greater  the  number  of  scholars,  the  larger  will  be  the  amount 
drawn  from  the  fund.  One  religious  society  has  already  established  three 
large  schools  upon  the  Lancasterian  plan ;  and  others,  stimulated  by  this 
example,  are  exerting  themselves  to  increase  their  schools  already  estab- 
lished, or  have  it  in  contemplation  to  establish  new  ones  upon  an  extensive 
scale. 

Your  memorialists  have  witnessed,  certainly  with  great  pleasure,  the  zeal 
of  the  different  religious  societies  in  the  city  in  so  important  a  branch  of 
Christian  duty  as  the  education  of  the  poor ;  and  if  their  exertions  can  be 
continued  at  the  expense  of  private  benevolence,  they  are  worthy  of  all 
praise.  But  your  memorialists  think  that  large  drafts  from  the  common 
school  fund,  by  the  religious  societies,  would  be  attended  with  consequences 
much  to  be  deprecated. 

It  will  be  seen,  by  reference  to  the  act  of  1813  above  referred  to,  that  a 
number  of  institutions  supporting  charity  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
besides  religious  societies,  are  authorized  to  draw  from  the  common  school 
fund.  The  principal  among  these  institutions  is  the  Free-School  Society. 

This  Society  has  been  in  active  operation  for  more  than  eighteen  years, 
and  your  memorialists  can  bear  testimony  to  the  great  extent  of  its  utility. 
According  to  documents  which  have  been  made  public,  more  than  eighteen 
thousand  poor  and  destitute  children  have  been  assisted  in  obtaining  a  com- 
mon school  education.  There  are  now  daily  taught  in  these  schools  about 
four  thousand  children  ;  and  the  good  order  and  wise  government  of  these 
5 


66  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

establishments  are  matters  of  public  notoriety.  Such  is  the  organization  of 
this  Society,  that  it  cannot,  in  the  opinion  of  your  memorialists,  fail  to  be 
permanently  useful.  It  enrolls  among  its  members  gentlemen  of  almost 
every  religious  sect  known  in  this  country ;  it  is  founded  upon  principles 
purely  catholic,  and  is  allied  to  no  sect  or  party.  Among  the  trustees  who 
now  manage  its  concerns,  as  well  as  those  who  have  heretofore  had  charge 
of  them,  are  numbered  some  of  our  most  active,  munificent,  and  public- 
spirited  citizens,  who  are  and  have  been  willing  to  devote  a  portion  of  their 
time  and  talents  to  the  single  object  for  which  the  Society  was  organized — 
the  education  of  the  poor. 

Such  being  the  character  of  the  Free-School  Society,  your  memorialists 
think  it  permanently  entitled  to  public  patronage  and  support.  The  schools 
under  the  charge  of  the  Society  are,  however,  mainly  dependent  for  the 
means  necessary  for  their  support  upon  the  common  school  fund  ;  the  con- 
tinuance and  the  future  establishment  of  sectarian  schools,  for  the  purpose 
of  general  education,  will  have  the  effect  to  diminish  the  scholars  in  attend- 
ance upon  the  schools  of  the  Society — many  having  already  been  induced  to 
leave  them — and  thereby  so  diminish  the  amount  drawn  from  the  school 
fund  as  to  render  it  insufficient  for  the  support  of  the  schools ;  they  will, 
therefore,  gradually  decrease  as  the  sectarian  schools  arise,  and  will  finally  be 
discontinued.  This  result  the  best  interests  of  the  poor  of  this  metropolis, 
not  only  for  the  present  but  future  generations,  are,  in  the  opinion  of  'your 
memorialists,  deeply  concerned  in  preventing.  Your  memorialists  do  not 
deem  it  necessary  to  give,  in  this  place,  all  the  reasons  which  determine  their 
minds  to  this  opinion,  but  there  are  a  few  which  they  beg  leave  briefly  to 
suggest. 

The  question  for  the  determination  of  the  Legislature  at  this  time  is  pre- 
sumed to  be,  whether  the  Free-School  Society  shall  be  suffered  to  continue 
its  operations,  and  have  the  principal  management  of  gratuitous  education 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  or  whether  the  religious  societies  shall  take  it  out 
of  their  hands,  and  the  poor  be  educated  in  sectarian  schools? 

The  duties  of  religious  societies  are  so  numerous,  that  it  is  not  believed 
that  the  business  of  educatmg-the  poor,  if  entrusted  to  them,  would  receive 
the  attention  it  deserves,  and  might  be  expected,  from  a  society  organized 
for  no  other  object.  The  success  of  large  schools  upon  the  Lancasterian 
plan  cannot  be  entirely  effected  by  competent  teachers,  but  depends  very 
much  upon  their  being  subjected  to  frequent  visitations  and  examinations 
by  persons  of  intelligence  and  standing  in  society.  The  happy  effects  of 
such  visitations  and  examinations  have  been  fully  exemplified  in  the  schools 
of  the  Free-School  Society.  These  schools  are  visited  semi-weekly  by  com- 
mittees of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  besides  being  occasionally  visited  by  the 
whole  board,  consisting  of  thirty-six  members. 

If  religious  societies  are  to  be  the  only  participators  of  the  school  fund 
for  the  city  of  New  York,  a  spirit  of  rivalry  will,  it  is  thought,  be  excited 
between  different  sects,  which  will  go  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  society, 
and  which  will  early  infuse  strong  prejudices  in  the  minds  of  children 
taught  in  the  different  schools.  Moreover,  your  memorialists  would  suggest 


BETHEL    BAPTIST   CHUECH.  67 

to  your  honorable  body,  whether  the  school  fund  of  the  State  is  not  purely 
of  a  civil  character,  designed  for  a  civil  purpose ;  and  whether,  therefore,  the 
entrusting  of  it  to  religious  or  ecclesiastical  bodies  is  not  a  violation  of  an 
elementary  principle  in  the  politics  of  the  State  and  country. 

Tour  memorialists  therefore  pray,  that  the  law  relative  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  school  fund  in  the  city  of  New  York  be  so  amended  as  to  pre- 
vent any  religious  society,  entitled  to  a  participation  in  the  fund*  from  draw- 
ing for  any  other  than  the  poor  children  of  their  respective  congregations. 

Tour  memorialists  have  prepared  the  draft  of  a  bill  containing  this, 
among  other  amendments,  upon  which  they  have  not  deemed  it  necessary  to 
offer  any  remarks  in  this  place.  They  have  been  induced  to  make  this 
application  to  your  honorable  body,  not  only  by  the  deep  interest  which 
they  feel  in  the  establishing  a  system  of  gratuitous  education  which  may 
be  of  permanent  utility  to  the  poor  of  this  city,  over  which  they  have  been 
called  to  preside,  but  because  it  is  made  their  duty  to  raise,  by  a  tax  on  the 
citizens,  an  amount  for  the  purposes  of  education  equal  to  that  received  by 
the  city  from  the  funds  of  the  State. 

And  your  memorialists,  as  in  duty  bound,  will  ever  pray. 
WILLIAM  PATJLDING,  JR., 

Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

[L.  s.]  By  the  Common  Council, 

J.  MORTON,  Clerk. 

The  above  memorial,  and  bill  which  it  recommended,  were 
unanimously  adopted  by  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  New 
York  ;  but  before  the  memorial  was  engrossed,  a  special  meeting 
of  the  board  was  called,  at  the  request  of  two  highly  respectable 
clergymen  in  the  city  of  New  York,  to  reconsider  the  subject. 
At  this  meeting  the  memorial  and  bill  were  again  referred  to  a 
committee,  consisting  of  Aldermen  Burtsell,  Mann,  Taylor,  Bol- 
ton,  and  Hone,  who,  after  having  fully  investigated  the  subject, 
reported  as  follows.  This  report  was  adopted  by  the  board  with- 
out a  dissenting  voice : 

Is  COMMON  COUNCIL,  February  16.7i,  1824. 

The  committee  on  applications  to  the  Legislature,  to  whom  was  referred 
for  reconsideration  the  law  and  memorial  relating  to  the  free  schools  in  this 
city,  beg  leave  respectfully  to  report : 

That  they  have  taken  into  consideration  the  objections  made  to  the  said 
law,  and  have  had  the  subject  fully  discussed  before  your  committee  by  gen- 
tlemen of  the  highest  standing  as  to  character  and  intelligence,  who  were 
deeply  interested  therein ;  but,  upon  mature  consideration,  your  -committee 
are  of  opinion  that  it  would  be  inexpedient  to  alter  any  of  the  provisions 
of  the  said  law. 

Tour  committee  deem  it  inexpedient  to  repeat  all  the  reasons  which  have 
induced  them  to  recommend  an  application  to  the  Legislature  for  the  law  in 


68  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

its  present  form,  inasmuch  as  they  presume  it  is  a  subject  in  a  great  degree 
familiar  to  the  board,  and  as  the  memorial  contains  the  principal  reasons,  to 
which  they  respectfully  refer. 

Your  committee,  however,  consider  it  proper  to  state,  that  they  believe 
this  law  to  be  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  preservation  of  the  New 
York  Free-School  Society,  and,  consequently,  highly  essential  to  the  welfare 
of  the  community  in  general ;  and  that,  as  this  board  may  be  considered  the 
constituted  guardians  of  the  institutions  and  general  prosperity  of  this  city, 
it  does  seem,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  correct  for  them  to  interfere, 
and  aid  in  the  preservation  of  so  benevolent  and  praiseworthy  an  institu- 
tion. 

The  committee,  therefore,  respectfully  recommend  the  adoption  of  the 
following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  the  draft  of  a  law  and  memorial  relating  to  common 
schools  in  the  city  of  New  York,  as  passed  at  a  former  meeting  of  this 
board,  be  approved  of,  and  that  his  Honor  the  Mayor  be  requested  to  au- 
thenticate in  the  usual  form,  and  forward  the  same  to  the  Legislature. 

Adopted  by  the  Common  Council. 

J.  MOBTON,  Clerk. 

This  emphatic  approval  of  the  course  of  the  Society  having 
been  obtained,  the  committee  continued  its  labors,  in  the  expec- 
tation of  being  able  to  secure  the  desired  amendments  to  the  law 
at  an  early  day  in  the  then  ensuing  session.  The  following  is 
the  memorial  adopted  by  the  Society  and  presented  to  the  Legis- 
lature during  the  regular  session  of  1824 : 

To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and,  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  York : 

ThA  Memorial  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society  of  New  York, 
RESPECTFULLY  SHEWETH, 

That,  by  the  act  of  March  12th,  1813,  the  portion  of  the  common  school 
fund  for  the  city  of  New  York  is  directed  to  be  distributed  and  paid  to  the 
trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  trus- 
tees or  treasurers  of  the  Orphans'  Asylum  Society,  the  Society  of  the  Eco- 
nomical School  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  African  Free-School,  and  of 
such  incorporated  religious  societies  in  said  city  as  now  support,  or  hereafter 
shall  establish,  charity  schools  within  the  said  city,  who  may  apply  for  the 
same ;  and  such  distribution  shall  be  made  to  each  school  in  proportion  to 
the  average  number  of  children  between  the  ages  of  four  and  sixteen  years 
taught  therein  the  year  preceding  such  distribution,  free  of  expense. 

Your  memorialists  respectfully  conceive  that,  at  the  passage  of  the  act 
last  referred  to,  it  was  not  contemplated  by  the  Legislature  that  any  re- 
ligious society  would  establish  a  charity  school  for  the  instruction  of  any 
other  than  the  poor  of  their  own  congregation.  But  experience  has  proved 
that  some  religious  societies  in  the  city  of  New  York  do  increase  their  char- 
ity schools,  by  receiving  into  them  children  who  do  not  belong  to  their 


BETHEL    BAPTIST   CHURCH.  69 

respective  congregations,  and  thus  draw  from  the  common  school  fund  a 
larger  sum  than  they  would  otherwise  be  entitled  to  for  the  support  of  their 
schools.  The  operation  of  this  proceeding  is,  to  diminish  the  number  of 
scholars  in  the  schools  under  the  charge  of  your  memorialists,  and,  conse- 
quently, their  proportion  of  the  common  school  fund,  upon  which  princi- 
pally they  are  dependent  for  the  support  of  their  establishments. 

Your  memorialists  would  state,  that  the  Society  from  which  they  derive 
their  appointment  is  perfectly  catholic  in  its  principles,  pledged  to  no  sect 
or  party ;  that  it  is  composed  of  gentlemen  of  all  religious  denominations, 
and  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  act  incorporating  it,  or  in  the  constitution 
by  which  it  is  governed,  which  prevents  any  respectable  man  from  uniting 
himself  with  it,  and  having  a  choice  in  the  selection  of  its  officers  and  a 
voice  in  its  proceedings  ;  that  the  schools,  are  open  to  the  children  of  every 
denomination ;  and  that,  while  the  leading  principles  of  the  Christian  faith 
are  taught  them,"  the  points  of  collision  between  the  different  sects  are  care- 
fully avoided. 

Inasmuch  as  the  law,  in  its  present  shape,  has  the  effect  to  injure  the 
establishments  under  the  charge  of  your  memorialists,  they  respectfully 
request  that  it  may  be  so  amended  as  to  prohibit  the  religious  societies  in 
the  city  from  drawing  from  the  common  school  fund  for  any  other  than  the 
poor  children  of  the  members  of  they:  own  societies,  or  of  those  who  stated- 
ly worship  with  them.  Your  memorialists  believe  that  this  amendment  of 
the  existing  law  is  recommended  by  many  considerations  of  sound  policy  ; 
and,  among  these,  not  the  least  is,  that  the  interests  of  the  whole  Christian 
community  will  be  best  promoted  by  encouraging  the  principle  that  each 
religious  society  is  bound  to  provide  for  the  education  of  their  own  poor 
children,  and  that,  if  they  attempt  to  do  more,  they  ought  to  do  it  at  their 
own  expense,  and  not  to  look  to  the  funds  of  the  State  for  assistance. 

LEONARD  BLEECKEK,  Vice-President.     [L.  s.] 

LINDLEY  MURRAY,  Secretary. 

January  27<ft,  1824. 

We,  the  undersigned,  unite  with  the  trustees  of  the  New  York  Free- 
School  Society  in  their  memorial  to  the  Legislature,  requesting  that  the 
respective  religious  societies  in  the  city  of  New  York  be  restricted,  in  draw- 
ing from  the  common  school  fund,  to  the  poor  children  of  their  own  congre- 
gation instructed  by  them. 

In  behalf  of  the  trustees  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  city 
of  New  York. 

JOSEPH  SMITH,  President  pro  tern.     [L.  s.] 

GEORGE  SUCKLEY,  Secretary. 

January  31s?,  1824.  * 

Certificates  similar  to  the  above,  signed  by  the  following  per- 
sons, were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Committee  of  Colleges, 
Academies,  and  Common  Schools  : 

ARCHIBALD  MACLAY,  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  in  Mulberry  street. 
JOHN  WILLIAMS,  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  in  Oliver  street. 


70  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

WILLIAM  MCMURRAY,  president,  and  PETER  NEEFUS,  secretary,  of  the 
consistory  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  Market  street. 

THOMAS  McAuLEY,  pastor,  S.  WHEELER,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  Rutgers  street  Church. 

WARD  STAFFORD,  pastor  of  the  Bowery  Presbyterian  Church.  In  be- 
half of  the  trustees,  RICHARD  COOK. 

WILLIAM  PATTON,  pastor,  REUBEN  MUNSON,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Central  Presbyterian  Church,  Broome  street. 

PETER  BONNET,  president,  STEPHEN  LOCKWOOD,  clerk,  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church. 
GARDINER  SPRING,  pastor  of  said  church. 

We,  the  undersigned,  unite  with  the  trustees  of  the  New  York  Free- 
School  Society  in  their  memorial  to  the  Legislature,  requesting  that  the 
respective  religious  societies  in  the"  city  of  New  York  be  restricted,  in  draw- 
ing from  the  common  school  fund,  to  the  poor  children  of  their  own  congre- 
gations instructed  by  them. 

PETER  MCCARTEE, 
JOHN  JOHNSTON, 
JOHN  MCGREGOR,  JR., 
THOMAS  SUFFERN, 
SAMUEL  THOMPSON, 

Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Murray  street,  under  the  charge  of 
the  Rev.  W.  D.  SNODGRASS. 

January. 

A  number  of  respectable  clergymen  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  signed  a  certificate  similar  to  the  foregoing. 

The  Committee  on  Colleges,  Academies,  and  Common  Schools, 
to  which  the  several  memorials  were  referred,  submitted  a  report 
and  bill,  which  embodied  the  provisions  of  the  bill  drafted  by 
the  Society,  The  report  is  as  follows  : 

REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY. 

Mr.  Gardiner,  from  the  Committee  on  Colleges,  Academies,  and  Common 
Schools,  to  whom  was  referred  the  memorial  of  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and 
Commonalty  of  the  city  of  New  York,  praying  for  an  alteration  in  the  law 
relative  to  the  distribution  of  the  common  school  fund  in  said  city,  together 
with  the  draft  of  an  act  prepared  by  the  Corporation — also  the  memorial  of 
the  Free-School  Society  of  said  city — reported,  that  the  act  proposed  by  the 
Corporation  of  said  city  contains  a  revision  of.  all  the  laws  at  present  in 
force  relative  to  the  distribution  of  the  common  school  fund  in  said  city  ; 
that  the  only  material  alteration  which  it  proposes  in  existing  laws  is,  that 
each  religious  society  in  said  city  which  now  supports,  or  hereafter  may 
establish,  charity  schools,  may  be  restricted,  in  drawing  from  the  common 
school  fund,  to  the  children  of  the  parents  or  guardians  who  statedly  wor- 
ship with  such  society. 


BETHEL    BAPTIST   CHTJKCH.  71 

From  the  documents  laid  before  your  committee,  it  appears  that  the 
propriety  of  making  the  proposed  alteration  has  been  fully  discussed  by 
gentlemen  of  high  standing  in  the  city  of  New  York,  favorable  to,  and 
opposed  to,  the  alteration,  before  an  intelligent  committee  of  the  Corpora- 
tion, who  reported  in  favor  of  it,  which  report  was  unanimously  adopted  by 
the  board. 

It  further  appears,  by  the  memorial  of  th$  Corporation,  that  the  passage 
of  the  proposed  act  is  considered  by  that  body  as  necessary  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Free-School  Society  of  New  York — an  institution  which,  the 
memorialists  represent,  has  been  in  operation  more  than  eighteen  years,  and 
has  assisted  more  than  18,000  poor  and  destitute  children  in  obtaining  a 
common  school  education  ;  that  there  are  now  daily  taught,  in  the  schools 
under  the  charge  of  the  Society,  more  than  4,000  children,  and  that  the 
good  order  and  wise  government  of  the  establishments  are  matters  of  pub- 
lic notoriety.  It  is  further  stated  in  the  memorial,  that  this  institution  is 
composed  of  gentlemen  of  all  religious  denominations ;  that  it  is  allied  to 
no  sect  or  party,  but  pursues  its  operations  upon  principles  purely  catholic. 
The  Corporation  further  represent  that  the  consequence  of  destroying  this 
Society  will  be,  that  the  poor  children  of  New  York  will  be  educated  in 
sectarian  schools.  It  appears,  by  the  last  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of 
State,  the  acting  superintendent  of  common  schools,  "  that  he  is  persuaded 
that  some  legislative  remedy  is  necessary,  to  continue  in  full  and  vigorous 
operation  this  institution,  which  is  certainly  one  of  the  noblest  and  most 
useful  in  the  State — an  institution  which  has  certainly  contributed  more  to 
the  education  of  poor  children,  and  the  extirpation  of  vice  and  immorality, 
than  any  other  of  the  numerous  valuable  ones  which  it  contains." 

The  memorial  of  the  trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society  also  prays,  that 
the  law  be  so  amended  as  to  limit  the  .religious  societies  in  said  city,  in 
drawing  from  the  common  school  fund,  to  the  poor  children  of  the  mem- 
bers of  their  own  societies,  or  of  those  who  statedly  worship  with  them. 

Certificates  of  concurrence  in  the  prayer  of  the  last-mentioned  memorial, 
signed  by  the  trustees  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  two  highly  re- 
spectable pastors  of  Baptist  Churches,  the  consistory  of  a  Keformed  Dutch 
Church,  and  the  pastor  and  trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  in  said 
city,  have  also  been  laid  before  the  committee. 

These  memorials  were  presented  to  the  honorable  the  Assembly  on  the 
24th  day  of  February  ultimo,  but  no  remonstrance  has  as  yet  appeared  ;  and 
your  committee  have  not  deemed  themselves  justified  in  waiting  any  longer 
in  expectation  of  such  remonstrance,  especially  as  it  has  been  represented  to 
them  that  the  passage  of  the  act  the  present  session  is  a  matter  of  great 
public  importance. 

Your  committee  have  examined  the  several"  acts  relative  to  the  Free- 
School  Society  of  New  York,  and  find  it  to  be  a  corporation  limited. to 
$10,000  income  from  its  real  and  personal  estate  ;  that  the  Mayor,  Recorder, 
Aldermen,  and  Assistants  of  said  city  are  ex-officio  members  of  said  corpora- 
tion, and  that  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  trustees  of  said  corporation  to 
report  annually  to  the  general  meeting  of  the  said  corporation,  in  May  in 


72  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

each  year,  "  a  particular  account  of  the  state  of  the  school,  or  schools,  under 
their  care,  and  of  the  moneys  received  and  expended  by  them  during  the 
year,  so  as  to  exhibit  a  full  and  perfect  statement  of  the  properties,  funds, 
and  affairs  of  said  corporation." 

The  committee  are  satisfied  that  the  trustees  of  the  Society  have  faith- 
fully complied  -with  this  requisition  of  the  act,  and  that  the  Society  were 
the  first  to  introduce  in  this  country  the  Lancasterian  system  of  education, 
and  that  they  have  brought  this  system  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection  in 
their  schools. 

A  number  of  reasons  offered  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  this  act  are,  how- 
ever, founded  upon  local  peculiarities,  with  which  a  majority  of  your  com- 
mittee have  not  an  intimate  acquaintance. ;  but  it  appears  that  these  have 
been  fully  considered  by  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  New  York,  who, 
from  their  particular  knowledge  of  the  interests  and  feelings  of  the  city,  are 
enabled  to  give  them  due  weight,  and  who  were  obviously  much  interested 
in  the  question,  as  they  are  compelled  by  law  to  raise,  by  a  tax  on  the  citi- 
zens, an  amount  for  the  support  of  common  schools  equal  to  that  received 
from  the  school  fund  of  the  State.  Your  committee,  therefore,  think  that 
the  decision  of  the  Corporation  on  this  subject  is  entitled  to  the  respectful 
consideration  of  the  Legislature. 

There  is,  however,  one  general  principle  connected  with  this  subject,  of 
no  ordinary  magnitude,  to  which  the  committee  would  beg  leave  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  House. 

It  appears  that  the  city  of  New  York  is  the  only  part  of  the  State  where 
the  school  fund  is  at  all  subject  to  the  control  of  religious  societies.  This 
fund  is  considered,  by  your  committee,  purely  of  a  civil  character,  and  there- 
fore it  never  ought,  in  their  opinion,  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  any  corpora- 
tion or  set  of  men  who  are  not  diretly  amenable  to  the  constituted  civil 
authorities  of  the  Government,  and  bound  to  report  their  proceedings  to  the 
public.  Your  committee  forbear,  in  this  place,  to  enter  fully  into  this 
branch  of  the  subject ;  but  they  respectfully  submit,  whether  it  is  not  a  vio- 
lation of  a  fundamental  principle  of  our  legislation,  to  allow  the  funds  of 
the  State,  raised  by  a  tax  on  the  citizens,  designed  for  civil  purposes,  to  be 
subject  to  the  control  of  any  religious  corporation.  It  is  not  requested  by 
the  memorialists,  however,  that  the  religious  corporations  -should  be  ex- 
cluded entirely  from  a  participation  in  the  school  fund ;  and  perhaps  it 
would  not  be  expedient  thus  to  exclude  them  at  this  time. 

Your  committee,  therefore,  ask  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  accordingly. 

The  Legislature  adjourned  without  enacting  any  law  affect- 
ing the  interests  of  the  Free-School  Society.  The  questions  in- 
volved, and  the  high  respectability  of  the  influence  brought  to 
bear  in  favor  of  a  continuance  of  the  privilege  granted  to  the 
Bethel  schools,  made  an  immediate  revision  of  the  statute  im- 
practicable. Time  was  required  for  a  full  investigation  of  the 
whole  matter,  and  the  session  closed  without  any  other  action 


BETHEL    BAPTIST   CHUECH.  73 

than  the  reception  of  the  memorials,  the  reports  of  committees, 
the  discussions  had  in  the  Legislature,  and  the  hearing  of  the 
opposing  parties  before  the  legislative  committees. 

The  committee  of  the  Society  having  the  care  of  this  impor- 
tant interest  was  continued,  and,  at  the  meeting  of  the  trustees 
held  on  the  6th  of  August  following,  they  submitted  a  brief  re- 
port of  their  progress,  which  exhibits  the  liberality  and  the  dis- 
interested labors  of  the  gentlemen  named,  in  a  manner  worthy 
of  record : 

The  Committee  on  the  School  Fund  Law,  in  addition  to  what  they  have 
heretofore  reported,  state,  that  they  have  received  from  WILLIAM  HOWARD, 
as  a  donation  toward  defraying  the  expenses  of  our  agents  at  Albany,  one 
hundred  dollars,  which,  at  his  request,  has  been  paid  to  Lindley  Murray  and 
Joseph  Grinnell,  in  part  of  their  expenses,  who  declined  receiving  any  com- 
pensation out  of  the  funds  of  the  Society  for  their  time,  expenses,  and  labo- 
rious services  during  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature. 

They  likewise  mention,  that  the  institution  owes  much  to  Mr.  John 
Targee,  for  his  ready  and  Active  exertions  on  their  behalf  during  the  above 
period,  which  were  gratuitously  rendered,  from  a  thorough  conviction  that 
our  application  was  made  from  the  purest  motives,  and  with  the  sole  view 
to  benefit  the  children  of  the  lowest  class  of  the  community. 

The  committee  recommend  that  John  Targee  be  elected  a  member  of 
this  Society. 

They  further  state,  that  they  have  appointed  Rensselaer  Havens,  Joseph 
Grinnell,  Lindley  Murray,  and  Alderman  Cow  drey,  agents  to  attend  the 
Legislature  at  the  approaching  session,  to  effect  (if  possible)  the  passage  of 
the  law  which,  for  want  of  time,  was  laid  over  in  April  last. 

On  behalf  vof  the  committee, 

LEONARD  BLEECKER.  Chairman. 

NEW  YORK,  July  23,  1824. 

During  the  interval  between  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature, 
overtures  were  made  by  the  committee  of  the  Society  to  secure 
an  amicable  adjustment  with  the  Bethel  Church,  but  without 
effecting  the  object.  The  extra  session,  therefore,  found  the  case 
still  open  for  settlement  by  the  Legislature  upon  the  merits  of 
the  question  as  it  should  come  before  that  body. 

The  third  meeting  (an  extra  session)  of  the  forty-seventh  ses- 
sion of  the  Legislature  commenced  on  the  2d  of  November ; 
and,  at  an  early  day,  the  committee  proceeded  to  Albany  to  pro- 
tect and  advocate  the  interests  and  claims  of  the  Society.  A 
number  of  gentlemen  also  appeared  at  the  Capital  in  opposition 
to  the  bill,  among  whom  were  Rev.  Drs.  Milnor  and  Mathews, 


74:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Rev.  Mr.  Ouderdonk,  Rev.  M.  Hutton,  who  was  connected  with 
Dr.  Mathews'  congregation,  Rev.  Johnson  Chase,  and  others. 

'  At  the  instigation,  it  was  generally  understood,  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Onderdonk,  a  motion  was  made  in  the  Senate  by  Senator  Liv- 
ingston, that  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  be  discharged  from 
the  further  consideration  of  the  bill,  with  a  view  to  refer  it 
again  to  a  select  committee.  This  motion  prevailed,  and  the 
committee  appointed  consisted  of  Senators  Livingston,  Cramer, 
Ward,  Burt,  and  Gardiner.  This  committee  subsequently  heard 
another  full  discussion  of  the  subject  by  Hiram  Ketchum,  Esq., 
on  the  part  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  Messrs.  Onder- 
donk and  Chase  in  opposition,  who,  while  they  disagreed  with 
each  other  as  to  the  grounds  of  disaffection,  were  equally  op- 
posed to  the  bill.  The  committee  were  likewise  divided  in  opin- 
ion upon  the  propriety  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  as  it  came  from 
the  Assembly,  and  it  was  therefore  agreed  by  the  committee  of 
the  Senate  that  the  bill  should  be  so  amended  as  to  vest  in  the  Cor- 
poration of  the  city  the  power  of  distributing  the  school  money 
in  such  manner  as  they  in  their  wisdom  should  think  proper. 

The  committee  of  the  Society,  when  consulted  upon  the 
amendment,  replied,  that  they  had  no  instructions  from  their 
constituents  as  to  the  acceptance  of  such  a  proposition ;  but, 
upon  consultation  with  the  president  of  the  Society  (DE  WITT 
CLESTON),  it  was  deemed  that  they  would  not  be  warranted  in  an 
opposition  which  would  embarrass  the  passage  of  the  bill,  and 
they  accordingly  gave  their  assent  to  the  proposed  amendment. 
The  opponents  of  the  bill  waived  their  objections,  and  accepted 
the  proposition  as  submitted  by  the  committee,  which,  being 
modified  by  Senator  Jordan,  who  was  the  author  of  the  section 
making  remuneration  to  the  Bethel  Church,  was  adopted  by  the 
Senate.  The  Assembly,  without  any  discussion,  unanimously 
accepted  the  amendment,  and  the  bill  was  passed  by  that  body, 
November  19,  and,  having  received  the  signature  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, it  became  a  law. 

The  special  provisions  of  the  act  which  related  to  the  ques- 
tions immediately  at  issue  were  the  following  : 

By  section  3,  the  Corporation  was  directed  to  name  the  com- 
missioners (one  for  each  of  the  ten  wards  into  which  the  city  was 
then  divided)  in  January,  1825,  and  once  in  every  three  years 
thereafter. 


BETHEL    BAPTIST   CHURCH.  75 

By  section  4,  the  Corporation,  in  common  council  convened, 
was  directed  to  designate,  at  least  once  in  three  years,  the  schools 
which  should  receive  school  moneys. 

The  act  also  recited  a  preamble,  that,  whereas  "  the  trustees 
of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  had  ex- 
pended moneys  in  erecting  a  commodious  school-house  in  Eliza- 
beth street,"  and  which  property,  under  the  provisions  of  the 
act,  might  become  in  part  useless  to  them,  the  Superintendent 
of  Common  Schools  was  authorized  to  appoint  appraisers,  who 
should  estimate  the  damage  to  the  trustees,  and  which  should  be 
repaid  out  of  the  school  moneys,  in  four  equal  annual  pay- 
ments. 

The  exciting  controversy  being  thus  terminated,  the  trustees 
of  the  Bethel  schools  maintained  them  until  the  inexpediency  of 
their  longer  continuance  became  too  evident  to  be  disregarded, 
and  they  were  suspended. 

The  distribution  of  the  school  fund  being  thus  committed  by 
the  new  law  to  the  hands  of  the  Common  Council,- the  trustees 
proceeded  to  mature  a  systematic  plan  for  the  enlargement  and 
expansion  of  their  scheme  of  instruction,  and,  at  their  meeting 
in  December,  1824,  entrusted  the  matter  to  a  committee,  con- 
sisting of  Stephen  Allen,  Joseph  Grinnell,  Liridley  Murray, 
Robert  C.  Cornell,  Benjamin  Clark,  James  Palmer,  and  Isaac 
Collins.  The  plans  matured  and  submitted  in  this  report  of  the 
committee  comprehended  an  enlarged  scheme  for  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  system. 


76  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HISTORY    FROM    1822    TO    1826. 

The  Annual  Meeting — School-House  No.  5 — Annual  Exhibit  and  Expenses  for  1822 — 
Systematic  Visitation — "  Sections  " — No.  5  Opened — Real  Estate — Building  Fund 
— Corporal  Punishment — Hiram  Ketchum — New  School  Law — Application  to  the 
Legislature — Committee  of  Ladies  for  Visiting  Girls'  Schools — School  Sections 
Appointed — School  at  Bellevue  Hospital — No.  6 — Visit  of  the  Common  Council 
to  the  Schools — Resolutions — Pay  System — The  School  Fund  Controversy — The 
Museum — Mrs.  Scudder — Charles  Picton  Resigns,  and  Returns  to  England — Gen- 
eral La  Fayette — Visit  to  New  York — Inspection  of  the  Schools — The  New 
School  Law — New  Plans — The  Pay  System — The  Common  Council — Plans  Ap- 
proved— Proceedings  in  the  Legislature — The  New  Law — Name  of  the  Society 
Changed — "  The  Public  School  Society  " — Reorganization  and  Measures. 

THE  contest  which  opened  with  the  year  1822  was  the  first 
of  the  encounters  with  religious  denominations  which  subse- 
quently formed  so  prominent  a  feature  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Society.  The  aim  of  the  directors  of  the  institution  had  always 
been  to  respect  and  preserve  the  rights  of  all  religious  denomi- 
nations, and  to  pay  equal  deference  to  the  rights  of  conscience 
of  all  portions  of  the  community,  at  the  same  time  that  they 
aimed  to  inculcate  those  fundamental  ideas  of  religion  and  mor- 
als, without  which  civilized  men  present  a  condition  which 
differs  from  that  of  the  savage  merely  in  its  artificial  surround- 
ings, and  the  tinsel  and  splendor  of  a  more  polished  social  life. 
The  pressure  of  sectarian  influence,  and  the  selfishness  of  secta- 
rian acquisitiveness,  led  to  the  adoption  of  unworthy  and  repre- 
hensible means  in  order  to  secure  the  public  support  of  church 
schools.  The  question,  which  had  assumed  a  threatening  appear- 
ance for  some  time,  had  finally  taken  a  definite  form  in  the  dis- 
cussion relative  to  the  new  school-site  in  Mott  street,  and  the 
rivalry  on  the  part  of  the  trustees  of  the  Bethel  Church  to 
secure  all  the  advantages  •  which  had  been  granted  them  by  the 
act  of  the  Legislature  in  their  favor.  This  controversy  has  been 
fully  reviewed  in  the  preceding  chapter. 


NEW    SCHOOL   IN   MOTT   STREET.  77 

The  month  of  May,  which  closed  the  seventeen  th  year  of  the 
existence  of  the  Society,  was  marked  by  the  usual  annual  meet- 
ings of  the  board,  and  the  election  of  additional  trustees.  The 
special  business  which  received  attention,  in  connection  with  the 
working  of  the  system,  wlis  that  of  approving  the  plans  and  esti- 
mates for  the  new  school-building  in  Mott  street,  the  purchase 
of  the  lots  of  ground,  and  other  details  essential  to  the  carrying 
out  of  that  measure. 

The  average  number  of  pupils  in  attendance  at  all  the 
schools,  as  appears  by  the  exhibit  of  the  trustees,  was  3,412 ; 
and  the  expenses  of  the  Society  amounted,  for  the  year,  to 
$14,440.  There  was  a  debt  of  $6,000,  secured  by  mortgage  on 
school  property,  and  a  temporary  loan  of  $2,500  on  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  Society. 

The  advantage  of  a  systematic  visitation  of  the  schools  had 
been  long  apparent  to  the  board  ;  and  as  the  number  of  schools 
was  increasing,  and  a  proper  division  of  labor  was  requisite  to 
prevent  unnecessary  confusion  in  the  discharge  of  these  duties, 
an  amendment  to  the  by-laws  was  proposed,  by  which  a  classifi- 
cation of  the  trustees  should  be  made  for  the  management  of  the- 
schools.  The  proposition  was  referred  to  a  committee,  who  re- 
ported a  plan  for  the  division  of  the  members  of  the  board  into 
"  sections,"  for  the  care  of  the  respective  schools.  These  "  sec- 
tions "  were  required  to  make  monthly  reports  to  the  board. 
The  recommendations  of  the  report  were  substantially  adopted. 

The  new  school  in  Mott  street,  No.  5,  was  completed  and 
ready  for  occupancy  in  the  month  of  October,  and  on  the  28th 
of  that  month  it  was  opened,  with  111  boys ;  the  girls'  school 
commencing  on  the  31st,  with  49  scholars.  JOSEPH  BELDEN  was 
appointed  teacher  in  the  boys'  school,  and  MAKY  OTIS  in  the 
girls'  school. 

The  erection  of  the  building  called  for  the  expenditure  of 
$9,591.09  ;  to  meet  which,  a  loan  of  $10,000  had  been  obtained 
of  Thomas  Collins,  at  6  per  cent,  per  annum,  and  mortgages  for 
$5,000  each  had  been  given  upon  No.  4,  in  Rivington  street,  and 
No.  5,  in  Mott  street. 

This  school  affords  one  of  the  illustrations  of  the  economy 
and  integrity  with  which  the  contracts  of  the  Society  were  exe- 
cuted, the  cost  of  the  building  complete  differing  from  the  e'sti- 
mates  only  a  trifling  sum,  including  charges  for  "  extra  work." 


78                                        THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.  , 

The  valuation  of  the  real  estate  of  the  Society,  at  the  close 
of  1822,  was  as  follows  : 

School  No.  1,  and  lots,  ....  $20,000 

No.  2,                      ...  10,000 

No.  3,                  .  11,000 

No.  4,                      .        .        .  9,000 

No. -5,                           ...  12,000 

Vacant  lots  in  Hudson  street,     .        .  2,000 

School  furniture  in  No.  1,       .        .  1,000 

"            "             No.  2,  .        .        .  800 

"            "             No.  3,       .        .        .  1,100 

"            "             No.  4,.       ..        .  1,100 

"            "            No.  5,       ...  1,000 


Total,      .        .        .        $68,000 

From  this  amount,  by  deducting  a  mortgage  of  $6,000  on 
School  No.  3,  and  $5,000  each  on  Nos.  4  and  5,  making,  in  all, 
$16,000,  we  have  the  sum  of  $52,000  as  the  amount  of  property 
held  by  the  Society  beyond  its  liabilities. 

In  accordance  with  the  direction  of  the  board  in  the  early 
part  of  the  year,  the  proposition  to  raise  a  building  fund,  by 
special  additional  tax,  was  renewed,  and  on  the  13th  of  Decem- 
ber the  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of  Robert 
C.  Cornell,  Benjamin  Clark,  and  Eleazer  Lord. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  board  held  on  the  10th  of  January, 
1823,  a  resolution  was  adopted,  ordering  corporal  punishment 
in  the  schools  to  be  discontinued,  prohibiting  entirely  the  use  of 
the  rattan,  and  permitting  only  the  use  of  a  leather  strap  in  ex- 
treme cases — the  strap  to  be  applied  only  to  the  hand  of  the 
refractory  scholar.  This  was  a  step  in  a  reform  which  became, 
at  a  later  period,  a  marked  feature  in  the  administration  of  the 
schools. 

The  Legislature  of  the  State  was  at  this  time  in  session,  and 
active  measures  were  diligently  pressed  forward  to  secure  the 
repeal  of  the  law  granting  special  privileges  to  the  Bethel  school. 
The  expediency  of  having  a  competent  pleader  and  representa- 
tive to  present  the  views  and  interests  of  the  Society  to  the 
Legislature  was  felt,  very  sensibly ;  and,  at  the  meeting  of  the 
board  on  the  18th  of  February,  1823,  HIRAM  KETCHUM,  Esq., 


THE   SCHOOL   FUND.  Y9 

was  elected  a  member,  and  immediately  ap  pointed  to  proceed  to 
Albany  to  attend  to  the  various  measures  which  affected  the 
institution,  and  obtain,  if  possible,  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious 
clause. 

A  committee  was  appointed,  on  the  7th  of  February,  to  re- 
port the  draft  of  a  new  law  relative  to  the  distribution  of  the 
school  fund — the  committee  being  composed  of  Benjamin  Clark, 
Robert  C.  Cornell,  John  R.  Hurd,  Joseph  Grinnell,  and  Lindley 
Murray.  This  committee  reported  on  the  18th  of  the  same 
month,  and  their  report  was  committed  to  Hiram  Ketchu-m, 
Gideon  Lee,  John  Rathbone,  Jr.,  and  Rensselaer  Havens,  to 
revise  and  lay  before  the  Legislature.  The  committee  first 
appointed  reported  also  a  brief  memorial  to  that  body,  which, 
with  other  similar  papers,  form  a  part  of  the  official  action  of 
the  (Society  with  regard  to  the  distribution  of  the  school  moneys 
to  sectarian  and  rival  establishments.  The  memorial  was  adopt- 
ed, as  follows : 

To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  Assembly  of  the  State  of  New  York  : 

Your  memorialists,  the  trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society  of  New  York, 
being  deeply  interested  in  the  distribution  of  the  common  school  fund  in 
the  qity  and  county  of  New  York,  respectfully  suggest  that  a  revision  of  the 
existing  laws  on  that  subject  for  this  city  and  county  would,  in  their  opin- 
ion, tend  to  promote  the  wise  and  benevolent  intentions  of  the  Legislature 
in  making  the  liberal  appropriations  they  have,  for  the  education  of  poor 
children,  and  that  the  following  regulations  would  be  highly  beneficial, 
viz. : 

That  each  institution  or  society  that  receives  of  the  common  school  fund 
shall  receive  in  proportion  to  the  average  number  of  scholars  that  actually 
attend  their  schools  each  year,  which  number  shall  be  ascertainable  by  the 
teachers  keeping  a  record  of  the  number  of  scholars  that  attend  each  school- 
time  throughout  the  year,  and  the  whole  number  of  scholars  thus  recorded 
in.  a  year  shall  be  divided  by  the  number  of  school-times,  and  this  result 
shall  be  considered  as  the  average  number  of  scholars  that  have  attended 
for  a  year. 

That  each  institution  or  society  (except  the  New  York  Free-School  So- 
ciety) who  may  receive  of  the  common  school  fund  shall  expend  the  same  in 
the  payment  of  teachers,  purchase  of  fuel  and  stationery,  and  for  no  other 
purpose  whatever ;  and,  should  they  have  any  balance  unexpended  at  the 
close  of  a  year,  they  shall  pay  it  to  the  commissioners  of  the  common  school 
fund  for  the  city  and  county  of  New  York,  to  be  added  to  the  sum  to  be 
divided  the  ensuing  year. 

Your  memorialists  respectfully  refer  to  the  annexed  bill  on  this  subject, 
embracing  the  above  provisions,  and  some  others  of  importance,  for  the 


80  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

detail  of  their  views ;  and,  confiding  in  your  wishes  to  extend  the  blessing 
of  education  to  the  greatest  possible  number,  we  earnestly  request  that  you 
will  take  this  subject  into  your  wise  consideration,  and,  if  consistent  with 
your  views,  adopt  the  annexed  bill  as  a  law,  which,  we  sincerely  believe, 
would  greatly  increase  the  benefit  arising  from  the  common  school  fund. 

The  delegates  of  the  Society  who  visited  Albany  presented 
the  memorial  and  draft  of  the  proposed  law,  which  were  referred 
to  the  special  committee  on  the  matter  of  the  repeal  of  the 
Bethel  school  privileges.  The  House  adopted  a  resolution  call- 
ing for  information  relative  to  schools  in  the  city,  and  further 
action  was  accordingly  postponed  until  the  following  session. 
The  subsequent  proceedings  were  so  intimately  involved  with  the 
Bethel  school  question,  that  they  have  been  detailed  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter. 

The  board  deemed  it  essential  to  the  success  and  discipline  of 
the  schools  for  girls,  that  they  should  receive  the  benefit  of  su- 
pervision on  the  part  of  intelligent  and  philanthropic  women ; 
and,  after  some  care  had  been  given  to  the  selection  of  proper 
female  visitors  at  the  meeting  of  the  board  on  the  4th  of  April 
(1823),  the  following  resolution  was  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  secretary  "be  requested  to  send  a  written  invitation  to 
the  following  ladies  to  visit  the  several  female  schools  under  the  care  of  this 
board,  for  the  purpose  of  inspecting  those  schools  and  the  improvement  of 
the  girls,  and  to  suggest  quarterly,  by  a  report  to  the  trustees,  their  opinion 
of  the  state  of  those  schools,  and  any  change  they  may  think  advantageous 
in  the  exercises,  &c. 

COMMITTEE  FOB  No.  1 :  Mrs.  John  E.  Hyde,  Havens,  Lucy  Eddy,  Grace 
Bleecker,  Mary  Bleecker,  Mrs.  Najah  Taylor. 

COMMITTEE  FOR  No.  2 :  Sarah  Grinnell,  Eliza  Bowne,  Hester  Hussey, 
Sarah  Bowne,  Sarah  Crocker,  Mary  Hicks,  Anna  Mott,  Ann  Comstock. 

COMMITTEE  FOB  No.  3 :  Mrs.  "Wm.  Torrey,  Mrs.  T.  Whittemore,  Mrs. 
Win.  Torrey,  Jr.,  Mrs.  Pringle,  Mrs.  Bayard,  Miss  Nichols,  Mrs.  Peters,  Mrs. 
Weeks,  Mrs.  Oakley,  Mrs.  Van  Buren,  Mrs.  Meigs. 

COMMITTEE  FOB  No.  4  :   Mrs.  Covell,  Armenia  Palmer. 

COMITTEE  FOB  No.  6  :  Elizabeth  Pearsall,  Sarah  Collins,  Sarah  Minturn, 
Mary  Minturn,  Jane  Anthon,  Louisa  Anthon,  Hannah  Shotwell,  Margaret 
Dudley,  Martha  Clarke. 

In  fhe  month  of  June,  after  the  annual  election  of  officers 
for  the  year,  the  proposition  to  classify  the  trustees  as  special 
sections  for  the  several  schools  was  adopted,  and  the  first  classifi- 
cation was  made,  as  follows  : 


SCHOOL   AT   BELLEVUE    HOSPITAL.  81 

SEC.  No.  1 :  Benjamin  Clarke,  John  E.  Hyde,  Robert  C.  Cornell,  Najah 
Taylor,  Leonard  Bleecker,  Charles  G.  Haines. 

SEC.  No.  2 :  John  L.  Bowne,  Joseph  Grinnell,  Philetus  Havens,  Samuel 
Wood,  David  Lyon,  Hiram  Ketchum. 

SEC.  No.  3  :  William  Torrey,  Eleazer  Lord,  Samuel  Boyd,  Ezra  Weeks, 
Rensselaer  Havens,  William  Howard,  John  Rathbone,  Jr. 

SEC.  No.  4 :  James  Olmstead,  James  Palmer,  Gideon  Lee,  George  T. 
Trimble,  Solomon  Wheeler,  John  R.  Hurd,  Wm.  T.  Slocum. 

SEC.  No.  5  :  John  Slidell,  Isaac  Collins,  Lindley  Murray,  Robert  F.  Mott, 
Israel  Dean. 

At  the  meeting  at  which  the  above  classification  was  adopt- 
ed, a  proposition  was  offered  and  entertained  relative  to  the 
organization  of  a  school  for  the  poor  children  at  what  was  then 
known  as  the  Bellevue  Hospital.  The  proposition  was  referred 
to  Isaac  Collins  and  Rensselaer  Havens,  who  reported  at  the 
next  meeting  that  the  Mayor,  Commissioners,  and  Superintend- 
ent of  the  Almshonse  unanimously  regarded  the  enterprise  with 
favor.  A  draft  of  a  memorial  relative  to  the  proceeding  was 
reported  by  the  committee,  adopted  by  the  board,  and  Samuel 
Boyd  being  added  to  the  committee,  they  were  directed  to  lay  it 
before  the  Common  Council.  On  the  1st  of  August,  the  com- 
mittee reported  that  the  memorial  had  been  received  by  the  Cor- 
poration and  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  Samuel  Cowdrey 
was  Chairman,  who  strongly  recommended  the  plan  for  a  school 
at  Bellevue.  The  commissioners  were  authorized  to  fit  up  appro- 
priate apartments,  and  make  the  requisite  arrangements  for  the 
uew  institution.  The  commissioners  accordingly  appropriated  a 
spacious  hall,  95  by  21  feet,  on  the  second  story  of  a  large  brick 
building  attached  to  the  Almshouse  ;  and  the  room  having  been 
furnished  and  fitted  up  for  school  purposes,  the  registry  of  pupils 
was  proceeded  with,  and,  on  the  27th  of  October,  School  Ko.  6 
was  opened,  with  over  200  pupils,  under  the  temporary  charge 
of  SHEPHERD  JOHNSON,  of  No.  3,  and  several  experienced  moni- 
tors drafted  from  other  schools  for  the  purpose.  Dr.  Charles 
Belden  was  appointed  teacher,  and,  on  the  31st  of  the  month, 
entered  upon  his  duties.  On  the  4th  of  November,  270  pupils 
were  present. 

The  attendance  at  all  the  schools,  as  appears  by  the  annual 
exhibit  for  the  year,  was  4,090. 

The  Mayor  and  members  of  the  Common  Council  having 
been  invited  to  visit  the  schools  of  the  Society  and  attend  the 


82  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

examinations  and  public  exercises,  those  gentlemen  on  a  number 
of  occasions  complied  with  the  invitations,  and  the  result  of 
their  visits  was  so  satisfactory,  fhat  a  resolution  was  introduced 
by  Mr.  Cowdrey,  and  unanimously  adopted,  in  which  a  well- 
merited  compliment  was  paid  to  the  system.  The  extract  from 
the  proceedings  of  the  Common  Council  is  as  follows  : 

IN  COMMON  COTJNCII,  October  27,  1823. 

Mr.  COWDREY  presented  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions,  which 
were  unanimously  adopted : 

The  Common  Council,  having  attended  the  examination  of  the  several 
free  schools  in  the  city,  pursuant  to  the  invitation  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
New  York  Free-School  Society,  and  having  observed  the  great  improvement 
made  by  the  children  in  the  different  branches  of  useful  knowledge,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  the  exemplary  attention  that  is  paid  in  these  schools  to  neat- 
ness and  cleanliness  in  the  apartments,  and  regularity  in  the  deportment  and 
habits  of  the  children,  the  zeal  with  which  the  teachers  of  both  sexes  per- 
form their  several  duties,  and  the  benevolence  and  public  spirit  of  the  trus- 
tees, by  which  they  are  prompted  to  bestow  much,  of  their  time  and  to 
employ  their  best  talents  in  so  important  a  science  to  this  interesting  por- 
tion of  the  rising  generation, 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  board,  in  behalf  of  the  citizens  and 
inhabitants  of  this  city,  are  due,  and  are  hereby  tendered,  to  the  said  trus- 
tees and  teachers,  for  their  labors  in  this  department  of  public  duty,  and  the 
success  which  has  so  evidently  attended  their  laudable  exertions. 
[Copy  from  the  minutes.] 

J.  MORTON,  Cleric. 

At  the  meeting  held  in  July,  the  question  of  establishing  a 
rate  of  charges  for  tuition,  to  be  paid  by  those  who  desired  to  do 
so,  was  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  the  board.  It  was  stated 
that  a  considerable  number  of  respectable  citizens  of  the  middle 
class  would  send  their  children  to  the  schools  of  the  Society, 
were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  they  were  free,  and  therefore  re- 
garded only  as  charity  schools  for  poor  children.  It  was  expect- 
ed that  a  moderate  rate  of  charge  could  be  adopted  without  cre- 
ating any  unpleasant  discrimination  as  to  pay  or  charity  scholars, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  report  upon  the  question. 
The  gentlemen  selected  for  the  purpose  were  Isaac  Collins, 
Hiram  Ketchum,  Robert  F.  Mott,  E.  C.  Cornell,  and  John  E. 
Hurd.  The  report  was  not  presented  for  many  months,  and  will 
be  noticed  in  its  appropriate  place. 

SAMUEL  ~W.  SETON  was  elected  a  trustee  on  the  3d  of  Octo- 
ber, 1823. 


EPISODE   IN    SCHOOL    LIFE.  83 

The  approaching  session  of  the  Legislature  made  it  necessary 
that  measures  should  be  taken  to  present  the  interests  of  the 
institution  on  the  general  issue,  but  particularly  in  relation  to 
the  special  legislation  for  the  Bethel  school.  The  memorials 
which  had  been  presented  to  the  Legislature  at  the  previous  ses- 
sion, with  an  address  prepared  and  printed  by  a  committee, 
under  the  direction  of  the  board,  were  circulated,  and  copies  for- 
warded to  Albany  for  the  members  of  the  Legislature.  Benja- 
min Clark,  Hiram  Ketchum,  Samuel  Boyd,  and  Lindley  Murray 
were  named  as  a  committee  to  draft  a  bill  to  be  submitted  to  tho 
Legislature  for  their  approval.  The  committee  reported  the 
draft  of  a  law  for -the  general  purposes  of  the  Society,  and  also  a 
draft  of  a  special  law  to  limit  the  privileges  of  religious  socie- 
ties. 

The  year  1824  accordingly  opened  with  an  active  renewal  of 
the  important  controversy  relative  to  the  distribution  of  the 
school  fund.  The  delegates  to  Albany  were  opposed  by  able 
and  influential  disputants,  who  closely  contested  the  ground 
taken  by  the  board.  In  February,  however,  a  special  meeting 
was  held,  at  the  call  of  the  committee,  when  a  proposition  was 
submitted,  in  order  to  meet  the  objection  which  was  so  violently 
urged  against  the  character  of  the  Society,  as  being  a  "  monop- 
oly "  and  "  a  close  corporation."  By  this  scheme  the  property 
of  the  Society  should  be  inalienably  devoted  to  school  purposes, 
and  the  schools  should  be  under  the  supervision  of  the  Common 
Council,  and  subject  to  their  control.  After  a  protracted  discus- 
sion, the  board  adjourned,  and  reassembled  the  next  day,  when 
the  following  resolution  was  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  this  board  will,  on  behalf  of  the  Society,  consent  to  the 
passage  of  a  law  that  shall  render  the  property  of  this  institution  inalien- 
able, and  sacredly  pledged  for  the  avowed  objects  of  the  institution,  and 
place  the  schools  under  the  general  supervision  of  the  Common  Council ; 
and  they  will  most  cheerfully  unite  with  their  fellow-citizens  in  any  general 
plan  for  the  extension  of  the  monitorial  system. 

An  interesting  episode  in  school  life  was  occasioned,  in  the 
spring  of  this  year,  by  the  liberality  of  Mrs.  Scudder,  the  widow 
of  John  Scudder,  the  former  proprietor  of  the  American  Mu- 
seum, who  generously  presented  four  hundred  tickets  of  admis- 
sion to  the  Museum  for  distribution -to  the  meritorious  pupils  of 


84:  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  schools.  The  schools  were-  estimated,  and  an  apportionment 
of  one  ticket  to  every  forty-five  scholars  was  decided  upon,  the 
time  of  admission  being  the  Saturday  afternoon  of  each  week, 
when  the  successful  scholars  were  accompanied  by  teachers,  and 
visited  the  rooms  of  the  Museum.  This  amusement  served  as  a 
fine  stimulus  to  the  pupils,  who  industriously  competed  with 
each  other  for  the  prize. 

On  the  30th  of  April,  CHARLES  PICTON,  the  English  teacher 
who  had  charge  of  No.  4,  resigned  his  post  in  order  to  return  to 
England.  He  had  won  a  high  reputation  for  his  qualifications 
and  character,  and  bore,  on  his  return  to  his  native  land,  the 
confidence  and  approbation  of  the  board. 

The  average  attendance  had  increased  to  5,209,  being  a  gain 
of  419  over  the  preceding  year. 

The  months  of  August  and  September,  1824,  were  rendered 
important  and t  interesting  to  the  American  people  by  the  visit 
of  General  La  Fayette  to  this  country.  His  presence  in  New 
York  created  great  enthusiasm,  and  a  committee  of  the  Common 
Council  was  appointed  to  make  the  arrangements  for  the  civic 
reception  and  complimentary  tributes  of  respect  from  the  peo- 
ple. This  committee  conferred  with  a  committee  of  the  board, 
and  preparations  were  made  for  an  exhibition  and  review,  in  the 
Park,  of  the  pupils  of  the  free  schools  in  the  presence  of  the  dis- 
tinguished guest.  General  La  Fayette  was  also  invited  to  visit 
the  schools,  with  which  invitation  he  afterwards  complied,  in- 
cluding in  his  visits  the  colored  school  of  the  Manumission  Soci- 
ety, subsequently  incorporated  with  the  free  schools. 

The  10th  of  September  was  appointed  for  the  principal  occa- 
sion, and,  on  the  morning  of  that  day,  General  La  Fayette  visit- 
ed No.  3,  where  many  of  the  officers  and  trustees  were  assembled 
to  receive  him.  After  exercises  of  the  kind  usual  at  an  exami- 
nation, an  address  was  made  by  one  of  the  pupils,  and  a  certifi- 
cate of  membership  was  presented  to  him  by  the  Vice-President, 
accompanied  with  some  pertinent  remarks. 

At  2  o'clock  [as  is  stated  in  the  report  of  the  committee],  the  children 
of  the  several  schools  (except  No.  6)  were  collected  in  the  Park,  and 
arranged  in  two  double  lines  around  the  walk  next  the  fence,  which  was 
roped  in  for  the  occasion.  The  columns  stood  facing  each  other,  with  a 
space  between  them,  through  which  the  General  was  conducted  by  the  com- 
mittee and  Mayor,  and  introduced  to  each  of  the  teachers.  The  children,  as 


REPORT   ON   THE   SCHOOL   FUND.  85 

he  passed,  expressed  their  feelings  by  the  loud  and.  continued  clapping  of 
hands.  The  General  then  took  a  stand  in  front  of  the  City  Hall,  and  the 
scholars  were  marched  in  review  before  him  as  they  passed  out  of  the  Park. 
There  were  about  five  hundred  boys  and  two  hundred  girls  present  at  No. 
3,  and  three  thousand  of  both  sexes  in  the  Park.  In  conclusion,  the  com- 
mittee have  much  pleasure  in  stating  their  belief  that'  the  proceedings  of 
the  day  were  witnessed  by  the  General,  and  by  thousands  of  our  citizens, 
with  peculiar  interest,  and  that  all  were  gratified  by  an  exhibition  of  the 
state  and  magnitude  of  an  institution  whose  moral  and  religious  influence 
must  be  acknowledged,  and  whose  political  bearing  is  expressed  in  the 
motto  on  one  of  the  banners  used  on  this  occasion — "  Education  is  the  Basis 
of  Free  Government." 

The  Legislature  of  the  State  having  passed  the  bill  to  impose 
the  duty  of  designating  the  institutions  which  should  participate 
in  the  distribution  of  school  moneys  upon  the  Common  Council 
of  the  city,  the  delegates  to  Albany  reported  the  facts  to  the 
board  in  December,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  report 
upon  such  plans  for  a  reorganization  of  the  system  as  would 
make  it  mpre  efficient,  popular,  and  useful.  Messrs.  Stephen 
Allen,  Joseph  Grinnell,  Lindley  Murray,  Robert  C.  Cornell, 
Benjamin  Clark,  James  Palmer,  and  Isaac  Collins,  were  named 
for  the  purpose. 

The  committee  promptly  proceeded  with  their  labors,  and  in 
January,  1825,  made  a  long  report,  which  was  printed,  and  dis- 
tributed among  the  trustees.  It  was  made  the  subject  of  ear- 
nest discussion  at  regular  and  special  meetings,  and  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  confer  with  the  Law  Committee  of  the  Corpo- 
ration ;  but  as  that  committee  declined  to  give  any  opinion  with- 
out a  specific  proposition  from  the  Society,  the  consideration  of 
the  report  by  the  trustees  was  continued.  The  Law  Committee 
having  called  a  meeting  of  all  interested  in  the  schools  partici- 
pating in  the  school  moneys,  to  be  held  on  the  7th  of  March,  the 
report  was  again  taken  from  the  table  at  the  meeting  on'the  4th 
of  that  month,  and  adopted.  It  is  valuable  not  merely  for  its 
facts,  but  because  it  became  the  basis  of  the  subsequent  reorgan- 
ization of  the  Society,  and  is  deemed  worthy  of  republication. 

REPORT   OF  A  COMMITTEE   OF  THE   TRUSTEES   OF  THE  FREE-SCHOOL   SOCIETY 
ON  THE  DISTRIBUTION   OF   THE   COMMON   SCHOOL  FUND. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  new  law  relative  to  the  com- 
mon school  fund,  respectfully  reporf  : 

That  they  have  given  the  subject  that  consideration  which  its  importance 


86  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

seemed  to  demand,  and  were  early  led  to  believe  that,  as  the  portion  of  this 
fund  for  the  city  is  placed  by  the  new  law  at  the  disposition  of  the  Common 
Council,  it  would  be  best  to  examine  the  whole  system  of  common  school 
education  in  this  city,  in  order  that  a  plan  may  be  devised  best  calculated 
to  economize  and  produce  the  greatest  good  from  this  noble  fund.  In  pur- 
suing this  examination,  the  committee  have  thought  it  right  to  extend  their 
views  beyond  those  who  are  considered  the  proper  objects  of  gratuitous 
instruction,  and  to  include  those  children  who  attend  the  minor  and  inferior 
pay  schools. 

Some  of  the  defects  in  the  present  systejn  of  elementary  education 
among  the  lower  and  poorer  classes  of  society  may  be  stated  as  follows  : 

1st.    Of  the  private  pay  schools. 

Of  the  four  hundred  schools  which  have  been  ascertained  to  be  in  opera- 
tion in  this  city,  a  large  number  are  kept  in  small  rooms,  without  sufficient 
light  or  ventilation,  or  a  due  regard  to  cleanliness — requisites  so  essential  to 
the  health  and  comfort  of  youth — and  which  schools  are,  in  numerous  in- 
stances, taught  by  persons  without  the  necessary  qualifications  for  the  dis- 
charge of  their  important  trusts,  and,  in  some  cases,  even  of  doubtful  mor- 
als. On  such  teachers  is  the  hard-earned  money  of  our  industrious  citizens 
too  often  wasted,  and — what  is  of  much  greater  consequence— in  such  schools 
is  the  invaluable  time  of  their  offspring  irretrievably  lost. 

The  great  variety  of  plans  pursued  in  the  different  schools,  and  the  vari- 
ous and  dissimilar  school-books  used  in  them,  retards  the  progress  of,  and 
increases  the  expense  to,  children  removed  from  one  to  another. 

The  lower  classes  who  attend  pay  schools,  though  taxed  to  raise  a  moiety 
of  the  school  fund,  derive  no  immediate  benefit  therefrom. 

3d.    Of  the  free  and  charity  schools. 

The  school  fund,  by  being  divided  and  distributed  through  so  many 
channels,  is  rendered  incapable  of  as  economical  management,  and  of  pro- 
ducing so  great  an  amount  of  good,  as  would  be  the  case  were  it  under  the 
control  and  applied  to  its  intended  purposes  by  a  single  society  having  but 
the  alone  object  in  view  of  general  education. 

A  fund  designed  for  the  civil  education  of  the  youth  of  this  State  is  in 
part  placed  at  the  disposal  of  religious  societies. 

Most  of  the  parents  of  children  in  the  free  and  charity  schools,  though 
unable  to  pay  for  their  instruction  the  prices  usually  charged  in  pay  schools, 
could  probably  afford  to  make  some  compensation  for  the  education  of  their 
children ;  and,  if  so,  the  propriety  of  their  entirely  gratuitous  instruction  is 
questionable. 

With  respect  to  the  objections  under  the  first  head,  and  which  apply  to 
a  large  portion  of  the  lower-priced  pay  schools,  your  committee  fully  believe 
a  remedy  would  be  found  in  the  establishment  of  Lancasterian  pay  schools, 
conducted  by  well-qualified  and  judicious  teachers,  or  by  increasing  the 
number  and  opening  the  establishments  of  the  Free-School  Society  for  the 
reception  of  pay  scholars.  It  is  well  known  that  great  complaints  have  been 
made  by  many  of  our  citizens  in  the  upper  wards  of  the  city,  who  are  too 
poor  to  send  their  numerous  children  to  good  pay  schools,  and  yet  with  feel- 


REPORT   ON   THE   SCHOOL   FUND.  87 

ings  too  independent  to  send  them  to  free  schools,  that,  notwithstanding 
they  are  taxed  for  the  promotion  of  education,  they  do  not  derive  any  bene- 
fit from  the  school  fund,  as  do  citizens  of  all  classes  in  every  other  county  in 
the  State. 

lu  consequence  of  the  poor  condition  of  many  of  the  minor  pay  schools, 
and  of  the  very  superior  instruction  and  accommodation  in  our  free  schools, 
applications  are  sometimes  made  to  the  trustees  of  the  latter  for  the  admis- 
sion of  children  of  poor  but  industrious  citizens,  provided  they  may  be 
allowed  to  pay  a  small  sum  annually  for  that  which  they  are  unwilling  to 
receive  as  a  gratuity.  This  is,  however,  inadmissible  under  our  act  of  in- 
corporation. 

The  superior  advantages  of  the  Lancasterian,  or  System  of  Mutual 
Instruction,  so  far  as  applied  to  an  English  elementary  education,  are  too 
well  established  by  the  light  of  experience  to  admit  of  doubt  or  need  dis- 
cussion ;  and  your  committee  therefore  think  the  only  question  is,  How 
shall  schools  of  the  description  proposed  be  established,  and  under  what 
auspices  ? 

The  committee  believe  that  their  usefulness  would  be  much  increased  by 
their  being  subject  to  regular  inspection  and  the  control  of  trustees,  and  that 
the  latter  should  be  persons  influenced  by  motives  of  benevolence  and  pub- 
lic good  to  undertake  the  important  charge.  Hence  the  propriety  is  inferred 
of  the  establishment  of  a  public  society  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  and 
superintending  elementary  instruction  in  this  city.  As  the  Free-School 
Society  has  had  an  experience  of  nineteen  years,  during  which  period  it  has 
educated  more  than  twenty  thousand  of  our  poor  children,  your  committee 
have  been  led  to  the  inquiry,  whether  this  Society  could  not  with  great 
advantage  combine  the  proposed  object  with  its  present,  and  thus  have  the 
general  superintendence  of  the  education  of  all  classes  who  may  attend  the 
public  schools  ?  This  question  is  connected  with  the  second  division  of  our 
main  inquiry — the  state  of  our  free  and  charity  schools,  and  the  best  mode 
of  applying  the  common  school  fund. 

According  to  the  United  States  census  of  1820,  the  number  of  children 
in  this  city  and  county,  of  the  age  of  16  years  and  under,  was  47,282  (and 
this  number  has  probably  increased  subsequently  to  53,000),  of  whom  27,000 
may  be  computed  to  be  between  5  and  15  years  of  age,  and  20,000  are  sup- 
posed to  be  receiving  literary  instruction  in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree ;  leav- 
ing 7,000  who  do  not  attend  any  school.  The  number  of  children  officially 
returned  as  having  attended  the  free  and  charity  schools  of  this  city  during 
the  year  ending  April  30th,  1824,  was  10,383.  And  the  sum  of  $7,087  was 
drawn  from  the  common  school  fund,  to  which  a  like  sum  raised  by  tax  on 
our  citizens  was  added,  making  the  amount  paid  from  the  public  funds  that 
year,  toward  the  support  of  those  schools,  $14,173.  Of  these  10,383  chil- 
dren, 6,976  were  educated  in  the  schools  of  the  Free-School  Society,  the 
African  Free  School,  the  Female .  Association,  the  Mechanics'  Society,  the 
Hamilton  Free  School,  the  Orphan  Asylum,  and  the  Economical  School,  and 
the  remaining  3,407  attended  the  various  sectarian  or  church  schools  (in- 
cluding 1,616  reported  as  having  been  instructed  in  the  Bethel  Baptist 


88  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

i 

schools).  See  the  report  of  the  Commissioners  of  School  Moneys.  There 
then  was,  and  now  is,  ample  room  in  our  large  and  commodious  school- 
houses  to  acommodate  two  thirds  of  these  3,407  children,  and  who  could 
consequently,  as  no  more  teachers  would  be  required  in  our  schools,  be 
therein  educated  at  very  little  additional  expense  to  us,  and  the  amount 
annually  paid  (say  $3,000  to  $4,000)  by  the  city  for  their  instruction  in 
church  schools,  might  be  appropriated  to  the  erection  of  new  school-houses 
in  those  sections  of  the  city  where  they  now  are  and  may  in  future  be  want- 
ed, so  as  finally  to  provide  sufficient  accommodations  to  receive  and  instruct 
the  7,000  poor  children  now  uneducated,  and  supposed  to  be  roaming  our 
streets,  and  many  of  them  daily  acquiring  the  most  vicious  habits. 

It  hence  appears  that  the  public  moneys  appropriated  to  schools  would 
be  more  advantageously  applied,  and  would  produce  a  greater  amount  of 
good,  by  being  confined  to  one  channel.  For  a  further  development  of  this 
fact,  your  committee  refer  to  the  estimates  and  calculations  appended  to  this 
report. 

In  reference  to  the  impolicy  of  any  part  of  the  public  funds  being  placed 
at  the  control  of  religious  societies,  your  committee  are  unanimously  and 
decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  totally  incompatible  with  our  republican 
institutions,  and  a  dangerous  precedent  in  our  free  Government,  to  permit 
any  part  of  such  funds  to  be  disbursed  by  the  clergy  or  church  trustees  for 
the  support  or  extension  of  sectarian  education.  The  following  remarks  are 
extracted  from  your  last  annual  report  to  the  Society,  and  to  that  report  we 
refer  for  a  further  illustration  of  this  subject. 

With  respect  to  the  school  fund,  it  is  purely  of  a  civil  character,  being 
for  a  civil  purpose ;  and  the  proposition  that  such  a  fund  should  never  go 
into  the  hands  of  an  ecclesiastical  body  or  religious  society,  is  presumed  to 
be  incontrovertible  upon  any  political  principle  approved  or  established  in 
this  country.  It  is  conceded  that  religion  is  essential  to  the  preservation 
and  prosperity  of  civil  society ;  but  then,  the  leading  principle  of  all  our 
legislation  has  ever  been,  to  let  religion  support  itself — let  it  draw  all  its 
resources  from  private  benevolence ;  and  any  law  that  should  impose  a 
direct  tax  on  our  citizens  for  the  support  of  religion,  would  assuredly  meet 
the  disapprobation  of  the  whole  community.  And  this  feeling  of  the  peo- 
ple does  not  arise  from  any  disrespect  for  religion,  but  from  a  correct  idea 
of  her  exalted  character.  It  has  been  left  to  the  experience  of  this  country 
to  show — what  appears  problematical  in  the  eyes  of  Europe — that  religion 
requires  no  aid  from  the  civil  arm  ;  she  needs  no  resources  drawn  from  the 
treasury  of  the  State,  but  her  resources  consist  of  the  willing  contributions 
of  hearts  subjected  to  her  influence. 

In  this  country  we  have  our  religious  institutions.  We  have  our  clergy ; 
they  are,  for  the  most  part,  well  endowed  and  amply  supported.  The  bene- 
ficial tendency  of  their  influence  upon  society  is  acknowledged.  But  how 
are  they  supported  ?  By  private  benevolence.  And  who  would  wish  to 
have  it  otherwise  ?  Nay,  it  may  be  asked,  Whose  heart  would  not  be  indig- 
nant at  the  proposition  that  the  Government  should  tax  the  people  for  the 
support  of  these  institutions  and  these  clergy  ?  And  might  it  not  be  asked 
with  equal  propriety,  If  a  religious  society  wish  to  educate  the  poor,  and 
instill  into  their  minds  their  own  sectarian  doctrines,  is  it  not  wrong  that 
they  should  command  the  public  funds  for  this  purpose,  but  ought  they  not 
rather  to  do  it— as  all  other  religious  instruction  is  afforded — at  the  expense 


EEPOBT   ON   THE   SCHOOL   FUND.  89 

of  private  benevolence  ?  It  is  not  believed  that  the  funds  of  the  State  were 
ever  designed  to  be  used  for  sectarian  purposes ;  and  the  trustees  think  it 
was  a  violation  of  sound  political  principle  to  allow  religious  societies  origi- 
nally any  participation  in  the  school  fund. 

The  Committee  of  the  Assembly  on  Colleges  and  Common  Schools,  to 
whose  consideration  the  proposed  law  relative  to  the  distribution  of  the 
school  fund  in  the  city  was  referred  at  the  session  of  last  winter,  remark  as 
follows :  , 

There  is,  however,  one  general  principle  connected  with  this  subject,  of 
no  ordinary  magnitude,  to  which  the  committee  would  beg  leave  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  House.  * 

It  appears  that  the  city  of  New  York  is  the  only  part  of  the  State  where 
the  school  fund  is  at  all  subject  to  the  control  of  religious  societies.  This 
fund  is  considered  by  your  committee  purely  of  a  civil  character,  and  there- 
fore it  never  ought,  in  their  opinion,  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  any  corpora- 
tion or  set  of  men  who  are  not  directly  amenable  to  the  constituted  civil 
authorities  of  the  Government,  and  bound  to  report  their  proceedings  to  the 
public.  'Your  committee  forbear,  in  this  place,  to  enter  fully  into  this 
branch  of  the  subject ;  but  they  respectfully  submit  whether  it  is  not  a  vio- 
lation of  a  fundamental  principle  of  our  legislation,  to  allow  the  funds  of 
the  State,  raised  by  a  tax  on  the  citizens,  designed  for  civil  purposes,  to  be 
subject  to  the  control  of  any  religious  corporation  ? 

This  important  question  was  long  agitated  and  ably  argued  in  our  sister 
State  of  Connecticut,  as  connected  with  their  school  fund,  and  it  finally 
resulted,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  citizens,  by  excluding  the  clergy 
and  churches  from  having  any  control  over  it.  Our  own  Legislature,  at 
their  last  extra  session,  wisely  erased  from  the  statute-book  the  only  law 
granting  this  privilege  in  this  State  ;  and  your  committee  cannot  believe  the 
Corporation  will  ever  engraft  in  the  local  code  of  the  city  a  power  which 
ought  to  be  unknown  in  a  republican  State. 

It  is,  therefore,  much  to  be  desired  for  the  preceding  reasons,  and  to  pre- 
vent strife  and  jealousy  and  preserve  that  harmony  which  has  heretofore  so 
happily  existed  between  the  several  religious  societies  in  this  place,  that  the 
honorable  the  Corporation  would  be  induced,  at  an  early  day,  to  pass  a  reso- 
lution to  this  effect :  "  That  it  is  inexpedient  to  permit  any  school  estab- 
lished by,  or  under  the  care  of,  any  religious  society,  to  draw,  in  future,  any 
part  of  the  common  school  fund." 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  but  that  most  of  the  church  schools  would 
be  continued  and  maintained  out  of  their  respective  church  treasuries,  as 
was  formerly  the  case  before  any  distribution  of  the  school  fund  was  made, 
and  as  ever  was,  and  still  continues  to  be,  the  case  with  one  religious  soci- 
ety, who  consider  it  their  Christian  duty  to  educate,  with  their  own  re- 
sources, all  the  children  of  their  poor  members,  and  of  whom  they  have 
many.  Should  the  church  schools,  however,  be  partially  or  wholly  discon- 
tinued, your  committee  do  not  believe  that  any  disadvantage  to  the  public, 
or  to  the  children  attending  them,  will  arise ;  as  the  means  will  be  provided 
for  educating  them  elsewhere,  and  probably  in  a  more  economical,  and  as 
well,  if  not  in  a  superior  manner. 


90  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Your  committee  now  proceed  to  the  inquiry,  whether  advantages  would 
not  arise  from  changing  our  free  into  pay  schools,  so  far  as  to  require  from 
all  the  parents  a  small  compensation— if  it  be  only  12]  or  25  cents  a  quar- 
ter— for  the  instruction  of  their  children.  In  this,  the  most  important 
division  of  their  report,  the  committee  have  availed  themselves  of  the  labors 
of  a  former  committee  who  reported  on  the  subject : 

The  primary  object  which  the  Free-School  Society  have  in  view,  is  the 
education  of  children  of  indigent  parents  in  this  metropolis.  It  is  better 
that  this  object  should  be  effected  entirely  at  the  public  expense,  or  by  pri- 
vate munificence,  than  that  the  children  should  go  uneducated.  There  are, 
perhaps,  in  this  city  a  number  of  charitable  institutions,  which,  by  holding 
out  certain  relief  ^to  the  destitute,  tend  to  relax  those  exertions  which  are 
necessary  to  the  prevention  of  poverty,  thereby  increasing  and  perpetuating 
the  very  evils  which  they  were  humanely  designed  to  remedy.  Such  insti- 
tutions, it  now  requires  no  arguments  to  prove,  do  not  promote  the  welfare 
of  the  community;  experience  has  furnished  ample  testimony,  that  the  suf- 
fering ever  attendant  upon  unmitigated  poverty  is  a  wholesome  moral  dis- 
cipline, and  that  the  dread  of  that  suffering  is  powerfully  influential  in  pro- 
ducing, on  the  part  of  individuals,  those  exertions  and  that  providence  by 
which,  in  most  instances,  the  evil  may  be  prevented.  This  reasoning,  how- 
ever, applies  with  mitigated  force,  if  at  all,  to  the  charity  of  which  the 
Free-School  Society  are  the  almoners.  The  direct  effect  of  this  charity  is 
the  intellectual  and  moral  improvement  of  its  recipients.  Imparting  to 
them,  as  it  does,  knowledge  and  virtue,  they  are  thus  supplied  with  the 
inducement  and  the  means  of  all  legitimate  prosperity.  If,  however,  the 
parents  who  send  their  children  to  the  schools  of  the  Society  could  be  in- 
duced to  render  something  in  the  way  of  compensation  for  their  instruction, 
the  committee  are  fully  persuaded  that  the  moral  benefits  resulting  from 
these  schools  would  be  sensibly  increased. 

Small  contributions  from  parents  would  not,  probably,  so  diminish  their 
means  as  to  subject  them  to  the  least  inconvenience,  and  would,  moreover, 
go  to  foster  a  principle  of  most  beneficial  tendency,  that  every  person  is 
bound  to  render  some  return  for  services  performed  for  him  or  his  family  : 
or,  if  he  be  under  the  necessity  of  receiving  aid  from  the  public,  it  must  be 
'in  the  way  of  cooperation  with  his  own  exertions. 

The  improvement  of  parents  is  not,  however,  the  object  for  which  the 
Society  was  organized  :  this  object  is  the  education  of  children.  But  if,  in 
pursuing  this  main  object,  collateral  advantages  should  accrue  to  parents,  a 
consequence  will  be  produced  to  which  the  Society  can  never  be  indifferent. 

The  principal  advantages,  however,  resulting  from  the  proposed  measure 
will,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  be  reaped  by  the  children  themselves. 
If  parents  pay  for  the  education  of  their  children,  they  will  doubtless  take 
a  greater  interest  in  it,  and  be  more  likely  to  require  punctuality  in  their 
attendance  upon  the  schools  than  under  the  existing  system.  That  which 
costs  nothing  is  generally  regarded  as  of  little  worth  ;  the  only  standard  of 
value  for  most  things,  with  which  the  generality  of  mankind  are  acquaint- 
ed, being  the  amount  of  money  which  they  cost. 

And  here  the  committee  would  avail  themselves  of  some  valuable  testi- 
mony on  this  subject  contained  in  one  of  the  reports  of  the  Society  for  Pro- 
moting the  Education  of  the  Poor  of  Ireland— a  Society  which,  we  are 
informed  in  their  Tenth  Annual  Report,  afforded  assistance  to  513  schools,  in 
which  are  instructed  more  than  40,000  children,  and  whose  last  annual  ex- 
penditure was  £14,282  9s.  Qd.  sterling.  In  some  of  the  schools  under  their 
charge  they  have  tried  the  experiment  of  receiving  one  penny  weekly, 
amounting  to  52  pence  annually,  from  each  child  in  attendance.  It  is  not 
intimated  that  there  was  ever  any  difficulty  in  collecting  that  amount  (ex- 


I 

BEORGANIZATION   OF   THE   SYSTEM.  91 

cept  in  one  school,  where  many  of  the  children  became  indebted  for  more 
than  a  year's  dues).  From  an  experience  of  the  beneficial  results  of  this 
requisition,  the  Society  recommend  to  the  schools  under  this  charge,  that  in 
all  cases  the  children  should  be  required  to  pay  a  small  sum  weekly :  by 
such  means,  they  observe,  the  funds  of  the  school  •will  be  augmented,  the 
poor  will  set  a  higher  value  on  the  instruction  imparted  to  them  than  they 
probably  would  if  they  were  entirely  indebted  to  the  bounty  of  others  for 
their  education,  and  a  habit  of  looking  to  their  own  exertions  for  their  sup- 
port will  be  cherished  in  their  minds,  which  will  prove  of  essential  value 
to  them  throughout  life.  In  a  subsequent  report,  the  practice  is  again 
strongly  recommended,  and  the  committee  of  the  Society  observe:  "A 
greater  value  appears  to  be  set  upon  the  instruction  received,  where  a  pay- 
ment, though  small,  is  required.  It  induces  parents  to  look  more  closely  to 
the  regular  attendance  of  their  children  ;  and  it  meets,  besides,  a  feeling  not 
uncommon  in  this  country  (Ireland),  which  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  rather 
encouraged  than  repressed — of  repugnance  to  receiving  education  as  a  mere 
charitable  boon,  instead  of  obtaining  through  the  means  afforded  by  the 
exertion  of  honest  industry. 

In  the  eighteenth  report  of  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society,  the 
committee  observe  :  "  Experience  has  proved  that  the  most  effectual  method 
of  supporting  local  schools  is  the  demand,  in  addition  to  the  aid  of  the 
benevolent,  of  a  small  weekly  sum  from  each  scholar ;  and  the  desire  for 
instruction  on  the  part  of  the  industrious  poor  is  generally  so  great,  that,  in 
most  cases,  nothing  more  is  needed  for  the  establishment  of  a  school  than 
the  cooperation  and  activity  of  a  few  zealous  persons,  whose  exertions  can 
scarcely  fail  of  being  crowned  with  success."  It  is  also  stated,  in  the  appen- 
dix to  the  report,  that  "  in  a  populous  part  of  Lambeth  (a  part  of  London), 
a  school  for  the  poor  was  erected  on  the  plan  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
School  Society,  intended  to  hold  300  children  ;  the  building  cost  more  than 
£1,000 ;  subscriptions,  though  liberal,  fell  greatly  short,  and  the  trustees 
found  themselves  behind  every  year.  The  prospect  being  so  dark,  it  was 
thought  expedient  to  make  the  parents  of  the  children  pay  something 
toward  the  education  of  them,  and,  ultimately,  two  pence  per  week  was  de- 
manded. Some  fear  arose  lest  the  attendance  would  be  less.  To  obviate 
this,  the  master  was  instructed  not  to  reject  any  child  whose  parents  were 
unable  to  pay ;  but  only  one  such  circumstance  occurred.  The  experiment 
gave  rise  to  an  unexpected  circumstance,  too  important  to  be  overlooked, 
and  promising  a  vast  extension  of  the  benefit  of  schools ;  for  the  poor  are 
so  well  pleased  with  the  new  plan,  that  the  attendance  has  been  increased, 
and  the  regularity  of  the  attendance  much  improved.  They  feel  a  spirit  of 
independence  excited  by  paying  for  their  children  which  deserves  encour- 
agement, and  a  hope  is  held  out  that  the  benevolent  views  of  the  friends 
to  the  education  of  the'  poor  may  meet  a  strong  aid  in  the  means  thus 
afforded." 

Thus  much  for  the  results  of  this  experiment  in  England  and  Ireland. 
The  committee  would  add  another  consideration  on  this  subject.  If  the 
parents  who  now  send  their  children  to  the  free  schools  were  in  the  habit 
of  making  some  returns  for  the  instruction  furnished  them,  it  would  beget 
a  feeling  of  respect  and  gratitude  on  the  part  of  the  children  toward  their 
parents ;  they  would  feel  under  greater  obligations  to  them,  and  thus  be  fur- 
nished with  additional  motives  to  the  observance  of  that  precept  of  the 
moral  law  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  social  order  and  good  government 
— "  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother." 

In  addition  to  the  preceding  evidence  from  foreign  countries,  the  com- 
mittee are  happy  to  have  it  in  their  power  to  lay  before  the  board  the  testi- 
mony of  some  experience  on  the  subject  of  inquiry  in  our  own  city. 


92  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

The  Female  Association  did  for  some  time  receive  pay  to  the  amount  of 
one  and  two  cents  per  week  from  each  of  their  scholars.  They  found  no 
difficulty  in  collecting  this  amount,  nor  was  the  attendance  on  their  schools 
diminished,  although,  at  the  same  time,  the  schools  under  the  care  of  this 
board  were  open  for  the  instruction  of  their  scholars  free  of  expense.  The 
Association  discontinued  receiving  pay,  from  the  fear  that  they  would  other- 
wise debar  themselves  from  participating  in  the  common  school  fund. 

The  African  School  at  one  time  received  from  the  children  in  attendance 
an  amount  almost  sufficient  to  pay  the  salary  of  the  teacher. 

With  these  results  of  experience  before  them,  and  reasoning  from  the 
knowledge  in  their  possession  of  the  dispositions  and  feelings  of  some  of 
the  poor  of  this  city,  and  the  pecuniary  ability  of  most  of  them,  your  com- 
mittee are  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  alteration  above  considered. 

Having  come  to  this  result,  the  committee  would  now  connect  it  with 
the  considerations  in  the  former  part  of  this  report  relative  to  the  minor  pay 
schools,  the  economical  management  of  the  school  fund,  &c. 

Any  plan  that  can  be  devised  to  preserve  harmony  and  good  feeling 
among  the  various  religious  sects,  by  removing  all  grounds  for  jealousy  and 
contention,  to  satisfy  the  just  complaints  of  our  worthy  laboring  citizens 
who  contribute  to  the  common  school  fund,  to  increase,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  to  economize  the  means  we  possess  of  enlightening,  by  literary,  moral, 
and  religious  instruction,  our  numerous  youth,  to  break  up  the  many  inferior 
pay  schools,  to  promote  an  independent  feeling,  and  unite  all  classes  of  our 
citizens,  should — and,  your  committee  cannot  doubt,  would — receive  the 
cordial  approbation  of  the  Corporation,  and  of  our  citizens  generally. 

On  a  review  of  the  whole  subject,  the  conclusion  to  which  the  committee 
have  arrived  is  the  proposition  that  the  Free  Scliool  Society  be  changed  into 
a  Public  School  Society,  and  that  children  of  all  classes  be  admitted  into  the 
schools,  paying  therefor  such  compensation  as  may  be  within  their  pecuniary 
ability ;  and  that,  for  the  extension  and  support  of  these  public  schools,  the 
whole  of  the  common  school  fund  be  paid  annually  to  said  Society. 

A  few  of  the  advantages  thai;  would  result  from  the  adoption  of  a  gen- 
eral plan  of  public  instruction  are  : 

1st.  A  more  general  attention  would  be  given  by  our  citizens  to  the  all- 
important  subject  of  education. 

2d.  Harmony  would  be  preserved  among  religious  sects. 

3d.  All  of  our  citizens  would  contribute,  and  all  be  entitled  to  a  share 
of  the  benefits  of  the  fund,  in  the  cheap  and  good  elementary  education  of 
their  children. 

4th.  A  great  increase,  by  the  small  payments  from  the  children,  of  the 
amount  expended  for  public  instruction. 

5th.  A  uniform  system  in  all  the  elementary  schools  of  the  city,  which  is 
very  important,  in  consequence  of  the  frequent  removals  of  the  middle  and 
lower  classes  from  one  part  of  the  city  to  another,  and  which  uniformity 
cannot  be  expected  in  the  different  church  schools  and  small  pay  schools. 

6th.  Feelings  of  independence,  which  it  is  highly  important  to  cultivate, 
would  be  promoted  among  our  poor  and  laboring  classes. 


REORGANIZATION   OF   THE   SYSTEM.  93 

Your  committee  now  submit  for  the  consideration  of  the  board  the  fol- 
lowing details  of  the  proposed  plan ;  and  they  do  so  with  a  full  persuasion 
of  its  practicability,  and  the  important  benefits  that  would  follow  its  adop- 
tion. 

i , I:M:K AI.  PLAN. 

Proposition  1st.  The  title  of  "The  Free-School  Society  of  New  York " 
to  be  changed  to  that  of  "  The  New  York  Public  School  Society,"  and  its 
charter  to  be  so  amended  that  children  of  all  classes  may  be  admitted  into 
the  schools,  and  required  to  pay  for  their  instruction  according  to  the 
branches  they  may  learn,  but  not  exceeding  60  cents  per  quarter ;  the  trus- 
tees to  have  power  to  remit  the  charge  in  such  cases  as  they  may  deem 
proper. 

Zd.  Fifty  trustees  to  be  elected  by  the  Society  at  their  annual  meeting ; 
and  the  trustees  so  elected  to  have  power  to  add  to  their  number,  provided 
the  whole  number  of  trustees  shall  not  exceed  one  hundred. 

3d  The  Mayor  and  Recorder  of  the  city  to  be  ex-offido  members  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees. 

4th.  One  fourth  of  the  whole  number  of  trustees  being  present  at  any 
meeting  of  the  board  to  constitute  a  quorum. 

5th.  Any  person  paying  ten  dollars  to  the  treasury,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
schools,  to  become,  by  virtue  thereof,  a  member  of  the  Society  for  life. 

6t7i.  The  real  estate  belonging  to  the  Free-School  Society  to  be  conveyed 
(subject  to  the  incumbrances  now  on  it)  by  said  Society  to  the  Corporation, 
and  by  the  Corporation  a  lease  thereof  to  be  granted  to  the  Public  School 
Society  in  perpetuity,  or  so  long  as  they  shall  use  it  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
promoting  common  school  education  in  this  city. 

1th.  The  real  estate  of  the  African  schools  to  be  also  conveyed  to  the 
Corporation,  and  leased,  as  above,  to  the  Public  School  Society,  and  those 
schools  to  be  immediately  transferred  to  the  charge  of  said  Society. 

8th.  The  schools  of  "  The  Female  Association  "  to  be  taken  under  the 
care  and  control  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  that  Association  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  its  members,  and,  in  future,  act  as  auxiliary  to  the 
Society  in  the  care  of  all  the  female  schools. 

9th.  The  whole  amount  of  the  school  fund  to  be  paid  annually  to  the 
New  York  Public  School  Society. 

IQth.  The  Society  shall  pay  over  to  the  Orphan  Asylum  and  Mechanics 
School,  $1.50  per  scholar  for  all  children  gratuitously  educated  by  them. 

11th.  To  facilitate  the  operations  of  the  Society,  and  to  excite  emulation 
among  the  trustees,  the  latter  shall  be  divided  into  as  many  sections  as  there 
may  be  school-houses,  and  each  section  be  attached  to  a  particular  school. 
The  sectional  boards  to  have  the  immediate  care  and  management  of  the 
schools,  but  the  general  regulations  for  all  the  schools  to  be  made  by  the 
meeting  of  all  the  sections. 

The  sectional  boards  to  meet  monthly  at  the  school-rooms,  to  appoint 
school  committees,  and  to  attend  to  the  concerns  of  their  several  schools. 

The  trustees  generally  to  meet  statedly  once  a  quarter,  and  on  special 
occasions,  when  deemed  necessary. 


94  THE  PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

At  each  stated  meeting  of  the  general  board  the  several  sections  shall 
report  on  the  state  of  their  schools,  and  their  reports  shall  contain  a  con- 
densed view  of  their  minutes,  and  those  of  the  school  committees. 

A  committee  shall  be  appointed  at  each  stated  meeting  of  the  trustees, 
to  visit,  during  the  succeeding  quarter,  all  the  schools  under  the  care  of  the 
Society,  and  to  report  on  their  situation  at  the  subsequent  meeting. 

The  annual  report  of  the  trustees  to  the  Society  shall  also  be  submitted 
to  the  Corporation  and  Legislature. 

In  the  event  of  this  plan  being  adopted  by  the  board,  and  subsequently 
receiving  the  sanction  of  the  Corporation,  the  only  alteration  necessary 
(though  others  may  be  convenient)  in  the  late  law  relative  to  the  school 
fund,  is  in  that  section  requiring  that  the  subjects  of  gratuitous  instruction 
only  be  reported  to  the  commissioners.  It  will  be  recollected  that,  although 
the  Public  School  Society  will  be  an  independent  body  so  far  as  it  respects 
the  management  of  the  schools,  they  will  always  be  subject  to  the  Corpora- 
tion, as  their  funds  will  be  at  the  pleasure  of  that  body.  And  the  commis- 
sioners will  be  an  intermediate  body  of  general  inspectors,  independent  of 
the  Society,  and  reporting  to  the  Corporation  and  Superintendent  of  Com- 
mon Schools.  The  new  interest  which  would  be  excited  among  our  citizens 
by  the  proposed  plan,  and  the  reduction  of  the  life  subscription  to  so  low  a 
sum  as  $10,  would  probably  induce  a  great  number  to  become  members  of  a 
Society  which  already  counts  upon  its  list  about  five  hundred  of  our  most 
respectable  citizens. 

By  the  Committee. 

NEW  YOBK,  January  2&lh,  1825. 

Estimates  of  the  revenue  and  expenses  of  the  Public  School  Society, 
predicated  on  the  whole  of  the  school  fund  being  paid  to  said  Society  annu- 
ally, and  on  its  schools  becoming  low-priced  pay  schools : 

The  simple  calculation  is,  that  each  school  will  more  than  half  support 
itself  by  the  pay  derived  from  the  scholars,  and  that  a  considerable  part  of 
the  school  fund  may  therefore  be  annually  applied  to  the  purchase  of  lots 
and  erection  of  new  school-houses. 

The  school-houses  now  belonging  to  the  Free-School  So- 
ciety will  accommodate,  according  to  the  usual  aver- 
age attendance, 7,000  scholars, 

And  the  two  African  school-houses,      ....       1,000       " 

8,000       " 

So  that  the  Society,  on  the  plan  proposed,  will  have  sufficient  room  imme- 
diately for  all  the  children  that  may  probably  be  transferred  during  the  first 
year  to  its  schools  from  others,  in  consequence  of  the  proposed  change,  and 
can  educate  them  at  but  little  additional  expense. 

Suppose  the  Public  School  Society  to  have,  during  its  first  year,  8,000 
scholars,  including  the  colored  children,  and  nearly  all  of  them  to  be  of  the 
description  of  children  now  attending  the  free  and  charity  schools : 


REORGANIZATION   OF  THE   SYSTEM. 


95 


The  annual  expense  of  all  the 

schools  of  the  Society,  with  5,209  scholars,  was,  last  year,  $10,000 

Add  the  annual  expense  of  the 

African  schools,  .  .  .  843  " 

Add  the  annual  expense  of  the 

Female  Association,  .  -  543  " 

Add  the  annual  expense  for  chil- 
dren from  other  schools,  .  1,405  " 


say 
say 
say 


1,800 

1,200 

500 


8,000 


$13,500 


$17,000 
$3,500 


Which  gives,  for  the  expenses  of  the  first  year,  .... 
And  the  revenue  of  the  Society  during  the  same  period  will  be : 
From  the  school  fund,         ....     $14,000 
Less  appropriation  to  the  Orphan  Asylum 

and  Mechanics'  School,      .        .        .  500 

$13,500 

State  annuity  from  city  excise  fund,   .        .        .        .        1,500 

Lotteries, 1,500 

Rents,  &c., -   .  500 

Leaving  a  balance  in  favor  of  the  Society,  without  pay  from 

scholars,  of 

But  the  8,000  children  would  probably  pay,  viz. : 

1,000, $0,000 

2,000,  at  12£  cts.  per  quarter,  per  annum, .        .  '  .         1,000 

4,000,  at  25  cts 4,000 

1,000,  at  50  cts.  .       V      •.".•'?•     .    ".-'•          2,000 

$7,000 

Giving  a  balance  of  receipts  over  expenditures  amounting  to        $10,500 

As  the  receipts  and  expenses  for  the  second  year  may  be  estimated  the 
same  as  those  of  the  first,  for  the  same  schools,  the  whole  of  the  balance  of 
the  first  year  may  be  applied  toward  the  purchase  of  lots  and  erection  of  a 
new  school-house. 

In  the  new  schools,  a  greater  proportion  of  scholars  will  doubtless  be 
admitted,  who  are  willing  and  able  to  pay. 

The  annual  expense  of  each  new  school  of  800  children  will  be  : 

For  teachers,  male,  $900,  and  female,  $350,  and  monitors,  $150,       $1,400 
Stationery,  fuel,  &c., 300 


And  the  receipts,  viz. : 

From  400  scholars,  25  cts.  per  quarter, 

From  400       "        50  " 


$400 
800 


$1,700 


1,200 


Balance  against  school, .        ...        .        .        .        $500 


96  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

In  the  new  schools,  the  children  will  thus  pay  an  amount  equal  to  two 
thirds  of  the  whole  expenses. 

From  the  preceding  estimates,  it  appears  that  the  Public  School  Society 
could,  without  resorting  to  loans  or  other  sources  of  revenue,  go  on  continu- 
ally adding  to  the  number  of  its  school-houses.  But  probably  not  faster 
than  the  wants  of  the  city  will  require ;  for  it  should  be  remembered  that 
there  are  now  7,000  children  not  in  a  course  of  education,  and  that  the 
population  of  New  York  is  increasing  very  rapidly. 

This  report  was  widely  read  and  approved. 
The  bill  passed  by  the  Legislature,  November  19th,  1824, 
authorized  the  Common  Council  to  appoint  ten  school  commis- 
sioners, and  to  designate  the  schools  which  should  participate  in 
the  school  fund,  and  directed  the  first  appointment  to  be  made  in 
January,  1825.  Accordingly,  the  Mayor,  Hon.  Wm.  Paulding, 
Jr.,  informed  the  Common  Council  of  the  requirements  of  the 
law  ;  and,  upon  motion  of  Alderman  Mason,  at  the  session  held 
on  January  17th,  the  following-named  gentlemen  were  ap- 
pointed : 

First  Ward,   ....     OLIVER  H.  HICKS. 

Second    "  ...         JACOB  DEAKE. 

Third       "  JOHN  ADAMS. 

Fourth    "  ...         HIRAM  KETCHUM. 

Fifth       "  GIDEON  TUCKER. 

Sixth      "  ...          SAMUEL  ACKERLY. 

Seventh  "  DAVID  LYON. 

Eighth    "  ...         PETER  H.  WENDOVER. 

Ninth      "  GEORGE  S.  DOUGHTY. 

Tenth      "  ...         JOSEPH  PIGGOTT. 

The  consideration  of  the  fourth  section  of  the  law  was  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  on  Laws.*  The  general  plans  recom- 
mended in  the  printed  report  on  reorganization  being  regarded 
with  much  favor  by  many  prominent  men  of  the  city  conversant 
with  school  interests,  and  the  trustees  being  informed  that  the 
Law  Committee  were  prepared  to  entertain  the  propositions, 
Isaac  Collins,  Robert  C.  Cornell,  and  Lindley  Murray  were  ap- 
pointed to  confer  with  them  on  the  whole  question. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Common  Council  held  on  May  4th,  a 
letter  from  the  secretary  of  the  Free- School  Society,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  extending  instruction  to  the  poor  children  of  the  city 
who  were  not  included  in  the  charity  schools  of  religious  socie- 

*  Sse  Appendix  A. 


COLONEL    HENRY     RUT&ERS 


MONEYS   FOR   SECTARIAN   SCHOOLS.  97 

ties,  was  read,  accompanied  with  specimens  of  the  penmanship 
of  pupils.  The  papers  were  referred  to  the  Law  Committee.  A 
brief  report  from  that  committee  was  submitted  on  May  11,  ap- 
proving and  recommending  the  Free-School  Society  to  the  confi- 
dence and  support  of  the- public. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Common  Council  held  on  April  25, 
Alderman  Cowdrey  moved  that  the  law  relative  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  school  moneys  be  taken  up  ;  but  the  motion  was  nega- 
tived, and  the  law  was  made  the  special  order  for  the  following 
Thursday.  At  the  same  meeting,  a  petition  was  presented  from 
the  trustees  of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  and  St.  Peter's  Church 
for  an  apportionment  of  school  moneys,  and  laid  on  the  table. 

On  Thursday,  the  28th,  on  motion  of  Alderman  Cowdrey, 
the  special  order  was  taken  up  for  consideration.  The  petition 
of  the  trustees  of  the  Roman  Catholic  churches  was  read,  and 
the  law  reported  by  the  committee  was  also  read.  The  first  sec- 
tion of  the  law  was  as  follows  : 

Be  it  ordained,  by  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  in  common  council  convened,  pursuant  to  the  authority  vested 
in  them  by  the  act  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  entitled 
"  An  Act  relating  to  Common  Schools  in  the  City  of  New  York,"  passed 
Nov.  19,  1824,  that  the  institutions  which  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  of  the 
commissioners  of  the  common  school  fund,  payable  to  and  raised  in  the 
said  city,  are  hereby  designated  to  be,  the  Free-School  Society  of  New 
York,  the  Mechanics'  Society,  the  Orphan  Asylum  Society,  and  the  trustees- 
of  the  African  free  schools. 

Mr.  Philip  Hone,  of  the  Board  of  Assistants,  moved  to 
amend,  by  adding,  after  the  words  "  trustees  of  the  African  free 
schools,"  the  following : 

And  the  trustees  of  such  incorporated  religious  societies  in  said  city  aa 
support  or  shall  establish  charity  schools,  who  may  apply  ; 

Provided,  That  the  religious  societies  above  named  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  receive  pay  for  any  scholars  except  those  whose  parents  or  guardians  are 
in  the  habit  of  attending  their  respective  places  of  worship. 

After  some  discussion,  Mr.  Hone  called  for  a  division  of  'the 
question,  and  it  resulted  as  follows  : 

Ayes — Aldermen  Wyckoff  and  Reed,  and  Assistant  Alder- 
man Hone — 3. 

Nays — Richard  Riker,  Recorder,  Aldermen  King,  Ireland, 


98  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    8OCIETV. 

Cowdrey,  Webb,  Mann,  Taylor,  and  Ostrander,  and  Assistant 
Aldermen  Bolton,  St.  John,  Agnew,  Burtsell,  and  Cox — 13. 

The  board  then  passed  to  the  consideration  of  the  bill  by 
paragraphs,  and  it  was  agreed  to,  signed,  and  passed,  under  the 
title  of  "  A  Law  regulating  the  distribution  of  the  Common 
School  Fund  in  the  City  of  New  York." 

On  the  26th  of  September,  the  report  of  the  Law  Committee 
was  called  up,  and  made  the  special  order  at  the  next  meeting 
of  the  board,  October  10  ;  at  which  time,  after  some  discussion, 
it  was  made  the  order  for  the  following  meeting. 

On  the  24th,  the  special  order  was  resumed,  and,  after  debate 
and  amendment,  the  recommendations  of  the  committee  were 
adopted,  as  follows : 

IN  COMMON  COUNCIL,  October  24,  1825. 

The  Committee  on  Laws,  to  whom  was  referred  the  report  of  a  commit- 
tee of  the  Trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society  on  the  distribution  of  the 
common  school  fund,  proposing  a  change  in  the  constitution  of  that  Society, 
so  as  to  admit  children  of  all  classes  to  their  schools,  for  a  compensation  not 
exceeding  one  dollar  per  quarter,  with  power  to  remit  the  charge  in  proper 
cases ;  and  to  whom  was  also  referred  a  communication  from  Aaron  Ely, 
proposing  the  establishment  of  public  schools  in  this  city,  report : 

That  the  distribution  of  the  common  school  fund  in  this  city  is  at  pres- 
ent confined  to  those  only  who  are  the  subjects  of  a  gratuitous  education. 
The  necessary  operation  of  this  limitation  is  the  rejection  from  the  free 
schools  and  other  institutions  participating  in  this  fund,  of  the  children  of 
those  who  can  pay  for  schooling,  and  the  admission  of  such  only  as  are  un- 
able to  pay.  The  consequences  are,  that  the  children  of  poverty  and  want 
are  left  to  form  a  community  by  themselves,  and  that  the  classes  above  them 
in  point  of  circumstances,  but  whose  parents  or  guardians  are  not  of  suffi- 
cient ability  amply  to  provide  for  them,  are  omitted  as  objects  of  the  public 
care  and  bounty  in  the  invaluable  objects  of  literary  and  elementary  instruc- 
tion. 

To  obviate  these  privations,  so  injurious  in  their  nature  and  effects,  by 
breaking  down  the  distinctions  that  now  divide  these  portions  of  the  rising 
generation,  and  to  promote  their  mutual  benefit  by  instructing  them  to- 
gether, as  children  of  the  poor  citizens  of  an  enlightened  and  growing 
republic,  in  the  great  and  fundamental  principles  of  knowledge  and  virtue, 
and  thus  fitting  them  for  a  course  of  future  usefulness,  as  a  task  worthy  the 
solicitude  and  exertions  of  our  benevolent  and  public-spirited  citizens. 

The  following  are  suggested  as  the  outlines  of  a  general  plan  for  effect- 
ing this  important  object,  viz. : 

L  The  title  of  the  Free-School  Society  to  be  changed  to  that  of  "  The 
New  York  Public  School  Society,"  and  its  charter  to  be  so  amended  that 
children  of  all  classes  may  be  admitted  to  the  schools,  and  required  to  pay 


REORGANIZATION   OF  THE   SYSTEM.  99 

for  their  instruction  according  to  the  branches  they  may  learn,  but  not  ex- 
ceeding one  dollar  per  quarter,  in  advance.  The  trustees  to  have  power  to 
remit  the  charge  in  such  cases  as  they  may  deem  proper. 

II.  Fifty  trustees  to  be  elected  by  the  Society  at  their  annual  meeting ; 
and  the  trustees  so  elected  to  have  power  to  add  to  their  number,  provided 
the  whole  number  of  trustees  shall  not  exceed  one  hundred. 

HI.  The  Mayor  and  Recorder  of  the  city  to  be  ex-officio  members  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees. 

IV.  One  fourth  of  the  whole  number  of  trustees  being  present  at  any 
meeting  of  the  board  to  form  a  quorum. 

V.  Any  person  paying  ten  dollars  to  the  treasury,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
schools,  to  become,  by  virtue  thereof,  a  member  for  life. 

VL  The  real  estate  of  the  Free-School  Society,  and  of  the  African 
schools,  to  be  conveyed,  subject  to  the  existing  encumbrances,  by  the  said 
societies  to  this  corporation,  and  a  lease  thereof  to  be  granted  by  them  to 
the  Public  School  Society,  in  perpetuity,  or  so  long  as  they  shall  exist  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  promoting  common  school  education  in  this  city. 

VII.  The  whole  amount  of  the  school  fund  to  be  distributed  to  the  said 
Public  School  Society,  and  such  auxiliary  institutions  as  shall  be  sanctioned 
by  the  Common  Council. 

The  advantages  which  may  be  expected  from  the  proposed  alterations, 
in  addition  to  those  first  suggested,  are  : 

I.  Experienced  and  well-qualified  teachers,  who  shall  be  duly  compen- 
sated for  the  employment  of  their  time  and  talents. 

II.  Convenient,  spacious,  and  well-accommodated  school-houses,  combin- 
ing the  advantages  of  cleanliness,  light,  and  air. 

HI.  Uniformity  in  the  systems  and  modes,  and  in  the  books  and  subjects 
of  instruction. 

IV.  In  respect  to  the  small  payments  which  alone  are  to  be  allowed,  and 
which  are  never  to  be  required  in  cases  of  inability  or  inconvenience  to  make 
them,  the  expected  advantages  are  :  First,  a  great  increase  of  the  amount  to 
be  received  and  expended  for  public  instruction.     Second,  the  inculcation 
of  the  valuable  principle,  that  every  person  is  bound  to  render  some  return 
for  services  performed  for  himself  or  his  family.     Third,  an  increased  inter- 
est on  the  part  of  the  parents  in  the  education  of  their  children,  and  their 
due  preparation  for  and  their  punctual  attendance  at  school,  connected  with 
the  encouragement  of  a  laudable  share  of  pride,  emulation,  and  indepen- 
dence of  character,  in  both  parents  and  children.    And  fourth,  from  the 
consideration  of  the  renewed  obligation  under  which  children  will  be  placed 
to  their  parents,  that  they  will  be  more  practically  instructed  in  the  great 
commandment  which  says,  "  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother." 

V.  A  new  impulse  will  be  excited,  and  a  more  general  attention  be  pro- 
duced among  our  citizens  at  large,  in  favor  of  the  all-important  subject  of 
elementary  education. 

VI.  Harmony  will  be  produced  among  religious  sects,  and,  at  last,  all 
causes  of  disagreement  will  be  removed,  as  all  will  be  interested  where  all 
alike  contribute  to  the  great  and  common  object. 


100  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

In  proof  of  the  practicability  of  the  plan  now  suggested,  your  commit- 
tee have  ascertained  that  in  Great  Britain  a  similar  method  has  been  attend- 
ed with  success,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  eighteenth  report  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  School  Society.  And  your  committee  have  been  furnished  with  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Charles  E.  "Webster,  dated  Albany,  25th  of  April,  1825,  to  Mr. 
Isaac  Collins,  of  our  city,  from  which  they  have  his  permission  to  make  the 
following  extracts : 

I  have  examined  the  minute-book  of  the  Albany  Lancaster  school  in 
relation  to  the  admission  of  pay  scholars.  We  have  but  a  single  by-law  on 
the  subject,  which  requires  that  all  children,  on  admittance  into  the  school, 
shall  pay  in  advance  from  twenty-five  cents  to  one  dollar  and  twenty-five 
cents  per  quarter,  according  to  the  ability  of  their  parents  or  guardians, 
always  excepting  the  children  of  such  poor  persons  as  are  unable  to  pay ; 
and  those  of  this  class  have  in  all  cases  a  preference,  and  are  never  refused 
on  any  account  whatever. 

We  have  never  met  with  any  difficulty  in  the  school  in  respect  to  the 
scholars  paying,  or  not  paying.  Each  child  has  equal  rights  and  privileges ; 
and  though  the  government  of  the  school  requires  order  and  submission,  it 
is  otherwise  a  perfect  democracy.  Each  child  rises  or  falls  from  his  own 
merit  or  demerit,  and  no  regard  is  ever  paid  to  the  standing  of  the  parent 
%  or  guardian.  We  have  never  found  any  difficulty  on  this  subject. 

Your  committee,  with  the  utmost  brevity,  remark  in  addition,  that  the 
common  school  fund  is  appropriated  in  the  other  counties  of  the  State  with 
the  greatest  advantage  to  the  support  of  common  or  public  schools ;  and 
the  prosperity  and  unrivalled  eminence  of  some  of  the  Eastern  States  in 
their  elementary  and  public  schools,  and  in  the  consequent  dissemination  of 
useful  knowledge  among  all  classes  of  their  citizens,  are  matters  of  notori- 
ety and  sources  of  gratification  to  themselves  and  their  fellow-citizens. 

And  while,  in  other  States,  and  in  other  parts  of  our  own  State,  the 
advantages  of  literary  and  scientific  instruction  are  scattered  as  far  and  as 
widely  as  possible,  and  the  policy  appears  to  be  adopted  that  education 
should  be  as  diffusive  as  civil  liberty — that  it  should  be  made  to  expand 
with  the  increase  of  population  as  the  surest  guarantee  of  political  happi- 
ness— and  that,  with  the  effort  to  extend  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  render  it 
universal,  the  influences  of  an  education  as  salutary  and  as  universal  should 
accompany  this  right  as  its  correlative  and  best  regulating  power,  your  com- 
mittee will  respectfully  suggest  that  the  establishment  of  a  similar  policy  as 
applicable  to  our  city  is  deserving  the  efforts  of  this  board,  of  our  liberal 
institutions,  and,  indeed,  of  every  citizen. 

The  committee  therefore  recommend  to  the  board  the  following  resolu- 
tions : 

I.  Resolved,  That  this  board  approves  of  the  establishment  of  public 
schools  in  this  city  on  the  principles  above  suggested,  instead  of  free 
schools. 

II.  llfsolted,  That  this  board  recommend  that  a  memorial  be  submitted 
to  the  next  Legislature  by  the  said  Free-School  Society  (as  they  propose), 
for  effecting  the  above  object,  and  for  securing  the  lands  and  buildings  now 
belonging  to  the  Free- School  Society  and  the  African  schools  in  this  city  as 


THE   NEW    SCHOOL   LAW.  101 

public  or  common  schools,  and  also  for  securing  the  proportion  of  the  com- 
mon school  fund,  to  which  this  city  is  or  shall  be  entitled,  to  the  general 
purposes  of  education,  and  for  the  support  of  public  or  common  schools, 
subject  to  any  future  alterations  which  the  Legislature  may  deem  proper ; 
Provided,  that  the  details  be  first  considered  by  the  committee  of  this  board, 
the  Commissioners  of  the  School  Fund,  and  the  Trustees  of  the  Free- School 
Society,  and  that  they  report  such  details  for  the  consideration  of  the  board. 
Respectfully  submitted,  S.  COWDREY, 

TIIOS.  BOLTON, 
E.  W.  KINO. 

On  the  2d  of  November,  the  Board  of  Trustees  appointed 
Isaac  Collins,  Benjamin  Clark,  James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  Robert 
C.  Cornell,  and  Lindley  Murray  a-  committee  to  prepare  a  me- 
morial, a  draft  of  a  law,  and  a  detailed  plan  of  operations,  to 
correspond  with  the  new  scheme,  if  enacted  by  the  Legislature. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Society  was  held  on  the  llth  of 
November,  to  consider  the  measures  proposed  by  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  and  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted  in  favor  of 
their  action,  and  directing  that  the  board  proceed  with  their 
appeal  to  the  Legislature  for  a  new  charter.  The  committee 
acted  with  great  diligence  and  intelligence  in  the  matter,  and 
all  opposition  being  overcome,  and  the  details  of  the  law  having 
been  made  complete,  it  wras  passed  on  the  28th  of  January, 
1826.  The  law,  being  of  unusual  importance  in  the  course  of 
legislation  on  popular  instruction  in  New  York,  is  here  inserted  : 

AN  ACT 

In  relation  to  the  Free-School  Society  of  New  YorTc,  passed  January  28th,  1826. 

Whereas  the  trustees  of  said  Society  have  presented  to  the  Legislature  a 
memorial  requesting  certain  alterations  in  their  act  of  incorporation,  There- 
fore, 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in 
Senate  and  Assembly,  that  the  said  Society  shall  hereafter  be  known  by  the 
name  of  the  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY  of  New  York. 

And  le  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  Society  to 
provide,  so  far  as  their  means  may  extend,  for  the  education  of  all  children 
in  the  city  of  New  York  not  otherwise  provided  for,  whether  such  children 
be  or  be  not  the  proper  objects  of  gratuitous  education,  and  without  regard 
to  the  religious  sect  or  denomination  to  which  such  children  or  their  parents 
may  belong. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  trustees  to 
require  of  the  pupils  received^  into  the  schools  under  their  charge  a  cyder- 
ate  compensation,  adapted  to  the  ability  of  the  parents  of  such  pupils,  to 
be  applied  to  the  erection  of  school-houses,  the  payment  of  the  teachers' 
salaries,  and  to  the  defraying  of  such  other  expenses  as  may  be  incident  to 


102  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  education  of  children ;  Provided,  That  such  payment  or  compensation 
may  be  remitted  by  the  trustees,  in  all  cases  in  which  they  shall  deem  it 
proper  to  do  so  ;  and,  Provided,  further,  That  no  child  shall  be  denied  the 
benefits  of  the  said  institution,  merely  on  the  ground  of  inability  to  pay  for 
the  same,  but  shall  at  all  times  be  freely  received  and  educated  by  the  said 
trustees. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  nothing  in  this  act  contained  shall  be  con- 
strued to  deprive  the  said  Society  of  any .  revenues,  or  of  any  rights  to 
which  they  are  now,  or,  if  this  act  had  not  been  passed,  would  have  been 
by  law  entitled,  and  that  the  receipts  of  small  payments  from  the  scholars 
shall  not  preclude  the  trustees  from  drawing  from  the  common  school  fund 
for  all  the  children  educated  by  them. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  trustees  shall  have  power  from  time 
to  time  to  establish  in  the  said  city  such  additional  schools  as  they  may 
deem  expedient. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  any  person  paying  to  the  treasurer  of  said 
Society,  for  the  use  of  said  Society,  the  sum  of  ten  dollars,  shall  become  a 
member  thereof  for  life. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  annual  meetings  of  the  said  Society 
shall  hereafter  be  h'eld  on  the  second  Monday  in  May  in  each  year. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  number  of  trustees  to  be  chosen  by 
the  Society,  at  and  after  the  next  annual  meeting,  shall  be  increased  to  fifty, 
who  at  any  legal  meeting  of  the  board  may  add  to  their  number,  but  so  as 
not  in  the  whole  to  exceed  one  hundred,  exclusive  of  the  Mayor  and  Re- 
corder of  the  city,  who  are  hereby  declared  to  be  ex-officio  members  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  stated  meetings  of  the  board  shall  be 
held  quarterly,  that  is  to  say,  on  the  first  Fridays  of  February,  May,  August, 
and  November  in  each  year ;  Provided,  That  an  extra  stated  meeting  shall 
be  held  on  the  Friday  next  following  the  annual  meeting  in  each  year,  for 
the  purpose  of  organizing  the  new  board,  and  transacting  any  other  neces- 
sary business. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  one  fourth  of  the  whole  number  of  trus- 
tees for  the  time  being  shall  constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  busi- 
ness at  any  legal  meeting  of  the  board. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  Society  is  hereby  authorized  to 
convey  their  school  edifices,  and  other  real  estate,  to  the  Mayor,  Aldermen, 
and  Commonalty  of  the  city  of  New  York,  upon  such  terms  and  conditions, 
and  in  such  forms,  as  shall  be  agreed  upon  between  the  parties,  taking  back 
from  the  said  Corporation  a  perpetual  lease  thereof,  upon  condition  that  the 
same  shall  be  exclusively  and  perpetually  applied  to  the  purposes  of  education. 

State  of  New  York,  } 
Secretary's  Office.     \ 

Icertify  the  preceding  to  be  a  true  copy  of  an  original  act  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  this  State,  on  file  in  this  office. 

ALBART,  January  28tb,  1826. 

(Signed)  ARCHIBALD  CAMPBELL,  Dep.  Secretary. 


REORGANIZATION   OF   THE   SYSTEM.  103 

The  announcement  of  the  passage  of  the  act  was  received 
with  great  satisfaction  by  the  board,  and  the  following  rqsolu- 
tions  were  adopted : 

Resolved,  1st.  That  the  Committee  on  Public  Schools  be  dis- 
charged, and  that  the  thanks  of  the  board  be  presented  to  Isaac 
Collins,  one  of  their  number,  for  his  active  and  efficient  agency 
at  Albany  in  procuring  the  passage  of  the  law  amending  our 
charter,  and  that  the  treasurer  be  directed  to  pay  his  bill  of  ex- 
penses. 

2d.  That  the  law  be  accepted,  and  that,  in  accordance  there- 
with, this  Society  forthwith  assume  the  name  of  the  PUBLIC 
SCHOOL  SOCIETY  OF  NEW  YORK. 

3d.  That  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed  to  prepare  and 
report  a  revised  copy  of  by-laws  founded  on  the  new  law,  and 
with  such  alterations  and  additions  as  may  appear  expedient. 

4th.  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  look  out  for 
suitable  lots  for  two  additional  school-houses  within  the  follow- 
ing districts,  viz.,  in  the  rear  of  the  Hospital,  between  Anthony 
and  Reade  streets,  and  near  the  junction  of  Spring  and  Macdou- 
gal  streets. 

5th.  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  on  the  subject 
of  the  transfer  of  our  real  estate  to  the  Corporation,  and  that 
they  report  their  views  of  the  terms  on  which  a  conveyance 
should  be  made. 

6th.  That,  until  after  the  next  annual  election,  the  board 
will  continue  to  meet  monthly,  as  heretofore,  for  the  transaction 
of  their  usual  business. 

The  committees  were  appointed  to  the  several  duties  named 
in  the  resolutions,  as  follows  : 

To  Revise  the  By-Laws — Lindley  Murray,  R.  C.  Cornell, 
J.  E.  Hyde,  Isaac  Collins,  and  James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr. 

To  Select  Locations  for  New  Schools — Robert  C.  Cornell, 
William  "W.  Fox,  and  Isaac  Collins. 

On  Transfer  of  Real  Estate — James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  Ben- 
jamin Clarke,  and  George  T.  Trimble. 

The  long-continued  efforts  of  the  Society  to  secure  a  just  dis- 
tribution of  the  school  money,  irrespective  of  sectarian  institu- 
tions, and  to  reorganize  the  system,  were  thus  rewarded  with  the 
seal  of  legislative  approval  and  authority.  The  development 
of  new  plans  and  measures  commence  the  history  of  a  new  year. 


104  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


CHAPTEK   Y. 

HISTORY    FROM    1826    TO    1831. 

New  Schools — No.  7  Opened — School  No.  8 — Schools  at  Harlem,  Manhattanville,  and 
Bloomingdale — School  No.  9 — Columbia  College — New  Locations — School  No.  10 
organized — School  No.  11 — Finances  and  Attendance — High  School — The  Pay 
System — Lotteries — Sunday  Scholars — Infant  Schools — Death  of  the  President, 
DE  WITT  CLINTON — New  Measures — Additional  Tax — Address  to  the  Public — 
Vagrancy — Visitor — Samuel  W.  Seton — Memorials — Power  to  Mortgage  and  Con- 
vey Property — The  New  Tax  Obtained — The  Schools  of  New  York  City — School 
No.  12 — School  No.  13 — The  School  Fund — Application  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Orphan  Asylum. 

THE  important  proceedings  during  the  year  1825,  relative  to 
the  reorganization  of  the  system  and  the  prosecution  of  the  steps 
necessary  to  ensure  the  requisite  legislation,  did  not  divert  the 
attention  of  the  board  from  those  measures  which  related  to  the 
healthful  and  immediate  expansion  of  the  sphere  of  labor  of  the 
Society,  by  the  selection  of  additional  sites  for  school  buildings, 
and  the  erection  of  substantial  and  commodious  edifices  thereon. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  board  in  May,  a  committee  of  five,  con- 
sisting of  J.  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  James  F.  Depeyster,  George  T. 
Trimble,  It.  C.  Cornell,  and  Stephen  Allen,  was  appointed,  to 
select  locations  for  schools,  and  to  report  on  the  expediency  of 
hiring  premises  or  erecting  buildings,  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
city.  The  committee,  having  examined  several  locations,  report- 
ed, in  September,  in  favor  of  establishing  a  school  on  the  east 
side  of  Chrystie  street,  between  Hester  and  Pump  (afterward 
called  Walker)  streets,  where  three  lots  could  be  procured  for 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  each.  A  location  in  the  rear  of  Trinity 
Church  was  .also  recommended,  if  the  premises  could  be  pro- 
cured from  the  corporation  of  the  church  by  a  permanent  lease, 
and,  if  possible,  a  purchase  of  the  property.  The  committee 
reported  resolutions  authorizing  the  purchase  of  the  lots  in 
Chrystie  street,  and  the  appointment  of  a  building  committee  to 


NEW  SCHOOLS.  105 

superintend  the  erection  of  a  proper  house.  The  resolutions 
•were  adopted,  and  William.  "W.  Fox,  James  Palmer,  and  Isaac 
Collins  were  selected  as  the  Building  Committee,  who  were 
directed  to  obtain  plans  and  estimates  for  the  erection  of  a 
school-house,  which  should  be  similar  to  No.  5,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  cellar  instead  of  a  basement. 

On  the  23d  of  September,  the  committee  reported  the  plans 
and  estimates  for  a  house,  which  should  be  40  by  80  feet,  with 
furniture,  fences,  and  other  requisites,  at  a  cost  of  $9,500.  The 
report  was  adopted,  and  the  committee  directed  to  proceed  with 
the  erection  of  the  building.  The  house  was  built,  and  opened 
as  Public  School  No.  7,  on  the  1st  of  May,  1826,  with  eighty- 
seven  pupils,  under  the  care  of  STEPHEN  R.  KIBBY. 

In  April,  the  Committee  on  Locations  reported  in  favor  of 
purchasing  three  lots  of  ground  in  Grand  street,  between  Woos- 
ter  and  Laurens  streets,  for  $5,000.  The  board  approved  the 
recommendation  of  the  committee,  and  appointed  Isaac  Collins, 
George  T.  Trimble,  William  W.  Fox,  and  Eobert  C.  Cornell  to 
procure  plans  and  estimates.  They  were  submitted  on  the  29th 
of  the  same  month,  and  approved  ;  and  Messrs.  W.  W.  Fox, 
Isaac  Collins,  and  James  Palmer  were  appointed  the  Building 
Committee.  The  house  was  opened  on  the  1st  of  November, 
under  the  care  of  Mr.  C.  B.  SHERMAN,  Principal,  and  filled  so 
rapidly,  that,  on  the  1st  of  April  following,  there  were  371  boys 
and  264  girls  in  attendance. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  board  held  in  May,  Messrs.  Stephen 
Allen  and  James  F.  Depeyster  stated  that  there  were  two  or 
three  school  districts  in  Manhattan ville,  Harlem,  and  Blooming- 
dale,  which  were  entitled  by  law  to  certain  moneys — the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  sale  of  the  Harlem  Commons — and  they  suggested 
the  propriety  of  a  conference  with  the  parties  interested  in  those 
schools  with  reference  to  a  scheme  of  transfer,  by  which  they 
might  be  placed  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Society.  Messrs. 
Stephen  Alleti,  James  F.  Depeyster,  and  George  T.  Trimble 
were  assigned  the  duty  of  making  the  requisite  inquiries,  and  on 
the  12th  of  the  same  month  they  reported  in  general  terms  rela- 
tive to  the  schools,  but  particularly  with  reference  to  that  at 
Bloomingdale.  They  offered  resolutions  for  the  recognition  of 
the  school  as  one.of  those  under  the  care  of  the  Society,  and 
providing  for  the  selection  and  temporary  appointment  of  a 


106  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

teacher,  at  a  salary  of  thirty  dollars  a  month.  The  resolutions 
were  adopted,  and  the  school,  which  had  been  under  the  care  of 
the  vestry  of  St.  Michael's  Church  (Episcopal),  became  known 
as  Public  School  No.  9.  Jotham  Wilson,  a  pupil  who  had  for 
several  years  been  a  monitor-general,  was  selected  as  teacher. 

The  expenses  of  the  Society  for  the  fiscal  year  had  been 
$47,344.99,  leaving  a  balance  in  the  treasury  to  the  new  account 
of  $6,235.51.  The  annual  exhibit  showed  the  average  attend- 
ance of  pupils  to  be  5,170,  of  whom  about  three  fifths  were  boys 
and  two  fifths  were  girls. 

The  Society  having  at  that  time  no  convenient  place  of 
meeting,  an  application  was  made  to  the  Trustees  of  Columbia 
College,  who  courteously  granted  the  use  of  their  hall  for  the 
meetings  of  the  Society. 

The  Committee  on  New  Locations  reported,  on  the  8th  of 
September,  in  favor  of  purchasing  three  lots  of  ground  in  Woos- 
ter  street,  between  Houston  and  Bleecker  streets,  and  also  three 
'lots  in  Anthony,  near  Hudson  street,  and  recommended  the  erec- 
tion of  a  house  on  the  lots  in  Anthony  street.  The  resolutions 
to  purchase  land  were  adopted,  but  the  recommendation  to  build 
was  laid  on  the  table.  In  November,  the  committee  reported  a 
new  location  in  Church  street,  between  Duane  and  Thomas 
streets,  which,  however,  was  not  adopted.  In  January,  1827, 
they  reported  favorably  upon  a  location  in  Duane  street,  near 
Hudson,  the  price  for  which  would  be  $8,300,  and  a  dower  right 
of  $50  per  annum  in  favor  of  a  lady  then  sixty-eight  years  of 
age.  The  location  was  approved,  and  the  usual  steps  directed 
to  be  taken  to  complete  the  purchase ;  and  the  Building  Com- 
mittee was  authorized  to  proceed  with  the  preliminary  measures 
to  provide  for  the  erection  of  an  edifice.  The  house  was  com- 
pleted, and  opened  as  No.  10,  on  the  1st  of  November,  1827. 
Contracts  were  directed  to  be  made  for  the  building  of  No.  11, 
in  Wooster  street  (which  was  completed  and  opened  on  the  15th 
of  September,  1828),  and  the  purchase  of  ground  for  No.  9,  at 
Bloomingdale,  and  the  erection  of  a  frame  house  of  two  stories 
thereon.  Four  lots  in  Bloomingdale  were  purchased  for  $250, 
two  of  them  being  granted  as  a  donation.  These  measures  were 
severally  prosecuted  with  promptitude  and  fidelity. 

The  annual  report  of  the  treasurer  exhibited  the  fact  that  the 
expenditures  of  the  Society  had  been  $64,724.79.  leaving  a  bal- 


\ 

LOTTERIES.  107 

ance  to  new  account  of  $5,480.69,  with  an  average  attendance 
of  5,030  pupils.  Of  the  amount  expended,  about  $26,000  were 
paid  for  buildings  and  lots  of  ground. 

The  close  of  the  year  1826,  and  the  early  part  of  1827,  were 
partially  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  two  important  proposi- 
tions :  1st,  the  establishment  of  a  central  high  school,  for  the 
instruction  of  monitors  and  tutors,  and  as  an  advanced  school 
for  the  reception  of  pupils  from  the  public  schools  ;  and,  2d,  the 
question,  whether  the  pay  system  had  been  the  means  of  dimin- 
ishing the  attendance  of  poor  children  at  the  schools.  The  de- 
crease in  the  number  of  scholars,  as  made  apparent  by  the  annual 
exhibit,  presented  a  fact  the  very  reverse  of  what  had  been  an- 
ticipated. Instead  of  a  considerable  increase  in  numbers  with 
the  more  extended  facilities  and  new  schools,  there  had  been  an 
actual  diminution.  The  proceedings  relative  to  these  measures 
are  presented  in  other  pages  of  this  volume. 

The  great  evils  of  the  system  of  gambling  known  as  lotteries, 
had  become  manifest  to  the  trustees,  and  they  earnestly  sought 
to  have  such  a  law  enacted  as  would  restrict,  if  not  entirely  pro- 
hibit, the  traffic  in  lottery  tickets.  The  Society  received  a  con- 
siderable sum  annually  from  the  half  of  the  license-tax  paid  by 
the  dealers  in  lottery  schemes  ;  but  this  did  not  blind  their  eyes 
to*  the  fact  that  the  system  was  pernicious,  and  should  be  discon- 
tinued. The  annual  report  for  the  year  1S>27  makes  the  follow- 
ing allusion  to  this  topic : 

The  subject  of  lotteries,  in  which,  through  the  medium  of  moneys  re- 
ceived for  licenses  to  sell  tickets,  they  are  directly  interested,  has  engaged 
much  of  the  serious  attention  of  the  trustees.  Fully  convinced  of,  and 
deeply  regretting,  the  great  and  increasing  evils  incident  to  this  legalized 
mode  of  gambling,  they  have  deemed  it  their  incumbent  duty  to  endeavor 
to  moderate  and  lessen  the  mischiefs  of  this  pernicious  system,  and  accord- 
ingly directed  a  committee  to  prosecute  offenders  against  the  provisions  of 
the  old  law,  which  prohibited  the  selling  of  tickets  in  foreign  lotteries. 
They  also  presented  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature,  requesting,  if  they  could 
not  constitutionally  abolish  the  whole  system,  that  such  further  regulations 
might  be  adopted  as  appeared  necessary  for  the  limitation  and  curtailment 
of  the  evil.  The  board  exceedingly  regret  that  an  act  on  this  subject,  which 
had  passed  both  branches  of  the  Legislature  by  large  majorities,  was  nega- 
tived by  the  Executive  on  the  ground  of  its  being  unconstitutional.  An- 
other bill  was,  however,  subsequently  introduced,  passed,  and  has  become  a 
law,  and  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  prove  efficacious  in  preventing  that  branch 
of  the  evil  arising  from  the  sale  of  tickets  in  lotteries  not  authorized  by  this 
State. 


108  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

The  same  report  contains  the  following  statement  in  regard 
to  the  number  of  pupils  attending  school  during  the  year,  who 
were  also  regular  attendants  at  Sunday  schools  or  clmrches : 

The  trustees  are  aware  of  the  importance  of  early  religious  instruction  ; 
and  although  the  nature  of  their  association  and  its  true  interests  require 
that  none  but  such  as  is  strictly  and  exclusively  general  and  scriptural  in  its 
character  should  be  introduced  into  the  schools  under  their  charge,  they 
require  from  the  teachers  stated  returns  of  the  number  of  their  scholars  who 
attend  at  the  various  Sunday  schools,  or  at  places  of  worship,  on  the  Sab- 
bath. The  last  reports  for  all  schools,  except  No.  8,  show  that,  on  the  1st 
of  April,  of  3,925  children  on  the  registers,  2,463  belonged  to  Sunday 
schools,  and  of  the  remainder,  1,142  were  attenders  at  the  various  places  of 
worship  to  which  their  parents  were  attached  ;  leaving  but  326  unaccounted 
for,  or  who  are  negligent  in  this  important  duty. 

During  the  month  of  May,  a  letter  was  received  from  Mrs. 
Joanna  Betlmne,  informing  the  board  that  an  association  of 
ladies  had  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  an  infant 
school,  and  requesting  the  use  of  the  basement  of  No.  8,  in 
Grand  street,  for  the  accommodation  of  the  school.  The  Execu- 
tive Committee  were  authorized  to  grant  the  use  of  such  rooms 
in  the  school  Buildings  as  were  proper,  and  not  otherwise  appro- 
priated. This  measure  laid,  the  foundation  of  the  very  impor- 
tant change  made  in  the  system  soon  afterward,  by  which  chil- 
dren of  three  years  »f  age  were  taught  with  others  in  the  infant 
schools,  which  became  known  as  Primary  Schools  or  Depart- 
ments. The  Executive  Committee  took  the  whole  plan  into  con- 
sideration, and  referred  the  inquiries  to  a  sub-committee,  who 
presented  a  report  in  favor  of  the  system.  On  the  4th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1828,  this  report  was  submitted  to  the  board,  by  which 
body  it  was  adopted,  and  referred  back  to  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, with  full  power  to  carry  its  several  recommendations  into 
effect.  This  formed  the  distinguishing  feature  of  the  labors  of 
the  board  at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1828. 

The  Society  which  had  been  so  long  favored  with  the  valu- 
able services  of  many  of  its  original  founders,  and  which  still 
retained  some  of  the  most  honorable  and  useful  in  its  board,  was 
at  last  called  to  mourn  the  loss  of  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
and  noble  men  of  the  State,  who  had  rendered  his  name  illus- 
trious as  well  for  his  philanthropy  as  for  his  liberal  and  enlight- 
ened policy  in  all  that  serves  to  make  the  State  preeminent  for 


DEATH   OF   DE   WITT  'CLINTON.  109 

its  resources,  its  public  works,  and  its  literary  institutions.  His 
Excellency,  DE  WITT  CLINTON,  one  of  the  social  circle  that  origi- 
nated the  free-school  system,  who  had  been  President  of  the  So- 
ciety from  the  time  of  its  organization,  and  who  was  also  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State,  was  called  from  the  scenes  of  his  earthly 
labors  to  his  rest  and  his  reward.  His  death  occurred  on  the 
llth  of  February,  and  was  announced  to  the  board  at  a  special 
meeting  held  on  the  15th  of  that  month.  Alderman  Cowdrey 
offered  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions,  which  were 
unanimously  adopted  : 

The  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  being  informed  of  the  sud- 
den decease  of  his  Excellency,  DE  WITT  CLINTON,  who,  among  his  other 
testimonials  of  public  esteem  and  confidence,  has  held  the  office  of  Presi- 
dent of  this  Society  from  its  first  organization, 

Hesolved,  As  the  sense  of  this  board,  that,  while  it  is  our  duty  to  bend 
with  unmurmuring  submission  to  the  will  of  Divine  Providence,  we  view 
this  event  as  a  signal  calamity  to  our  country,  to  the  cause  of  science  and 
public  improvement,  and  the  many  useful  institutions  of  which  the  deceased 
was  a  distinguished  ornament  and  patron.  That  he  occupied  a  large  place 
in  the  affection  and  respect  of  his  countrymen,  as  one  of  the  most  able  and 
successful  benefactors  ;  and  that,  as  connected  with  this  and  similar  associa- 
tions, the  cause  of  literature  and  benevolence  has  sustained  in  his  death  an 
unspeakable  and  irreparable  loss. 

This  resolution  was  not  one  of  mere  eulogy,  but  was  warrant- 
ed by  the  great  public  services  of  the  late  President,  to  whose 
influence  and  labors  the  Society  was  largely  indebted  for  its  suc- 
cess, and  the  extension  of  its  means  and  its  sphere  of  labor.  He 
was  succeeded  in -the  office  of  President  by  Col.  HENEY  RUT- 
GEES,  who  was  chosen  at  the  annual  election  in  the  month  of 
May  following. 

The  increase  in  the  population  of  the  city,  and  the  demand 
for  more  extensive  facilities  for  instructing  children  not  other- 
wise provided  for,  together  with  the  fact  that  the  pay  system 
was  found  to  disappoint  the  generous  expectations  of  the  board, 
combined  to  renew  the  anxiety  of  the  Society  for  such  an  im- 
provement and  reorganization  of  the  system  as  would  meet  all 
the  requirements  of  the  metropolis,  and  whose  expansion  should 
correspond  with  that  of  the  city  itself,  until  it  should  compre- 
hend the  children  of  every  class,  and  thus  promote  a  harmonious 
intermingling  of  the  youth  of  the  community,  as  a  social  and 
public  benefaction. 


110  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

The  Executive  Committee  made  these  measures  a  subject  of 
earnest  consideration,  and,  at  the  February  meeting,  submitted 
a  report  to  the  board,  together  with  an  address  to  the  public, 
relative  thereto.  The  report  recommended  an  additional  tax  of 
half  a  mill  on  a  dollar  on  the  real  and  personal  estate  in  the  city 
and  count}7,  which,  at  the  valuation  of  that  year,  would  have 
yielded  about  $50,000.  This  sum,  with  the  income  enjoyed  by 
the  Society  at  the  time,  it  was  estimated  would  be  sufficient  to 
add  three  new  school-houses  annually  to  the  number  in  existence, 
and  enable  the  Society  to  educate  all  classes  free  of  expense,  as 
well  as  to  establish  a  high  school  and  an  academy,  or  classical 
seminary,  for  the  preparation  of  teachers.  The  report  is  sub- 
stantially incorporated,  in  its  arguments  and  facts,  in  the  address 
to  the  public  which  was  submitted  at  the  same  time,  and  which 
was  ordered  to  be  printed  and  circulated.  This  address  develops 
the  germ  of  many  of  the  plans  and  measures  which  have  since 
that  time  been  made  a  part  of  the  system  of  popular  education 
in  the  city,  and  is  valuable  as  a  presentation  of  the  philanthropic 
and  enlarged  views  which  were  realized  years  afterward  in  part 
by  the  Society,  but  more  fully  under  the  change  of  system  in 
1842,  when  the  Board  of  Education  was  organized.  For  these 
reasons,  as  well  as  for  its  own  interest,  the  address  is  here  in- 
serted : 

ADDRESS  TO  THE  PUBLIC. 

The  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  feel  constrained  to  appeal  to 
their  fellow-citizens  upon  the  importance  of  enlarging  the  means  of  com- 
mon education.  A  full  knowledge  of  our  condition  cannot  but  produce  a 
universal  conviction  that  our  present  system  of  instruction  is  inadequate  to 
our  wants. 

There  is  no  part  of  our  State  which  has  the  means  of  more  ample  endow- 
ments for  public  instruction,  nor  is  there  any  part  of  it  where  the  common 
welfare,  not  to  say  the  common  safety,  so  imperatively  demands  them  ;  and 
yet  we  are  compelled  to  confess  that  there  is  not  within  the  State  a  single 
district  of  any  magnitude  with  which  we  could  institute  a  favorable  com- 
parison. 

It  is  an  object  of  primary  importance  to  ascertain,  as  nearly  as  may  be, 
the  number  of  our  children  within  the  proper  ages  for  instruction,  who  are 
entirely  destitute  of  it.  It  is  impossible,  with  the  data  which  we  possess, 
to  arrive  at  a  precisely  accurate  result ;  but  it  will  be  perceived  by  the  fol- 
lowing statement,  that  if  we  have  fallen  into  an  error,  it  is  not  that  of  ex-  • 
aggeration. 

Provision  is  made  by  law  for  ascertaining,  in  all  other  parts  of  the  State, 
the  number  of  children  between  the  ages  of  5  and  15,  and  also  the  whole 


ADDBES8   TO   THE   PUBLIC.  Ill 

number  annually  instructed ;  and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  it  does  not 
extend  to  this  city.  It  appears,  by  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
1827,  that,  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  the  ratio  of  scholars  in  the  public 
and  other  schools  to  the  whole  population  was  1  to  5,  1  to  4.  and  1  to  3  ; 
and  that  these  are  about  the  average  ratios  which  prevail  throughout  the 
State,  with  the  exception  of  this  city.  In  this  city,  this  ratio  is  less  than  1 
to  7,  supposing  the  population  to  have  advanced  with  the  same  rapidity 
since  1825  as  in  the  preceding  five  years. 

If  we  adopt  for  our  city  the  proportion  furnished  by  the  above  report, 
and  founded  upon  actual  official  returns,  between  the  whole  population  and 
the  children  within  the  ages  above  mentioned,  the  result  will  be,  that  we 
had  45,300  of  these  children  in  1825,  when  our  population  was  but  166,000. 
If  the  increase  of  our  population  since  1825  has  been  in  the  same  ratio  as 
from  1820  to  1825,  we  must  add  to  this  number  of  children  more  than  7,000, 
making  the  whole  number  52,300.  About  10,000  children  are  taught  at  our 
public  and  charity  schools.  It  was  ascertained  by  a  committee  of  teachers, 
about  four  or  five  years  since,  that  we  had  200  male  schools.  It  is  a  liberal 
allowance  to  suppose  the  female  schools  equally  numerous.  If  we  add  to 
these  numbers  100  schools,  and  allow  35  scholars  to  each  school — which  we 
are  persuaded  is  an  over-estimate — we  have  17,500  for  the  private  schools.* 

We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  number  of  Sunday  scholars  who 
go  to  no  other  schools ;  but  it  is  evident  that  this  number  cannot  be  large, 
because  the  whole  number  of  scholars  in  the  Sunday  schools  does  not  exceed 
that  in  the  public  schools  by  more  than  2,000,  and  because  we  know  that  a 
large  proportion  of  Sunday  scholars  attend  private  schools. 

From  the  best  inquiries  we  have  been  able  to  make,  the  number  of  those 
scholars  who  attend  no  other  schools  does  not  exceed  one  in  twenty,  or  600 
in  the  whole.  • 

The  result  of  these  estimates  is,  that  we  have  twenty-four  thousand  two 
hundred  children,  within  the  ages  of  5  and  15,  who  attend  no  school  what- 
ever. 

'  A  large  number  of  children,  principally  boys,  are  taken  from  school  as 
soon  as  they  arrive  at  14,  and  some  even  at  12  years  of  age,  to  be  bound  out 
to  service,  and  others  are  withdrawn  even  at  10  years  of  age,  for  other  pur- 
' poses.  If  we  allow  one  half  of  the  whole  number  above  mentioned  to  have 
been  withdrawn  from  school  before  the  age  of  15 — though  perhaps  one 
third  would  be  nearer  the  truth — the  result  will  be  as  follows  : 

Whole  number  of  children  between  5  and  15  years'  of  age,        .       52,300 
"  attending  public  schools,       .         .         .     10,000 

«  "        private  schools,       ' .        .         17,500 

*'  "  Sunday  schools  not  before  included,       600 

"  withdrawn  before  the  age  of  15,  .        .     12,100 

40,200 


Leaving •     12,100 

*  This  estimate  corresponds  with  the  opinions  of  those  best  acquainted  with  this 
subject. 


112  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

TWELVE  THOUSAND  CHILDREN,  between  five  and  fifteen  years  of  ago, 
entirely  destitute  of  the  means  of  instruction  ! 

This  computation  leaves  out  of  view  all  those  children  of  tenderer  years 
who  ought  to  be  introduced  into  infant  schools. 

The  diversity,  magnitude,  and  character  of  our  population  give  to  this 
subject  a  deeper  interest  here  than  it  can  have  elsewhere.  The  single  fact 
that  20,000  emigrants  arrived  within  our  city  during  the  past  year,  presents 
this  subject  in  a  sufficiently  striking  point  of  view. 

Believing  that  the  relative  importance  of  our  city  in  the  State  and 
national  councils— that  the  security  of  our  rights,  of  our  property,  nay,  of 
our  lives,  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  people,  and  essentially  upon 
their  intelligence,  the  trustees  cannot,  under  the  present  state  of  things,  sup- 
press their  anxiety  and  alarm. 

In  many  of  our  sister  States,  the  deep  interest  of  the  people  in  common 
education  may  be  traced  back  to  the  very  fountain  of  their  earliest  institu- 
tions. They  regarded  the  proposition,  that  our  republican  institutions  rest 
upon  the  general  intelligence  and  virtue  of  the  people,  as  something  more 
than  a  mere  theory.  In  our  own  State,  the  towns  in  the  several  counties 
have  been  authorized  to  provide,  by  taxation,  for  the  erection  of  school- 
houses,  and  "  for  fuel  and  appendages,"  and  have  also  been  empowered  to 
levy,  in  the  same  way,  a  limited  amount  annually  over  and  above  the  sum 
necessary,  to  secure  a  participation  in  the  common  school  fund.  In  the  city 
of  New  York  there  is  no  legal  provision  whatever  for  the  support  of  com- 
mon schools,  except  from  the  State  fund  ;  and  that  is  on  the  condition  that 
the  city  shall  raise  an  amount  equal  to  that  received. 

It  is  time  for  us  to  pause,  and  inquire  "whether  this  subject  has  yet 
received  the  consideration  to  which  it  is  entitled,  and  whether  our  public 
schools  occupy  their  merited  station  among  our  political  institutions. 

It  appears  to  the  trustees  that  the  due  order  of  things  has  been  inverted 
— that  our  common  schools  are  not  the  proper  objects  of  a  parsimonious 
policy,  but  are  entitled  to  an  endowment  not  less  munificent  than  the  best 
of  our  institutions.  Neither  the  sick  nor  the  destitute  have  higher  claims 
upon  us  than  the  ignorant.  The  want  of  knowledge  is  the  most  imperative 
of  all  wants,  for  it  brings  all  others  in  its  train.  If  education  be  regarded 
as  a  charity,  it  is  the  only  one  whose  blessings  are  without  alloy.  It  de- 
mands no  jealous  scrutiny  as  to  the  claims  of  its  applicants,  nor  does  it 
require  to  be  so  stinted  as  not  to  multiply  their  number.  The  obligations 
which  rest  upon  us  in  regard  to  this  great  interest,  both  as  men  and  Chris- 
tians, are  sufficiently  obvious  and  imposing.  To  these  are  to  be  added  the 
peculiar  claims  which  are  addressed  to  us  as  the  citizens  of  a  free  country. 
If  we  would  preserve  our  free  institutions,  the  means  of  education  must  be 
coextensive  with  the  right  of  suffrage. 

Although  the  knowledge  of  an  individual  may  not  always  be  accompa- 
nied with  corresponding  virtue,  yet  we  hold  it  to  be  certain  that,  politically 
considered,  the  community  will  always  be  more  or  less  virtuous  as  they  are 
more  or  less  enlightened.  All  private  interests  harmonize  in  the  public 
good  ;  and  the  more  clearly  this  is  perceived,  the  more  will  a  single  view  to 


ADDRESS   TO   THE    PUBLIC.  113 

the  public  welfare  be  regarded  as  the  test  of  public  spirit,  and  the  just 
measure  of  popular  favor. 

If  it  be  not  true  that  the  political  power  of  the  people  is  generally  em- 
ployed for  what  seems  to  them  their  own  good,  we  must  abandon  all  the 
theories  of  a  republican  government.  If  this  power  be  thus  employed,  we 
need  only  enlighten  the  mind  which  directs  it,  and  it  is  our  fault  if  it  be 
not  found  on  the  side  of  virtue  and  patriotism.  Let  it  not  be  supposed  that 
we  would  separate  the  power  of  knowledge  from  that  of  morals  and  re- 
ligion. The  remarks  we  have  made  we  wish  to  be  understood  as  applied  to 
the  people  in  their  civil  relations.  But  if  we  go  further,  and  regard  religion 
and  morals  as  the  highest  objects  of  education,  as  they  truly  are,  it  certainly 
will  not  be  denied  that  education  furnishes  the  principal,  and  almost  the 
sole  means,  of  their  diffusion. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  uneducated  and  unen- 
lightened must  necessarily  be  the  mere  playthings  and  tools  of  political 
ambition.  Those  base  men  who  pervert  their  station,  or  abuse  the  public 
confidence  for  private  purposes,  have  nothing  to  fear  but  from  just  sentiment 
and  enlightened  opinion.  Prejudice  and  ignorance  are  the  very  elements 
from  which  proceed  all  popular  error,  confusion,  and  violence.  It  is  the 
business  of  education  to  purify  this  atmosphere  and  to  drive  out  the  pesti- 
•lence.  The  hand  which  perchance  may  wield  the  public  destinies,  is  noth- 
ing in  itself;  it  is  the  terrible  engine  which  it  puts  in  motion  which  alone  is 
to  be  dreaded. 

It  may  not  be  without  just  cause  that,  in  some  other  countries,  it  is  con- 
sidered a  dangerous  thing  to  enlighten  the  people.  But  with  us,  the  ques- 
tion of  their  political  power  is  settled— and,  if  they  are  true  to  themselves, 
it  is  settled  forever.  We  wish  to  keep  that  power  in  their  hands,  and  to 
enable  them  to  exercise  it  with  wisdom.  The  laboring  classes  have  been, 
justly  called  the  backbone  and  sinews  of  the  republic.  It  is  not  enough 
that  they  know  how  to  read,  write,  and  cast  accounts.  We  wish  to  provide 
for  them  better  excitements  than  they  now  have.  We  wish  them  to  enjoy 
the  pleasures,  as  well  as  other  advantages,  of  intellectual  occupation.  We 
wish  them  to  be  able  to  understand  and  admire  the  beneficence  of  the  Cre- 
ator in  the  works  of  His  hands.  We  wish  them  to  feel  that  virtue  is  the 
first  distinction  among  men,  and  knowledge  the  second,  and  to  be  them- 
selves the  great  exemplar  of  these  truths. 

Entertaining  these  views,  we  hold  that  there  is  no  object  of  greater  mag- 
nitude within  the  whole  range  of  legislation,  no  more  imperative  demand 
for  public  revenue,  than  the  establishment  of  competent  schools  and  semina- 
ries of  learning.  We  hold  that,  in  the  nature  of  things,  nothing  can  be  bet- 
ter entitled  to  a  share  of  the  public  revenue  than  that  from  which  private 
and  public  wealth  derive  all  their  value  and  security.  In  short,  our  schools 
are  the  very  foundation  upon  which  rest  the  peace,  good  order,  and  pro&- 
perity  of  society. 

It  is  time  to  pass  from  this  general  view  to  a  more  particular  considera- 
tion of  the  necessity  and  nature  of  the  reform  which  is  called  for.  We  con- 
8 


J  14  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

ceive  that  our  present  establishments  are  altogether  inadequate  to  the  wants 
of  the  community. 

The  money  expended  upon  public  schools  in  Boston,  in  the  year  1826, 
amounted  to  upwards  of  $54,000,  exclusive  of  all  expenses  of  building. 
From  the  best  information  we  can  obtain,  the  expenditures  of  that  city  for 
the  same  object,  during  the  past  year,  amounted  to  $70,000. 

The  whole  revenue  of  the  Public  School  Society  of  New  York,  exclusive 
of  about  $4,400  received  from  pay  scholars,  for  the  year  ending  on  the  1st 
of  May  last,  was  less  than  $20,000.  This  sum  includes  all  the  public  moneys 
expended  upon  common  schools,  except  $2,155.50  distributed  to  the  Me- 
chanics', the  Orphan  Asylum,  and  the  Manumission  Societies.  It  would  be 
a  waste  of  time  to  attempt  to  strengthen  this  statement  by  any  comments 
we  could  make.  We  shall  hereafter  point  out  those  particulars  in  which  we 
conceive  that  our  plan  of  public  education  needs  to  be  enlarged. 

We  have  already  stated  that  our  present  system  does  not  harmonize  with 
the  spirit  of  our  political  institutions.  It  is  well  known  that  the  schools  of 
the  Society  were  formerly  exclusively  "  free  schools."  It  was  thought  that 
a  reluctance  naturally  arising  from  a  general  spirit  of  independence  to  re- 
ceive even  instruction  as  a  charity,  would  exclude  many  from  the  benefits  of 
education. 

The  removal  of  this  impediment,  by  receiving  compensation  from  such 
as  choose  to  make  it,  has  doubtless  been  attended  with  very  beneficial  conse- 
quences. Public  instruction  has  been,  to  a  considerable  extent,  freed  from 
its  degrading  associations  with  poverty  and  charity. 

Still,  these  consequences  have  not  been  so  extensive  as  was  hoped. 
About  two  thirds  only  of  the  whole  number  admitted  into  our  schools  are 
pay  scholars.  It  is  not  certain  what  portion  of  these  would  have  been 
excluded  if  the  old  system  had  continued. 

It  is  now  in  the  power  of  the  public  to  remedy  this  evil  entirely,  and  to 
iutroduce  a  corresponding  benefit,  which  the  pay  system  was  never  compe- 
tent, nor  even  designed,  to  produce. 

We  desire  to  see  our  public  schools  so  endowed  and  provided,  that  they 
shall  be  equally  desirable  for  all  classes  of  society.  To  effect  this,  the  means 
of  instruction  which  are  offered  to  the  poor  should  be  the  very  best  which 
can  be  provided.  They  may  not  all  be  able  to  proceed  so  far  in  the  path  of 
learning  as  others  in  happier  circumstances.  But  to  the  extent  of  their 
progress  let  them  have  all  the  helps  which  the  present  state  of  knowledge 
affords.  This  is  no  mere  fanciful  theory.  The  advantages  of  a  free  inter- 
course and  competition  betw.een  persons  of  all  ranks  and  conditions  in  life, 
as  exhibited  in  the  Edinburgh  High  School,  have  been  admirably  illustrated 
by  one  of  the  first  British  orators  of  the  age.  He  regarded  such  an  institu- 
tion as  invaluable  in  a  free  State  ;  because,  to  use  his  own  language,  men  of 
the  highest  and  lowest  rank  in  the  community  sent  their  children  there,  to 
be  educated  together.  The  practical  beneficence  of  this  system  is  attested 
by  the  noble  institutions  of  a  sister  city.  It  is  by  such  an  union  and  inter- 
course that  the  real  worth  of  outward  distinctions  is  perceived — that  the 
.highest  rewards  of  merit  are  felt  to  be  equally  offered  to  all— that  the  jeal- 


ADDRESS   TO   THE   PUBLIC.  115 

ousies  which  are  too  apt  to  arise  from  difference  of  condition  are  melted 
away,  and  that  the  relations  which  subsist  between  the  different  classes  of 
society  are  felt  to  be  the  relations  of  mutual  advantage  and  dependence,  and 
not  those  of  hostility. 

We  are  aware  that  it  will  be  regarded  by  many  as  impracticable,  that 
these  advantages  should  ever  be  realized  to  the  full  extent  we  have  contem- 
plated, under  the  peculiar  local  circumstances  of  this  city.  This  objection 
is  not  without  foundation ;  but  we  are  satisfied  that  it  will  be  found  to 
grow  less  and  less  the  more  our  system  of  education  is  improved,  and  that 
it  will  be  principally  confined  to  the  lower  schools.  But  if  it  be  admitted 
that  an  equal  distribution  of  the  blessings  of  education  to  all  classes  of 
society  can  never  be  realized,  this  surely  does  not  lessen  its  importance  to 
those  who  cannot  receive  it  without  our  aid. 

If  we  would  make  our  schools  what  they  ought  to  be,  we  must  offer 
higher  rewards  for  the  qualifications  of  teachers.  The  dignity  of  the  office 
of  teacher  has  been  too  often  measured  by  the  subjects  of  instruction.  It 
lias  been  thought  that  those  pursuits  which  are  level  to  the  capacities  of 
boys  do  not  require  the  talents  which  are  called  forth  by  the  active  compe- 
tition of  men.  This  estimate  proceeds,  in  part,  from  the  idea  that  educa- 
tion consists  in  teaching  certain  truths,  as  it  were,  by  rote ;  whereas  its  high- 
est office  is  to  instil  principles  and  call  forth  the  powers — to  instruct  us  how 
to  think — to  teach  its  pupils  how  to  make  that  which  they  derive  from  other 
sources  their  own,  not  by  the  mere  tenure  of  memory,  but  by  incorporating 
it  with  the  very  substance  and  strength  of  their  faculties. 

We  hasten  to  present  to  the  public  some  changes  in  our  system  which 
we  think  necessary,  and  others  which  we  hope  to  see  adopted,  sooner  or 
later. 

It  is  obvious,  from  what  we  have  already  said,  that  these  schools  should 
be  supported  from  the  public  revenue,  should  be  public  property,  and  should 
be  open  to  all,  not  as  a  charity,  but  as  a  matter  of  common  right. 

We  propose  that  infant  schools  should  be  established  throughout  the 
city,  to  receive  children  from  three  to  six  years  of  age.  The  separation  of 
these  from  older  children  is  necessary^to  prevent  disorder,  and  to  economize 
time  and  labor.  The  instruction  of  *these  children  is  peculiar ;  its  expense 
is  very  trifling,  and  is  much  more  than  repaid  by  the  great  domestic  econ- 
omy which  results  from  it.  We  need  not  enlarge  upon  its  benefits.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  receptacles  of  these  children  must  be  numerous,  and  be  dis- 
persed throughout  the  city,  and  that  they  should  be  under  the  charge  of 
females. 

The  difficulty  of  sending  very  young  children  to  places  of  instruction  is 
among  the  principal  obstacles  which  debar  them  from  its  benefits.  The 
most  important  consideration  respecting  these  schools  is,  that  they  appeal  to 
parents  before  they  have  any  apology,  or  even  motive,  for  keeping  their  chil- 
dren at  home,  and  that,  when  these  children  are  once  in  the  way  of  instruc- 
tion, they  are  likely  to  be  kept  there. 

In  the  next  place,  we  would  greatly  enlarge  the  number  of  schools  in 
which  a  common  English  education  is  taught.  A  very  great  majority  of 


116  TUB   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  scholars  will  leave  these  schools  at  the  age  of  15,  or  at  an  earlier  period. 
These  schools  should  be  provided  with  such  means  of  instruction  as  are  best 
calculated  to  fit  their  pupils  for  the  various  departments  of  mechanic,  mer- 
cantile, and  agricultural  industry.  They  should  be  amply  provided  with 
teachers  of  pure  morals  and  sound  learning — with  men  who  are  capable  of 
inspiring  and  directing  a  just  ambition. 

The  schools  above  mentioned  form  the  basis  of  the  plan  which  we  pro- 
pose ;  and  until  its  foundations  are  firmly  and  amply  laid,  we  would  not 
proceed  another  step.  Let  these  schools  be  increased  and  improved,  until 
they  shall  be  equal  to  the  necessities  of  the  community — until  all  the  wants 
which  are  now  felt,  or  which  the  people  can  be  made  to  feel,  shall  be  fully 
supplied — until,  if  possible,  the  12,000  children  who  can  now  neither  read 
nor  write  shall  be  gathered  into  their  folds,  and  until  our  instruction  shall 
correspond,  both  in  kind  and  degree,  with  the  capacities  and  opportunities 
of  the  people. 

About  minor  points  there  will,  of  course,  be  differences  of  opinion. 
Whether  those  who  may  have  the  means  of  consulting  their  inclinations  on 
this  subject  shall  choose  to  send  their  children  to  the  public  schools,  or  not, 
is  comparatively  of  no  moment.  But  that  ample  means  and  inducements 
should  be  provided  for  all  who  would  be  otherwise  destitute,  is  of  the  last 
importance ;  and  we  trust  that,  for  this  object,  the  opinions  and  efforts  of 
all  will  be  united. 

Next  in  importance  to  this  object  is  the  establishment  of  one  or  more 
high  schools,  in  which  should  be  taught  practical  mathematics,  natural 
philosophy,  bookkeeping,  and,  in  short,  all  those  branches  which  are  desira- 
ble for  the  active  business  of  life  in  any  of  its  departments,  the  learned  pro- 
fessions excepted. 

We  would  also  recommend,  if  the  means  to  be  provided  should  be  suffi- 
cient for  that  purpose,  a  classical  school,  in  which  the  ancient  and  modern 
languages  should  be  thoroughly  taught. 

To  all  these  should  be  added  a  seminary  for  the  education  of  at  least 
such  teachers  as  are  required  for  common  schools. 

Thus  we  should  present  to  the  public  establishments  for  education  which 
would  afford  ample  and  permanent  encouragement  to  all  the  talent  of  the 
community,  instead  of  holding  out  a  short-lived  patronage,  to  be  .withdrawn 
when  most  needed — which  would  make  that  talent  public  property,  and 
which  would  open  to  universal  emulation  the  path  to  all  public  distinctions. 

This  plan  is  not  without  example,  and  is  substantially,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  school  for  teachers,  in  successful  practice  in  a  neighboring  city,  to 
which  we  have  before  alluded. 

To  effect  this  object,  the  trustees  would  recommend  a  tax  of  half  a  mill 
upon  the  dollar  on  the  amount  of  property  in  the  city,  according  to  its 
valuation  in  the  present  estimates  of  assessment.  The  fund  thus  to  be  raised 
should  be  forever  kept  separate  from  all  other  taxes,  and  sacred  to  the  pur- 
poses for  which  it  was  created. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  estimates  just  mentioned  fall  far  short  of  the 
actual  value  of  the  property  embraced  in  them,  and  that  there  is  a  vast 


ADDRESS    TO  THE   PUBLIC.  117 

amount  of  property  which  they  do  not  touch.  If  no  allowance  were  made 
for  these  circumstances,  this  tax  would  amount  to  5  cents  on  $100 — to  50 
cents  on  $1,000 — to  $5  on  $10,000.  It  is  true  that  the  poor  man,  who  puts 
in  5  cents,  has  the  same  direct  interest  in  the  fund  with  the  rich  man,  who 
contributes  $50 ;  but  this  difference  is  more  than  made  up  by  the  indirect 
advantages  of  the  latter.  We  submit  to  the  liberal  consideration  of  the 
rich,  whether  their  proportion  of  this  money,  expended  for  the  purpose  of 
disseminating  wholesome  knowledge  and  pure  morals,  would  not  be  a  profit- 
able investment  for  their  children  ;  and  whether  their  bonds  and  mortgages 
and  public  stocks  are  altogether  beyond  the  reach  of  public  opinion,  and  of 
that  which  must  ultimately  depend  upon  public  opinion — the  administra- 
tion of  the  laws  ? 

We  may  go  still  further,  and  say  that,  in  so  far  as  the  expenditure  pro- 
posed is  necessary  for  the  establishment  of  common  or  English  schools,  it  is 
recommended  by  the  principles  of  economy,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  that 
word.  Those  who  are  without  education,  must  always  be  a  degraded  caste. 
Having  no  prospect  of  a  material  improvement  in  their  condition,  they  are 
without  the  common  incentives  to  industry,  and  hardly  know  what  frugal- 
ity means.  Those  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  habits  and  pursuits  of 
humble  life,  do  not  know  how  generally  education  is  connected  with  inde- 
pendence, and  the  want  of  it  with  abject  poverty.  Add  to  this  that  the 
caste  of  which  we  are  speaking — for  such  it  unhappily  is — is  necessarily 
removed  from  all  wholesome  social  influences,  and  that  they  are  the  natural 
prey  of  the  cunning  and  profligate,  and  it  will  be  perceived  that,  with 
regard  to  a  great  portion  of  them,  and  particularly  the  children  of  emi- 
grants, we  must  choose  between  the  expenses  of  their  education  and  the 
cost  of  their  maintenance  in  our  almshouses  and  penitentiaries.  It  is  proof 
enough  of  this,  that,  small  as  is  the  proportion  of  those  who  cannot  read 
and  write  to  our  whole  population,  they  constitute  the  majority  of  our  con- 
victs and  paupers. 

The  more  the  community  is  enlightened,  the  more  equally  will  its  bur- 
dens be  borne.  It  has  not,  perhaps,  been  sufficiently  considered  by  political 
economists,  that  national  wealth  chiefly  proceeds  from  the  activity  of  mind, 
and  must,  therefore,  be  proportioned  to  the  extent  and  universality  of  its 
development.  There  is  a  striking  illustration  of  this  truth  in  a  lecture  not 
long  since  delivered  by  Baron  Dupin  before  one  of  the  institutes  of  Paris. 
It  appears  by  his  statement,  that,  in  some  parts  of  France,  those  who  are 
educated  are  ^  in  others,  ^,  in  others,  only  -^^  part  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation, and  that  the  national  revenue  of  these  districts  is  nearly  in  corre- 
sponding ratios.  Nay,  more — that  these  proportions  are  not  materially 
varied  by  the  most  striking  superiority  or  inferiority  of  soil  and  climate. 

It  may  be  said  that  we  have  mistaken  the  effect  for  the  cause.  Wealth 
and  education  undoubtedly  act  and  react  upon  each  other.  But  it  is  certain 
that  there  would  be  little  or  no  capital  without  education,  and  that  capital 
derives  its  power  of  accumulation  from  education,  which  points  out  its  uses, 
and  creates  a  demand  for  it. 

If  it  were  necessary  to  add  any  thing  to  these  considerations,  the  trustees 


118  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

might  claim  the  support  of  all  the  middling  and  even  wealthier  classes  of 
society,  on  the  ground  of  private  interest.  The  amount  of  their  taxes 
would  be  repaid  to  them  fourfold  by  the  greater  cheapness  of  education, 
even  supposing  they  were  to  avail  themselves  only  of  the  higher  schools ; 
and  it  will  doubtless  be  an  object  of  consideration  to  some  individuals  of 
these  classes,  that  the  cheaper  education  is,  the  more  they  can  afford  to  pur- 
chase. 

It  would  be  impossible,  without  going  too  much  into  detail,  to  show 
iiow  great  a  saving  in  the  expenses,  of  educating  our  children  would  result 
from  large  establishments  under  a  proper  superintendence.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that,  as  far  as  experiments  have  been  made,  the  results  have  been  greater 
and  more  satisfactory  than  could  have  been  expected.* 

Is  it  necessary  that  the  trustees  should  offer  any  further  apology  for  pro- 
posing that  a  small  portion  of  the  public  wealth  should  be  devoted  to  the 
great  objects  of  education  ?  We  perceive  no  evidence  of  a  parsimonious 
spirit  in  our  public  councils  in  regard  to  the  ordinary  objects  of  public  reve- 
nue. There  is  no  lack  of  taxation  for  lighting  and  grading  our  streets — for 
our  almshouse  and  penitentiaries.  The  expenditures  for  these  objects,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  enormous  capital  invested  in  these  establishments, 
amounted,  in  the  year  1826,  to  upward  0f  $196,000.  The  expenditures  for 
the  same  objects,  during  the  past  year,  amounted  to  $221,000.  We  might 
refer  to  inferior  objects  for  proofs  of  equal  public  liberality.  In  short, 
whenever  revenue  is  wanted  for  any  purpose  deemed  important  to  the  com- 
fort or  character  of  the  city,  it  is  a  matter  of  course  to  raise  it  by  tax.  We 
humbly  suggest  that  a  similar  liberality  ought  to  be  shown  toward  an  object 
inferior  to  no  other. 

We  will  not  anticipate  objections.  It  is  impossible  that  there  can  be 
two  parties  in  this  community — one  in  favor  of  education,  and  one  against 
it.  We  have  none  among  us  who  are  the  avowed  advocates  of  popular 
ignorance.  The  blessings  of  generations  yet  unborn  await  the  success  of 
our  efforts.  In  their  behalf,  as  well  as  our  own,  we  make  our  solemn  appeal 
to  all  classes,  in  the  name  of  religion,  of  humanity,  and  of  freedom.  We 
would  say  to  those  who  are  in  the  most  prosperous  conditions  of  life,  that 
the  best  security  for  their  prosperity  and  their  privileges  is  to  be  found  in 
their  greatest  possible  diffusion.  To  those  who  belong  to  its  humbler  ranks, 
we  would  suggest  that  no  more  honorable  occasion  was  ever  offered  for  the 
exercise  of  that  political  power  which  our  free  Constitution  has  given 
equally  to  all. 

The  address  was  printed,  and  five  thousand  copies  were  cir- 
culated among  the  citizens  of  New  York,  under  the  direction  of 
Messrs.  Hem  an  Averill,  Rensselaer  Havens,  and  John  R.  Hurd. 

*  The  expense  of  teaching  7,044  pupils  in  Boston,  in  1826,  in  the  public  schools, 
was  $54,417.  The  expense  of  3,392  pupils,  in  private  schools,  was  $97,395.  Some- 
thing ought,  probably,  to  be  allowed  for  there  being  a  greater  proportion  of  scholars 
in  the  private  than  in  the  public  schools  engaged  in  the  higher  paths  of  education. 


SAMUEL   W.    SETON.  119 

The  recommendation  of  the  Executive  Committee,  that  petitions 
be  circulated  among  the  people,  was  also  adopted,  and  Messrs. 
Erastus  Ellsworth,  William  Howard,  and  James  B.  Brinsmade 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  obtain  signatures. 

The  expenditures  of  the  Society  for  the  year  amounted  to 
$41,246.25,  and  the  average  attendance  of  pupils  was  6,195. 

The  large  number  of  vagrant  and  truant  children,  who  spent 
their  time\  in  the  streets  and  around  the  wharves  of  the  city, 
indulging  in  idle  and  vicious  habits,  had  constantly  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  Society.  As  a  mode  of  exerting  a  more  direct 
and  special  influence  upon  these  children  and  their  parents,  it 
was  thought  that  the  labors  of  an  agent,  who  should  devote  a 
large  share  of  his  time  to  a  personal  visitation  of  the  pupils  and 
their  parents,  as  well  as  to  a  canvassing  of  the  city  among  those 
who  did  not  attend  the  schools,  would  be  productive  of  good 
results.  The  Executive  Committee,  therefore,  made  such  an 
appointment,  and,  on  the  1st  of  February,  1827,  SAMUEL  "W". 
SETON  entered  upon  his  duties  in  that  capacity.  In  May,  he 
submitted  a  brief  report,  in  which  he  stated  that  he  had  visited 
1,700  families,  numbering  3,700  scholars,  of  whom  about  1,500 
families  sent  their  children  to  Sunday  school. 

The  summer  and  autumn  months  of  this  year  had  been 
employed  in  ascertaining  fully  the  sentiment  of  the  citizens  in 
regard  to  the  Society,  and  the  propositions  embraced  in  the 
address  relative  to  the  new  tax,  and  the  remodelling  of  the  sys- 
tem. The  Inquiry  proved  that  great  unanimity  existed  among 
the  tax-payers  in  favor  of  the  plans  recommended,  and  the  ap- 
proach of  a  new  session  of  the  Legislature  made  the  close  of  the 
year  a  fitting  season  to  prosecute  their  claims  before  the  public, 
and  the  authorities  of  the  city  and  State.  In  December,  the 
draft  of  a  memorial  was  prepared  and  printed,  and  the  trustees 
were  districted  into  Ward  Committees,  to  obtain  signatures  to 
the  applications  to  the  Corporation  and  Legislature.  On  the 
26th  of  the  month,  these  committees  reported  that  3,200  names 
of  responsible  citizens  had  been  obtained,  the  number  being  sub- 
sequently increased  to  4,000.  They  were  referred  to  the  commit- 
tee having  the  subject  of  the  new  law  under  their  consideration. 

The  Society  having  found  it  necessary,  on  several  occasions, 
to  raise  money  by  loans  secured  by  mortgage  upon  portions  of 
the  property  of  the  Society,  and  the  contingency  of  sales. being 


120  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOQIETY. 

likely  to  become  expedient,  the  question  of  its  legal  power  to 
make  such  transfers  was  fully  discussed.  To  remove  all  doubt 
in  reference  to  such  a  procedure,  and  to  obtain  the  authority  of 
the  Legislature  to  act  in  the  premises,  application  was  made  to 
that  body,  and,  in  Januaiy,  1829,  a  bill  was  passed  and  became 
a  law,  with  the  following  features  : 

1.  Whenever,  by  a  resolution  of  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  trustees  of  the  Society,  at  any  regular  meeting  of  the 
trustees,  duly  convened,  confirmed  by  a  vote  of  any  subsequent 
regular  meeting  after  the  said  resolution  shall  have  been  pub- 
lished at  least  one  month  in  one  of  the  papers  of  the  city,  it  shall 
be  declared  necessary  to  dispose  of  or  mortgage  any  property  of 
the  Society,  it  shall  be  proper  to  grant,  convey,  or  mortgage  the 
said  property. 

2.  That  no  mortgage  or  conveyance  hitherto  made  shall  be 
impeached  or  defeated  by  reason  of  any  doubt  as  to  the  power 
of  the  Society. 

The  bill  did  not  fully  meet  the  desires  of  the  trustees,  but  as 
it  conferred  the  authority,  the  demand  for  which  prompted  the 
application,  the  board  immediately  resolved  to  mortgage  school- 
houses  !N"os.  3  and  4,  in  order  to  raise  a  loan  of  $25,000. 

The  committee  having  in  their  care  the  application  to  the 
Legislature  for  an  additional  tax,  discharged  their  duties  with 
great  zeal  and  efficiency,  and,  before  that  body  adjourned,  a  bill 
was  passed  which  receive'd  the  signature  of  the  Governor,  au- 
thorizing the  imposition  of  an  additional  tax  equal  to  one  eighti- 
eth of  one  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  real  and  personal  prop- 
erty in  the  city,  for  the  purposes  of  common  school  education. 
This  much-needed  revenue  was  at  last  assured  to  the  Society, 
and  contributed  to  remove  doubts  and  apprehensions  in  regard 
to  the  future  capability  of  the  institution  to  meet  the  demands 
upon  its  treasury. 

The  expenses  of  the  system  for  the  year  ending  May  1, 1829, 
were  $62,256.72,  the  average  number  of  pupils  being  7,031. 

In  connection  with  the  labors  of  the  year,  with  reference  to 
the  action  before  the  Common  Council  and  the  Legislature,  an 
important  step  was  taken  to  establish  a  comparison  between  the 
schools  of  the  Society  and  the  private  schools  of  the  city.  The 
annual  report  for  that  year  gives  the  following  summary  of  the 
result : 


EDUCATIONAL   STATISTICS. 


121 


Whilst  the  proposition  for  a  special  school  tax  was  before  the  Corpora- 
tion, two  of  the  trustees  were  employed  by  their  committee  to  take  a  census 
of  the  whole  number  of  schools  of  every  description  in  the  city,  their  gen- 
eral character,  number  of  scholars,  &c.  Much  valuable  information  was 
thus  collected,  and  a  correct  and  very  interesting  view  of  the  state  of  edu- 
cation in  New  York  was  obtained,  and  embodied  in  their  report.  From  this 
document  it  appears  that,  about  the  1st  of  February,  the  whole  number  of 
schools,  of  every  class  and  quality  (other  than  Sabbath),  from  Columbia 
College  down  to  the  most  indifferent,  was  463,  under  the  charge  of  484  prin- 
cipals and  311  assistant  teachers,  and  containing  24,952  pupils.  Of  which 
numbers,  our  institution,  in  11  buildings,  counted  21  schools,  with  21  prin- 
cipals and  24  assistant  teachers  (or  monitors),  and  6,007  children.  Of  the 
pupils  in  the  private  schools,  about  11,000,  or  two  thirds  of  their  entire 
number,  "  are  of  nearly  an  equal  grade  as  to  advancement  with  those  in  the 
public  schools.  The  cost  of  educating  the  children  in  our  schools  may  be 
estimated  at  $2.75  each  per  annum,  exclusive  of  interest  on  the  buildings ; 
and  including  the  latter,  it  does  not  exceed  $4,  or  $1  per  quarter,  which  is 
less  than  is  charged  in  the  worst  description  of  schools  in  the  city,  and  is 
only  about  one  third  or  one  quarter  of  the  price  paid  in  a  great  many  oth- 
ers, in  which  the  course  of  instruction  and  branches  taught  are  much  the 
same  as  in  the  public  schools.  The  system  adopted  and  pursued  in  the  lat- 
ter is  excellently  adapted  to  promote  habits  of  order,  and  to  advance  the 
children  in  their  studies ;  and  the  trustees  have  no  hesitation  in  asserting 
their  belief  that  the  pupils  are  better  and  more  efficiently  taught  than  in  the 
great  majority  of  the  minor  schools,  and  even  in  very  many  which  are  con- 
sidered of  .a  better  class. 

The  annexed  schedule  presents  the  condition  of  the  schools 
of  the  citv  in  a  condensed  form  : 


AGES. 

rf 
1 

i 

| 

- 

s 

o 

I 

02 

a 

o 

rn 

•a 

o 

SCHOOLS. 

•a 

"8 

I 

•f 

9 

1 

1 

H 
"5 

ti 

I 

9 

i 

"u 

3 

t.f 

o  J 

1 

\ 

cr, 

I 

2 

S 

o 

a 

— 

r™l 

£ 

s 

^a 

M^* 

J 

a 

r3 

CJ 

3 

o 

3 

t 

1 

o 

O 

- 

-S 

.§ 

§"§ 

3 

5 

I 

fe 

fl 

<l 

T* 

US 

3 

•< 

£ 

O  C3 

w 

S 

A 

Pq 

K 

h 

F 

430 

Private  

432 

•'.->!) 

1,013 

13,631 

070 

4,489 

6,907 

7,214 

1,869 

402 

442 

s:,(i 

7.922 

7,398 

15.320 

8 

Incorporated 

a 

2.-! 

33 

1.008 

•10 

168 

220 

841 

270 

&a 

"IS 

111 

633 

448 

1081 

1'J 

Charity  

2B 

B 

197 

2,297 

M 

970 

2,430 

960 

15 

12 

1 

4 

1,305 

1,239 

2,544 

li 

Public  

21 

24 

6,007 

3,808 

6,007 

475 

- 

3,112 

2,895 

6,007 

46S 

Total  

4S} 

:;ii 

1,243 

22,943 

7(0 

9,435 

15,564 

9,490 

2,154 

666 

4I»1 

099 

12.972 

11.980 

24,952 

Notwithstanding  the  very  considerable  provision  made  by 
the  various  establishments  for  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the 
city,  an  incontrovertible  fact  still  remained  to  embarrass  the 


122  THE  PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

friends  of  the  system  with  the  solution  of  the  question  of  va- 
grancy.    The  report  thus  alludes  to  the  facts  : 

The  committee  of  the  Common  Council,  from  the  result  of  the  census  of 
the  schools  and  the  estimated  population  of  the  city,  draw  the  appalling 
inference  that  there  are  20,000  children  between  the  ages  of  5  and  15  who 
attend  no  schools  whatever ;  and  if  one  third  be  deducted  from  this  num- 
ber, as  having  probably  left  school  previous  to  the  age  of  15,  and  3,000 
more  for  any  possible  error  in  the  data  on  which  the  calculation  is  founded, 
we  have  still  the  enormous  number  of  10,000  who  are  growing  up  in  entire 
ignorance. 


The  year  1829  passed  without  any  marked  event  other  than 
the  efforts  made  to  develop  the  efficiency  of  the  system  of  in- 
struction, and  the  removal  of  all  impediments  to  its  greatest  use- 
fulness. The  principal  topics  of  inquiry  were  in  relation  to  the 
infant  schools,  the  system  of  rewards  for  the  pupils,  the  practical 
results  of  the  pay  system  of  tuition,  the  manual  for  the  schools, 
and  a  thorough  revision  of  the  by-laws.  These  several  topics 
are  treated  under  their  appropriate  sections,  to  which  the  reader 
is  referred. 

In  February,  1830,  a  communication  was  received  by  the 
board  from  a  committee  appointed  by  a  meeting  of  the  residents 
in  the  vicinity  of  Eighth  avenue  and  Twenty-first  street,  asking 
for  the  organization  of  a  school  in  that  part  of  the  city.  Hon. 
Gideon  Lee  presided  at  that  meeting,  and  he  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  Society,  which  accompanied  the  application,  in  which  he 
offered  a  donation  of  $500  toward  the  erection  of  the  building 
when  contracted  for.  He  also  named  a  location  near  the  Third 
avenue  and  Twenty-eighth  street,  to  which  he  would  contribute 
another  sum  of  $500.  The  subject  was  referred  to  Messrs. 
Charles  Oakley,  James  N.  Wells,  Robert  C.  Cornell,  and  Samuel 
F.  Mott,  as  a  committee  to  report  upon  the  necessity  for  a  school 
in  those  locations. 

The  committee  promptly  reported  in  favor  of  a  school  in  the 
first-named  vicinity,  and  another  between  No.  2  (in  Henry 
street)  and  No.  4  (in  Rivington  street).  The  first  of  these 
schools  was  built  as  No.  12  and  the  second  as  No.  13,  and  loca- 
ted in  Madison  street.  Four  lots  were  selected  in  Seventeenth 
street,  near  the  Eighth  avenue,  and  the  Property  Committee 
were  directed  to  proceed  with  the  erection  of  a  building  thereon. 


INCREASED   INCOME.  123 

During  the  year,  a  neat  building  for  No.  9,  at  Bloomingdale, 
was  also  constructed,  and  the  school  opened  in  August. 

The  new  building  for  School  No.  12,  in  Seventeenth  street, 
was  opened  on  the  17th  of  January,  1831,  under  very  flattering 
auspices ;  but  the  expectations  of  the  board,  and  of  the  citizens, 
were  very  soon  changed  into  feelings  of  regret  and  disappoint-  • 
ment.  The  house  had  been  occupied  only  five  days,  when,  on 
the  22d  of  the  same  month,  it  was  destroyed  by  fire.  The 
report  of  the  committee,  which  submitted  the  facts  relative  to 
the  building,  the  opening  exercises,  &c.,  also  gave  official  infor- 
mation of  the  loss.  The  building  had  been  nearly  covered  by 
insurance,  so  that  a  loss  of  only  about  $3,000  was  borne  by  the 
treasury.  The  Building  Committee  were  directed  to  proceed 
immediately  to  rebuild  the  house,  which  was  completed  and 
opened  on  the  29th  of  August. 

The  necessity  for  an  increase  of  funds  for  the  use  of  the  Soci- 
ety was  pressing  with  greater  urgency  than  ever  upon  the  board, 
and  measures  were  taken  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Corporation 
to  the  wants  of  the  Society.  The  Executive  Committee  appoint- 
ed a  sub-committee  to  draft  a  memorial  to  the  Corporation,  and 
that  body  approved  the  measure,  but  introduced  a  section  into 
the  law  lodging  the  control  of  the  additional  tax  of  three  eighti- 
eths of  one  per  cent,  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  Common 
Council.  To  this  objection  was  made,  and  the  Society  remon- 
strated against  the  section,  as  being  calculated  to  lead  to  per- 
nicious results.  The  law  was  passed  in  accordance  with  their 
views,  and  the  Society  thereby  placed  in  possession  of  a  material 
increase  to  their  resources. 

The  controversy  respecting  the  distribution  of1  the  school 
fund  was  revived  during  this  year  (1831),  by  the  applications 
from  the  Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum  and  the  Methodist 
•  Charity  School,  the  discussion  of  which  made  a  special  event  in 
the  labors  of  the  year. 


124:  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 


CHAPTEK   VI. 

THE   ROMAN   CATHOLIC   ORPHAN  ASYLUM   AND   METHODIST   CHARITY 

SCHOOL. 

Application  from  the  Asylum  for  a  Portion  of  the  School  Moneys — Memorial  and 
Remonltrance  of  the  Society — Proceedings  of  the  Common  Council — Address 
of  the  Trustees,  and  Reasons  for  their  Remonstrance — The  Methodist  Charity 
Free  School— Report  of  the  Law  Committee — A  Proposition — Report  of  the  Com. 
mittec  on  Arts  and  Sciences  of  the  Board  of  Assistants,  on  the  Application  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Methodist  School — Memorial  of  the  Public  School  Society — 
Report  of  the  Committee  on  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Schools,  of  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men— Decision  Thereon. 

THE  law  of  1824:  relative  to  the  distribution  of  the  school 
fund,  entrusted  to  the  Common  Council  the  duty  of  apportion- 
ing and  distributing  the  school  moneys  of  the  city.  Ten  years 
had  elapsed  since  the  enactment  of  the  law  granting  to  the  trus- 
tees of  the  Bethel  Church  the  special  privileges  which  gave  rise 
to  the  spirited  controversy  which  was  terminated  at  the  close  of 
the  year  1824:  by  the  passage  of  the  law,  at  the  extra  session  of 
the  Legislature,  annulling  these  privileges,  and  restricting  the 
trustees  of  the  Bethel  schools  to  the  use  of  the  public  fund  for 
the  payment  of  teachers'  salaries.  The  interval  of  seven  years 
had  witnessed  the  extinction  of  these  schools,  and  the  harmoni- 
ous development  of  the  public  school  system  on  a  broad  basis  of 
liberality  and  union. 

The  directors  and  friends  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Orphan 
Asylum,  in  Prince  street,  feeling  the  want  of  means  to  meet  the 
large  demands  upon  their  resources  by  the  increasing  number  of 
their  pupils,  and  the  accommodations  requisite  for  their  comfort- 
able residence  and  instruction,  determined  to  make  application 
to  the  Common  Council  for  a  pro  rata  in  the  distribution  of  the 
school  moneys,  in  order  to  test  the  liberality  of  the  public  au- 
thorities, as  well  as  the  sentiment  of  the  community.  Accord- 
ingly, on  the  7th  of  March,  1831,  an  application  was  submitted 


KOMAN   CATHOLIC   ORPHAN   ASYLUM.  125 

to  the  Common  Council,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Com- 
mon Schools.  The  trustees  of  the  Methodist  Charity  School, 
under  the  conviction  that  they  had  at  least  an  equal  right  to  the 
public  fund,  prepared  and  presented  a  petition,  which  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  Common  Council  on  the  21st  of  the  same  month, 
and  referred  to  the  same  committee. 

The  report  was  submitted  on  May  2,  with  the  memorial  and 
remonstrance  of  the  Public  School  Society,  which  were  laid  on 
the  table  and  ordered  to  be  printed.  The  Executive  Committee 
of  the  Society  had  taken  the  subject  into  consideration,  and  pre- 
pared a  remonstrance,  which  was  adopted  at  a  meeting  held  on 
May  2,  and  ordered  to  be  presented  to  the  Common  Co,uncil  at 
the  meeting  to  be  held  the  same  evening.  The  committee  of  the 
Society  had  already  been  heard  in  opposition  to  the  proposed 
apportionment  before  the  committee  of  the  Corporation,  which 
committee  had  concluded  to  report  in  favor  of  the  Orphan  Asy- 
lum. Alderman  Lee,  chairman  of  the  committee,  strongly 
urged  that  the  trustees  of  the  Society  should  withdraw  their 
opposition,  as  they  had  resolved  to  report  adverse  to  the  Metho- 
dist, and  all  other  church  schools.  The  following  is  the  memo- 
rial : 

• 

To  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New  York : 

The  memorial  and  remonstrance  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School 
Society  of  New  York  respectfully  represents  : 

That  the  applications  now  before  the  Common  Council  from  the  Catholic 
Orphan  Asylum  and  the  Methodist  Charity  School,  for  a  portion  of  the  com- 
mon school  fund,  are  opposed  to  what  your  memorialists  understand  and 
believe  to  be  a  sound  and  well-settled  principle  in  the  distribution  of  this 
fund,  as  well  as  of  all  other  moneys  raised  by  general  tax  for  the  exclusive 
purpose  of  promoting  literary  education.  That  moneys  so  raised  cannot 
constitutionally,  consistently  with  the  spirit  of  our  free  institutions,  nor  in 
accordance  with  good  policy,  be  appropriated  to  the  support  of  church 
schools,  has,  after  mature  deliberation,  been  so  fully  acknowledged  by  our 
city  government,  and  the  reverse  now  finds  so  few  advocates  in  any  quarter, 
that  your  memorialists  refrain  from  remarks  on  that  subject ;  and  it  is  with 
no  little  regret  they  find  themselves  called  upon,  by  the  relation  in  which 
they  stand  to  the  deeply  interesting  subject  of  public  education,  to  oppose 
the  application  from  the  Catholic  Asylum.  To  the  merits  of  this  institu- 
tion your  memorialists  willingly  award  the  praise  due  to  its  object  and 
mode  of  management ;  but  believing,  as  they  confidently  do,  that  said  appli- 
cation is  liable  to  the  objections  heretofore  successfully  used  against  church 
schools,  they  feel  bound  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Common  Council  to  the 
facts,  that  none  but  Catholics  are  permitted  to  participate  in  the  manage- 


126  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

tnent  of  the  Asylum  ;  that  the  children  attached  to  the  institution  are  edu- 
cated in  the  most  rigid  manner  of  the  Church  whose  name  it  bears,  and 
that  any  moneys  devoted  to  its  maintenance  are  and  must  be  applied  to  the 
support  and  extension  of  the  doctrines  of  that  particular  Church.  That 
this  is  the  case,  will  not  be  denied  by  those  whose  petition  your  memorial- 
ists respectfully  and  earnestly  remonstrate  against*  and  these  facts  mark  in 
bold  relief  the  strongly  sectarian  and  exclusive  character  of  this  institution. 

These  objections  are  not  Adeemed  applicable  to  the  Orphan  Asylum  at 
Greenwich,  which  is  not  sectarian,  inasmuch  as  any  female,  of  whatever  or 
no  religious  name,  may  become  a  member  of  the  Society  by  an  annual  sub- 
scription of  the  small  sum  of  one  and  a  half  dollars,  and  entitled  to  vote 
for,  and  eligible  to  be  elected,  a  member  of  its  Board  of  Managers,  and  be- 
cause this  association,  with  its  managers,  has  always  and  does  now  consist 
of  members  of  various  religious  denominations. 

It  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  rejection  of  church  schools  in  the  distri- 
bution of  school  moneys  is  owing  to  the  single  fact  that  they  are  connected 
with  religious  congregations,  but  because  one  of  the  objects  aimed  at  in  all 
such  schools  is  to  inculcate  the  peculiar  doctrines  and  opinions  of  the  sect 
having  the  management  of  them.  It  appears  indisputable  to  your  memo- 
rialists, that  any  institution  having  the  same  objects  in  view,  and  under  the 
same  exclusive  control,  is  thereby  rendered  liable  to  the  same  objection, 
whether  under  the  direct  management  of  a  religious  society  or  not. 

Your  memorialists  further  contend,  that,  in  asking  to  be  taxed  for  the 
support  of  common  schools,  their  fellow-citizens  fully  believed  that  the 
amount  thereby  raised  would  be  devoted  exclusively  to  the  cause  of  literary 
education,  and  that  no  part  would  be  given  to  institutions  of  a  sectarian 
character. 

Believing  that  the  enlightened  views  of  this  community  will  be  fully 
with  them  on  this  occasion,  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  ear- 
nestly solicit  that  the  applications  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent 
Society  and  the  Methodist  Free  School  may  not  be  granted. 

So  deeply  interested  do  your  memorialists  feel  in  this  important  subject, 
and  so  intimately  do  they  consider  the  result  of  these  applications  to  involve 
the  interests  of  common  school  education  in  this  city,  that  they  deem  it 
their  duty  respectfully  to  request  that  a  committee  of  their  body  may  be 
heard  before  your  honorable  board  before  a  decision  be  had  thereon. 

Witness  the  seal  of  the  Public  School  Society,  this  2d  day  of  May,  1831. 

The  Executive  Committee  exercised  a  vigilant  watchfulness 
in  the  case,  and  the  consideration  of  the  question  before  the 
Common  Council  having  been  postponed  until  the  following 
Monday,  they  prepared  an  address  to  the  public,  giving  their 
reasons  for  dissent.  Very  great  and  powerful  efforts  were  con- 
stantly making  to  ensure  the  success  of  the  joint  application  of 
the  Koman  Catholic  Asylum  and  the  Methodist  Free  School, 


ROMAN   CATHOLIC   ORPHAN   ASYLUM.  127 

and  the  Executive  Committee^  therefore,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
trustees  held  on  the  6th  of  May,  submitted  their  address,  which 
was  adopted  and  ordered  to  be  printed,  as  follows : 

REASONS 

Of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  for  their  Remonstrance  against  the 
Petition  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society  to  ~be  admitted  to  a  Com- 
mon Participation  of  the  School  Fund. 

The  "  New  York  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society  "  having  petitioned 
the  Common  Council  for  a  participation  in  the  common  school  money,  the 
Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  have  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  pre- 
sent to  the  Corporation  their  solemn  remonstrance  against  the  said  petition ; 
and  they  now  feel  bound,  by  the  urgency  and  importance  of  the  occasion,  to 
state  more  particularly  the  reasons  on  which  their  remonstrance  is  founded. 

It  appears  that  the  committee  of  the  Corporation,  to  whom  this  subject 
has  been  referred,  have  reported  in  favor  of  the  petition.  The  committee 
have  probably  been  in  part  led  to  this  result  by  the  great  respectability  of 
the  petitioners,  and  by  the  humane  character  and  excellent  order  of  their 
institution.  While  this  board  acknowledges  the  weight  of  these  recommen- 
dations, they  cannot  but  regard  the  decision  of  the  committee  as  a  virtual 
abandonment  of  those  "  cardinal  principles "  which  were  established  in 
1825. 

There  are  few,  as  we  trust,  who  are  willing  to  return  to  the  dominion 
which  was  then  cast  off ;  but  the  first  step  in  a  retrograde  course  may  ren- 
der it  impossible  to  stop  short  of  the  last.  The  petition  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Benevolent  Society  ought,  in  the  opinion  of  this  board,  to  be 
rejected,  because  it  is  contrary  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  liberty  and 
equal  rights,  to  the  Constitution  of  the  State,  and  to  a  recent  act  of  the 
Legislature. 

It  is  not  now  to  be  denied  in  this  country,  that  the  power  of  taxing  the 
whole  community  is  given  solely  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  community, 
and  that,  so  far  as  it  is  practicable,  the  benefits  procured  at  the  expense  of 
all  should  be  participated  by  all.  It  is  plain  that  the  Corporation  has  no 
right  to  constitute  a  privileged  class,  however  benevolent  its  character 
may  be. 

In  order  to  test  the  case  now  under  consideration,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
ascertain  whether  the  funds  now  proposed  to  be  given  to  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Benevolent  Society  would  be  so  bestowed  or  employed  as  that  all  persons 
in  the  same  circumstances  would  have  an  equal  opportunity  of  enjoying 
them.  In  prosecuting  this  inquiry,  we  must  look  to  probable  practical 
results,  and  not  to  mere  theoretical  principles. 

The  Society  in  question  is,  to  all  intents,  a  close  corporation.  It  may  be 
true  that  the  object  of  the  Society  is  declared,  by  its  constitution,  to  be 
"  the  support  and  education  of  destitute  and  unprotected  orphans,  without 
distinction  of  sex,  country,  or  religious  creed ;  "  but  it  is  proper  to  observe, 
that  the  constitution  of  the  Society,  so  called,  is  necessarily  merged  in  its 


128  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

charter,  and  that  the  objects  of  the  Society,  as  there  stated,  are  somewhat 
narrower.  That  barely  recites,  that  certain  persons  had  formed  a  Society 
for  "  the  humane  and  benevolent  purposes  of  assisting  and  relieving  the 
poor,  and  of  protecting  and  educating  orphan  children." 

But  let  us  suppose  that  the  words  of  the  constitution  are  as  controlling 
as  if  in  the  charter ;  who  are  to  select  the  orphans  to  be  admitted  into  this 
asylum  ?  The  charter  answers  this  question :  "  The  said  corporation  " — that 
is,  the  persons  who  petitioned  to  be  incorporated — "  and  their  successors, 
have  power  to  make  all  by-laws  for  the  election  or  admission  of  new  mem- 
bers," and  these  members  choose  the  managers.  All  the  managers  of  this 
institution  are  understood  to  belong  to  the  communion  whose  name  the 
Society  bears ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  it  must  always  continue  under 
the  management  of  members  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  Society 
have  not  room  for  all  orphans.  Those  of  another  faith  are  not  formally 
excluded.  But  will  it  be  pretended  that  the  Roman  Catholics,  as  a  sect  of 
Christians,  disregard  the  injunction,  "  to  do  good  unto  all,  especially  to 
those  who  are  of  the  household  of  faith  "  ?  Can  it  be  pretended,  then,  that 
the  benefits  of  the  institution  are  equally  open  to  all  ? 

But  there  is  another,  and,  perhaps,  more  serious  objection  to  an  equal 
enjoyment  of  these  benefits  by  the  whole  community.  It  is  believed  that 
the  system  of  education  at  this  institution  is  so  combined  with  religious 
instruction,  that  many  persons  having,  as  guardians  or  friends,  an  authority 
or  interest  in  the  disposition  of  orphan  children,  would  be  deterred  from 
sending  them  there  by  preconceived  opinions  or  conscientious  scruples. 
And  yet  such  persons  may  be  compelled  to  contribute  the  very  moneys 
which  go  to  support  'this  institution.  But  the  objection  to  this  principle 
extends  much  further ;  it  embraces  all,  of  every  persuasion,  who  have  con- 
scientious scruples  about  paying  their  money  for  the  support  of  any  particu- 
lar faith,  or  who,  if  they  have  not  such  scruples,  derive  no  benefit  from  the 
expenditure,  and  regard  it  as  an  abuse. 

In  this  point  of  view,  how  can  this  taxation  be  regarded  as  any  better 
than  the  system  of  tithes  ?  It  is  the  same  thing — compelling  men  to  sup- 
port an  institution  against  their  consciences,  or  of  which  they  do  not  par- 
ticipate the  benefits. 

Let  us  now  inquire  why,  if  the  petition  of  the  Catholics  is  admitted, 
that  of  the  Methodists,  now  before  the  Corporation,  is  to  be  rejected  ?  or 
why  any  other  church  or  any  society  within  the  fold  of  a  church,  may  not 
set  up  similar  claims  ? 

Why  were  all  the  churches  and  religious  societies  deprived  of  a  partici- 
pation in  the  school  fund  in  1825  ? 

There  were  many  reasons  why  one  harmonious  system,  under  the  inspec- 
tion of  the  public  and  under  the  direction  of  one  body  of  men,  should  be 
preferred  to  incongruous  and  irresponsible  institutions ;  but  it  was  none  of 
these  which  procured  the  victory,  then  thought  to  be  final,  cf  liberal  princi- 
ples in  education  over  sectarian  views,  and  which  brought  about  the  revolu- 
tion which  then  took  place.  That  proceeded  from  the  conviction  that  the 
school  fund  ought  not  to  be  diverted,  in  whole  or  part,  to  the  purposes  of 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  ORPHAN  ASYLUM.  129 

sectarian  instruction,  but  should  be  kept  sacred  to  the  great  object,  emphat- 
ically called  COMMON  EDUCATION. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society  was  placed  among  those  ex- 
cluded in  1825,  because  they  were  considered  as  clearly  embraced  in  the 
same  principle.  The  "  Female  Association  "  was  excluded  at  the  same  time, 
though  it  received  all  children  from  every  persuasion,  and  inculcated  no 
particular  tenets,  because  it  was  chiefly  under  the  patronage  of  individuals 
connected  with  the  Society  of  Friends.  It  will  not  be  pretended  that  the 
orphanage  of  their  pupils,  however  it  may  appeal  to  our  hearts,  can  in  this 
case  affect  our  judgments. 

la  an  exception  to  be  made  in  their  favor,  because  they  receive  all  of 
every  sect  ?  Was  it  ever  charged  against  either  of  the  church  schools  that 
they  refused  to  receive  any  children  who  came  to  them,  whether  heretics 
themselves,  or  the  children  of  heretic  parents  ? 

The  committee  of  the  Corporation  say  that  neither  equity  nor  sound 
policy  can  "  warrant  the  continuance  of  the  participation  to  the  Greenwich 
Asylum,  and  at  the  same  time  withhold  it  from  the  Prince  Street  Asylum." 
The  Greenwich  Asylum  was  retained  by  the  Corporation,  in  1825,  because  it 
was  not  considered  sectarian,  and  the  Prince  Street  Asylum  was  rejected 
because  it  was  sectarian.  In  other  words,  the  schools  of  the.  one  institution 
were  regarded  as,  properly  speaking,  common  schools,  while  those  of  the 
other  were  rejected  as  not  such. 

The  Greenwich  Asylum  is  not  a  close'  corporation.  It  is  open  to  the 
membership  of  every  female  who  chooses  to  pay  $1.50.  This  board  is  per- 
fectly satisfied  with  the  decision  which  the  Corporation  then  made  ;  but  if, 
upon  investigation,  it  shall  be  found  that  this  institution  does,  in  conse- 
quence of  its  administration,  come  within  the  principle  of  exclusion,  it  is 
infinitely  better 'that  it  should  be  excluded,  than  that  the  principle  upon 
which  all  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  cause  rests  should  itself  be  destroyed. 

This  board  believes,  with  the  committee  above  referred  to,  that  the  car- 
dinal principle  adopted  by  the  Corporation  in  1825  was  so  generally  and 
strongly  approved  of  by  the  community,  that  no  deviation  from  it  can  now 
be  advised.  But  this  board  cannot  perceive  that  the  principle  was  any 
other  than  that  above  stated. 

Let  us  now  look  to  the  language  of  our  State  Constitution.  It  is  there- 
by declared,  "  that  the  proceeds  of  certain  public  lands  belonging  to  the 
State,  together  with  '  The  Fund  denominated  the  Common  School  Fund,' 
shall  be  and  remain  a  perpetual  fund,  the  interest  of  which  shall  be  inviola- 
bly appropriated  to  the  support  of  common  schools  throughout  the  State." 

It  is  well  known  that  our  common  schools  are  supported  by  the  joint 
funds  derived  from  taxes  and  from  the  said  school  fund,  so  that  no  part  of 
the  money  distributed  by  the  Corporation  can  be  diverted  from  the  support 
of  common  schools  without  a  violation  of  the  Constitution. 

What  are  common  schools?  This  phrase  cannot  possibly  mean  any  thing 
else  than  those  schools  which  are  commonly  known  by  that  name,  and  have 
been  so  called  because  they  are  common — that  is",  open  to  all.  Those  can- 
not be  common  schools  which  are  the  property  of  a  particular  corporation, 
9 


130  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

and  from  which  all  persons  may  be  lawfully  excluded  who  do  not  belong  to 
a  particular  sect. 

It  seems  unnecessary  to  go  beyond  the  Constitution,  which  is  the  para- 
mount law  ;  but  the  act  of  the  Legislature  to  which  we  have  referred  was 
passed  under  circumstances  which  clothe  it  with  a  peculiar  authority  in  this 
discussion. 

In  the  winter  of  1828-'9,  a  petition  to  the  Corporation  was,  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  board,  circulated  through  the  community,  and  very  extensively 
subscribed,  praying  the  Corporation  to  petition  the  Legislature  for  an 
increase  of  our  taxes  for  the  support  of  common  schools.  The  sole  and 
express  objects  of  the  petition  were,  that  the  means  of  "common  educa- 
tion "  might  be  extended,  and  that  a  fund  might  be  set  apart  and  kept 
sacred  to  that  object.  This  board  presented  a  memorial  to  the  Corporation 
at  the  same  time  for  the  same  object,  and  couched  in  nearly  the  same  lan- 
guage. 

The  Corporation  accordingly  applied  to  the  Legislature,  and  a  law  was 
passed,  by  which  they  were  authorized  to  raise  a  certain  sum  "to  be  applied 
exclusively  to  the  purposes  of  the  common  schools  in  the  said  city."  See  2d 
vol.  Rev.  L.,  240. 

Can  it  be  believed  that  the  individuals  who  petitioned  for  the  privilege 
of  being  taxed  for  common  schools,  or  that  the  Legislature  who  granted 
that  privilege,  intended  that  the  moneys  thus  to  be  raised  should  be  applied 
to  the  support  of  any  school  not  equally  open  to  all  ?  If  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Benevolent  Society  had  asked  that  not  they,  but  the  city,  should  be 
taxed  for  the  support  of  their  school,  would  it  have  been  granted  ? 

The  charity  for  which  aid  is  now  sought  is  of  a  most  interesting  charac- 
ter, but  it  ought,  in  the  opinion  of  this  board,  to  be  supported  by  voluntary 
donations,  and  not  by  compulsory  levies. 

Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  our  opposition  to  the  present  application, 
we  trust  it  will  be  seen  that  it  proceeds  from  no  jealousy  or  prejudice  in 
regard  to  the  Catholic  religion,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  has  arisen  from 
principles  which  are  truly  catholic,  in  the  largest  sense  of  that  word,  and 
upon  the  maintenance  of  which  depend  the  vital  interests  of  civil  liberty. 

ROBERT  C.  CORNELL,  Vice-President. 

LINDLEY  MURRAY,  Secretary. 

NKW  YORK,  May  6,  1831. 

At  the  special  meeting  held  on  May  12,  after  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  new  Board  of  Aldermen,  the  petition  and  report  of 
May  2d,  of  the  old  committee,  were  referred  to  the  Commit- 
tee on  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Schools,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Dibblee, 
Meigs,  and  Hall. 

While  the  committee  had  the  matter  under  consideration,  the 
Commissioners  of.  School  Money  sent  a  communication  to  the 
Board  of  Assistants,  presented  July  11,  stating  that  the  time  had 
.arrived  to  designate  the  schools  which  should  be  entitled  to  par- 


ROMAN   CATHOLIC   ORPHAN   ASYLUM.  131 

ticipate  in  the  distribution  of  the  school  moneys  for  the  coming 
year.  The  communication  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Arts  and  Sciences. 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Assistants,  held  July 
18,  Mr.  Brush  offered  the  following  for  adoption  as  an  ordinance 
relative  to  common  schools : 

Be  it  ordained  by  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  in  common  council  convened,  that  a  law  regulating  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  common  school  fund  of  the  city  of  New  York,  passed  July  14, 
1828,  and  all  other  ordinances  amendatory  of  the  same,  be,  and  the  same 
are  hereby,  revived. 

The  statute  of  1828  specified  that  "the  institutions  which 
shall  be  entitled  to  receive  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  School 
Fund,  payable  to  and  raised  in  the  said  city,  are  hereby  desig- 
nated to  be  the  Public  School  Society  of  New  York,  the  Me- 
chanics' Society,  the  Orphan  Asylum  Society,  and  the  Trustees 
of  the  African  Free  School  in  the  city  of  New  York." 

The  ordinance  was  sent  to  the  Board  of  Aldermen  for  con- 
currence at  its  meeting  on  the  25th  of  the  same  month,  on  the 
reading  of  which  Alderman  Dibblee  moved  an  amendment,  to 
add  to  the  societies  or  schools  named  in  said  law  "  The  New 
York  Catholic  Benevolent  Society." 

A  motion  was  made  to  lay  the  same  on  the  table,  which  was 
lost.  Considerable  discussion  followed,  when  it  was  moved  to 
reconsider  the  vote  last  taken.  The  question  being  taken  there- 
on, and  a  tie  vote  being  had,  the  President  gave  his  vote  in  the 
affirmative.  The  question  being  then  reconsidered,  it  was  moved 
that  the  matter  be  laid  on  the  table,  which  was  agreed  to.  On 
motion  of  Alderman  Dibblee,  it  was  made  the  special  order  at 
the  next  meeting. 

The  preliminary  business  of  the  meeting  having  been  dis- 
posed of,  at  the  session  of  the  board  held  on  August  3,  Alder- 
man Strong  called  up  the  special  order  of  the  day,  and  the  ordi- 
nance was  then  read,  as  follows  : 

Be  it  ordained  by  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  in  common  council  convened : 

That  "  A  Law  regulating  the  Distribution  of  the  Common  School  Fund 
of  the  City  of  New  York,"  passed  July  14,  1828,  and  all  other  ordinances 
amendatory  to  the  same,  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby,  revived  and  reenacted. 


132  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

The  amendment  proposed  by  Alderman  Dibblee  when  the 
subject  was  previously  under  consideration,  was  also  read,  as 
follows : 

To  add  to  the  number  of  societies  or  schools  named  in  said  law,  the 
New  York  Catholic  Benevolent  Society  ;  which  additional  Society  shall  be 
entitled  to  a  portion  of  the  common  school  money  for  such  orphan  children 
as  are,  or  shall  be,  taught  in  the  school  and  maintained  in  the  Orphan  Asy- 
lum House  in  Prince  street,  at  the  expense  of  said  Society ;  and  the  said 
school  be  subject,  moreover,  to  all  the  provisions,  limitations,  and  restric- 
tions recited  and  prescribed  in  and  by  said  ordinance. 

The  ordinance  and  amendment  occasioned — as  they  could  not 
fail  to  do — a  protracted  discussion,  in  which  many  of  the  mem- 
bers took  part.  The  question  being  at  length  called  for,  and  a 
vote  on  Alderman  Dibblee's  amendment  being  had,  it  resulted 
as  follows : 

Affirmative — Aldermen  Strong,  Scott,  Meigs,  Dibblee,  Hall, 
Woodruff— 6. 

Negative — Aldermen  Sharpe,  Yan  Wagenen,  Lamb,  Tucker, 
Jeremiah,  Palmer — 6. 

The  vote  being  thus  equally  divided,  the  President  of  the 
board,  Alderman  Cebra,  gave  his  vote  in  the  affirmative,  and  the 
amendment  was  adopted.  The  question  being  taken  on  the  ordi- 
nance as  amended,  it  was  carried  in  the  affirmative,  and  directed 
to  be  sent  to  the  Board  of  Assistants  for  concurrence. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Assistants  was  held  on 
the  oth  of  the  same  month,  at  which  time  the  law,  as  amended, 
was  submitted,  and,  on  motion,  was  made  the  special  order  for 
the  first  Monday  in  September.  At  the  appointed  time  (Sep- 
tember 5)  the  special  order  was  called  up,  on  motion  of  Dr. 
Rhinelander,  who  moved  a  postponement  for  two  weeks,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  absence  of  several  of  the  members  of  the  board. 
The  motion  was  agreed  to,  but  subsequently,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Murray,  the  whole  question  was  referred  to  the  Law  Committee. 

The  following  petition  from  the  Methodist  Society  was  pre- 
sented in  the  Board  of  Assistants  on  September  5,  and  referred 
to  the  School  Commissioners  : 

To  the  Honorable  the  Board  of  Assistants  : 

The  memorial  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  RESPECTFULLY  SHEWETH  : 

That  your  memorialists  have  supported  for  nearly  forty  years,  in  this 


MEMORIAL   OF   TRUSTEES   OF   M.    E.    CHURCH.  133 

city,  a  school  for  the  gratuitous  instruction  of  male  and  female  orphans,  and 
the  children  of  the  poor  and  destitute.  For  a  few  years  during  this  period, 
your  memorialists,  in  common  with  the  managers  of  other  charitable  insti- 
tutions for  the  instruction  of  youth,  annually  received  a  portion  of  the 
school  fund,  which  added  to  their  ability  in  communicating  instruction  to 
those  under  their  care,  and  assisted  in  furnishing  articles  of  clothing  to  those 
orphan  children  who  had  no  other  dependence ;  many  of  whom,  having 
received  a  suitable  education,  became  useful  and  industrious  citizens. 

It  is  with  deep  regret  your  memorialists  have  to  state  that,  in  the  year 
1826,  they  were,  by  a  decision  of  the  Corporation,  cut  off  entirely  from 
receiving  any  further  benefit  from  the  school  fund,  and  thrown  altogether 
upon  private  charity  for  support,  notwithstanding  their  school  was  in  the 
same  need  of  help  and  assistance  as  heretofore.  In  consequence  of  this  sud- 
den diminution  of  the  means  of  support,  many  of  the  children  under  the 
care  of  your  memorialists,  and  particularly  the  poor  and  destitute  orphans, 
were  deprived  of  many  of  the  advantages  they  before  enjoyed.  The  ordi- 
nary funds  arising  from  the  contributions  of  the  benevolent  being  uncertain 
and  insufficient  for  providing  them  with  clothing  in  the  season  of  the  great- 
est need,  whatever  of  clothing  the  orphan  children  have  since  received,  has 
been  the  spontaneous  bestowment  of  a  few  individuals. 

Your  memorialists  would  respectfully  represent,  that,  while  they  con- 
tinue their  school  operations  as  formerly,  and  freely  admit  every  one  who 
applies  for  admission  whenever  a  vacancy  Occurs,  whatever  may  be  the  re- 
ligious profession  of  their  parents  or  guardians,  or  to  whatever  religious 
community  they  belong,  their  resources,  since  the  public  school  money  has 
been  withheld  from  them,  are  by  no  means  sufficient  for  the  pressing  wants 
of  the  institution  ;  and  apprehensions  are  entertained  that  they  will  be  un- 
able to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  present  year. 

Your  memorialists  would  therefore  most  respectfully  entreat  that  your 
honorable  board  would  take  this  their  memorial  into  your  most  serious  con- 
sideration, and  grant  them  such  an  equitable  proportion  of  the  school  fund 
as  may  enable  them  to  provide,  as  formerly,  for  the  comfort  and  instruction 
of  the  destitute  children  and  helpless  orphans  now  under  their  care,  of 
which  last-named  there  are  mpre  than  fifty  now  in  the  school. 

And  your  memorialists,  as  in  duty  bound,  will  ever  pray,  &c. 

THE  TRUSTEES  OP  THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
IN  THE  CITY  OP  NEW  YORK. 

By  order  of  the  board. 

JOSEPH  SMITH,  President. 

The  report  of  the  Law  Committee  *  was  submitted  at  the 
meeting  held  on  September  19,  as  follows : 

The  Committee  on  Laws  and  Applications  to  the  Legislature,  to  whom 
it  was  referred  by  a  resolution  of  this  board,  to  report  on  the  constitution- 

*  Doc.  No.  XXI.,  Board  of  Assistants,  September  19,  1831. 


134  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

ality  of  the  ordinance  passed  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  appropriating  the 
common  school  fund  to  the  schools  therein  named,  RESPECTFULLY  REPORT  : 

That  they  entered  upon  the  examination  of  the  subject  deeply  impressed 
with  its  importance,  and  fully  determined  to  give  it  a  careful  and  dispas- 
sionate consideration. 

The  subject  of  education  is  at  all  times  interesting,  and  particularly  so 
in  a  country  like  ours,  where  the  Government,  in  theory  and  practice,  H 
purely  one  of  public  opinion— the  stability  of  which  depends  solely  on  the 
virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  people.  The  constituted  authorities  of  this 
State,  impressed  with  its  consequence,  took  early  measures  to  establish  our 
primary  seminaries  of  learning  on  a  permanent  basis,  and  munificently  appro- 
priated a  large  and  liberal  share  of  the  public  funds  fur  the  establishment 
and  support  of  common  schools,  and  for  the  diffusion  of  general  informa- 
tion. The  Constitution  of  1821  provides,  that  "  the  interest  of  this  fund 
shall  be  inviolably  appropriated  and  applied  to  the  support  of  common 
schools  throughout  this  State/' 

Each  county  in  the  State  is  compelled  to  raise  a  sum  equal  in  amount  to 
that  which  is  apportioned  to  such  county  out  of  this  fund. 

The  city  of  New  York  now  receives  about  ten  thousand  dollars  from  the 
State  ;  which  places  twenty  thousand  dollars  at  the  disposal  of  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  School  Fund.  The  general  act  regulating  school  districts  and 
the  election  of  trustees  and  school  commissioners,  clearly  points  out  what 
schools  in  the  country  are  common  schools ;  but  as  it  was  inconvenient,  if 
not  impracticable,  to  divide  this  city  into  school  districts,  the  Legislature 
itself  designated  what  schools  should  receive  a  portion  of  this  fund  prior  to 
the  year  1824. 

This  course  frequently  gave  rise  to  difficulty  and  embarrassment,  and 
opened  a  door  for  imposition,  which  was  practised  to  no  inconsiderable 
extent.  By  an  act  passed  in  that  year,  the  Legislature  imposed  on  the  Com- 
mon Council  the  duty  of  making  such  designation  at  least  once  in  every 
three  years.  That  act  has  been  incorporated  into  the  revised  statutes,  and 
this  board  is  now  called  upon  to  exercise  the  discretionary  power  of  dis- 
tributing the  interest  of  the  school  fund. 

The  first  question  which  presents  itself  to  the  consideration  of  your  com- 
mittee is,  What  is  meant  by  the  term,  Common  Schools  ? 

It  is  urged  by  many  intelligent  gentlemen,  whose  opinions  are  entitled  to 
great  respect,  that  every  school  and  institution  in  which  children  are  taught 
gratuitously  is  a  common  school.  If  the  term  be  so  broad  and  comprehen- 
sive, then  every  free  school  attached  to  the  churches  of  the  various  religious 
denominations  throughout  this  State  is  a  common  school.  Such,  however, 
could  not  have  been  the  understanding  of  the  early  advocates  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  fund  for  the  support  of  common  schools,  as  no  church  schools 
have  ever  participated  in  this  fund  except  those  in  this  city. 

A  school,  to  be  common,  ought  to  be  open  to  all ;  and  those  branches  of 
education,  and  those  only,  ought  to  be  taught  in  it,  which  tend  to  prepare  a 
child  for  the  ordinary  business  of  life.  If  religion  be  taught  in  a  school,  it 
strips  it  of  one  of  the  characteristics  of  a  common  school,  as  all  religious 


KEPORT   OF   THE   LAW   COMMITTEE.  135 

and  sectarian  studies  have  a  direct  reference  to  a  future  state,  and  are  not 
necessary  to  prepare  a  child  for  the  mechanical  or  any  other  business.  No 
school  can  be  common  unless  parents  of  all  religious  sects,  Mohammedans 
and  Jews  as  well  as  Christians,  can  send  their  children  to  it  to  receive  the 
benefits  of  an  education,  without  doing  violence  to  their  religious  belief. 

Your  committee  cannot,  therefore,  find  a  more  correct  and  accurate  defi- 
nition of  the  term  "  common  school,"  than  to  call  it  a  school  in  which  noth- 
ing but  the  rudiments  of  an  English  education  are  taught  to  all  who  are 
admitted  into  it,  which  is  open  to  every  child  that  applies  for  admission, 
and  into  which  all  can  be  admitted  without  doing  violence  to  their  religious 
opinions,  or  those  of  their  parents  or  guardians. 

Such,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  were  the  schools  which  the 
founders  of  our  system  of  education  intended  to  patronize  and  foster  when 
they  created  the  school  fund.  Such  were  the  schools  which  the  members 
of  the  Convention  of  1821  had  in  view,  when  they  adopted  that  article  of 
the  Constitution,  by  which  the  fund  thus  set  apart  by  the  bounty  and  mu- 
nificence of  the  representatives  of  an  enlightened  and  liberal  people,  was 
inviolably  appropriated  to  the  support  of  common  schools. 

The  schools  and  institutions  embraced  in  the  ordinance  referred  to  your 
committee,  are  the  Trustees  of  the  Harlem  School,  the  Trustees  of  the  Man- 
hattanville  School,  the  Trustees  of  the  Hamilton  School,  the  Trustees  of  the 
Yorkville  School,  the  African  Free  School,  the  Public  School  Society  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  the  Mechanics'  Society,  and  the  Orphan  Asylum  Society ; 
and  it  is  proposed,  by  the  ordinance  now  under  consideration,  to  add  to  the 
list  the  Eoman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society.  Your  committee,  anxious  only 
to  arrive  at  a  correct  conclusion,  feel  constrained  to  examine  particularly 
into  the  character  of  these  schools  and  institutions,  and  ascertain  what  title 
they  have  to  the  appellation  of  common  schools,  as  their  claim  to  a  portion 
of  this  fund  depends  solely  on  the  decision  of  this  question.  Acting  in 
their  representative  capacity,  and  discarding  all  private  feeling  and  individ- 
ual considerations,  your  committee  will  endeavor  to  test  their  claim  to  a 
participation  in  this  fund  by  that  Constitution  which  they  fyive  sworn  to 
support. 

The  Harlem,  Hamilton,  Manhattanville,  and  Yorkville  schools  are  incor- 
porated institutions,  located  in  the  Twelfth  Ward.  They  are  free  schools, 
to  which  parents  of  any  religious  denomination  may  send  their  children, 
and  in  which  the  ordinary  branches  of  an  English  education  are  taught,  dis- 
connected with  all  sectarianism.  If  parents  are  desirous  that  their  children 
should  study  any  catechism  in  the  Hamilton  School,  they  are  gratified  in 
that  respect ;  but  it  is  not  obligatory  upon  any  one  to  study  such  catechism, 
nor  is  it  introduced  as  a  part  of  the  system  of  instruction  adopted  by  the 
trustees  of  the  institution. 

The  African  free  schools  were  established  for  the  special  purpose  of 
opening  the  avenues  to  a  gratuitous  education  to  the  descendants  of  an 
injured  race,  who  have  a  strong  claim  on  the  humanity  and  justice  of  our 
State. 

It  may  be  objected,  that  these  schools  are  not  open  for  the  education  and 


136  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

instruction  of  any  except  colored  children.  This,  however,  is  not  an  insur- 
mountable objection.  The  blacks  are,  by  common  consent,  and  by  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  regarded  as  a  distinct  race,  and  the  "  parti- 
tion wall "  between  them  and  us  cannot  be  broken  down,  without  doing 
violence  to  those  feelings  and  prejudices  which  have  become  a  part  of  our 
nature.  These  children  must,  then,  be  entirely  shut  out  from  all  the  means 
of  obtaining  an  education  necessary  to  make  them  good  members  of  society, 
unless  schools  are  established  into  which  they  can  be  admitted.  Such  insti- 
tutions we  find  in  the  African  free  schools  ;  and  it  is  due  to  the  trustees  of 
those  schools  to  remark,  that  they  have  been  eminently  useful,  and  that  they 
are  prepared  for  the  instruction  of  more  scholars  than  now  attend  them. 

Your  committee  are  fully  convinced  that  these  five  schools  come  within 
the  meaning  of  the  term  "  common  schools." 

The  only  remaining  institution  which,  in  their  opinion,  is  entitled  to  a 
portion  of  this  fund,  is  the  Public  School  Society.  This  institution  has 
been  the  most  useful  of  all,  as  its  operation  is  annually  felt  by  more  than  six 
thousand  of  the  rising  generation,  on  whom  will  devolve  the  sacred  duty 
of  preserving  and  perpetuating  our  republican  institutions. 

This  Society  was  incorporated  in  1805,  by  the  name  of  "  The  Society  for 
Establishing  a  Free  School  in  the  City  of  New  York,  for  the  education  of 
such  poor  children  as  do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  provided  for  by,  any 
religious  society." 

In  1808,  the  power  of  the  Society  was  extended  to  any  children  who  are 
proper  objects  of  gratuitous  education,  and  its  name  changed  to  that  of 
"  The  Free  School  Society  of  New  York  ; "  and,  in  1826,  the  name  of  this 
Society  was  changed  to  that  by  which  it  is  now  known,  and  its  powers  fur- 
ther extended  so  as  to  embrace  children  of  all  descriptions,  whether  the 
objects  of  gratuitous  education  or  not,  and  without  regard  to  the  religious 
sect  to  which  such  children  or  their  parents  may  belong.  The  public 
schools  are  open  to  all,  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich,  and  no  particular  re- 
ligious creed  is  taught  to  the  children  who  attend  them.  But  a  portion  of 
the  Scriptures  is  read  in  the  morning  by  the  teachers,  without  comment,  in 
these  as  well  as  some  of  the  other  schools  above  named.  The  schools  under 
the  direction  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  may  be  emphatic- 
ally called  common  schools,  and  have  a  just  and  legal  claim  to  a  portion  of 
the  school  fund. 

The  original  charter  of  the  Mechanics'  Society  did  not  authorize  the 
appropriation  of  any  of  their  funds  to  the  support  of  a  school ;  but,  by  an 
act  passed  January  26,  1821,  the  Legislature  "  empowered  the  Society  to 
appropriate  such  part  of  their  funds  as  may  by  them  be  deemed  expedient, 
to  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  a  school  for  the  education  of  the 
children  of  indigent  or  deceased  members  of  said  Society." 

The  Society,  in  conformity  with  the  power  vested  in  them,  established  a 
school ;  and,  by  one  of  the  school  regulations,  it  is  provided  that  "  the 
legitimate  subjects  of  it  shall  be  children  of  the  members  cf  the  Mechanics' 
Society,  or  the  orphans  of  deceased  members,  and  the  children  of  respecta- 
ble mechanics  pursuing  some  trade  or  branch  of  mechanics  in  this  city. 


REPORT  OF  THE   LAW   COMMITTEE.  137 

The  children  of  other  respectable  citizens  may  be  admitted  by  a  special  resc- 
Imtion  of  the  School  Committee."  It  was  stated  to  your  committee,  by  one 
of  the  trustees  of  said  Society,  that  none  except  the  children  of  members, 
or  deceased  members  of  the  Society,  were  gratuitously  educated  in  this 
school. 

If  your  committee  have  been  correct  in  the  view  which  they  have  already 
taken  as  to  the  requisites  of  a  common  school,  the  Mechanics'  School  cannot 
receive  a  portion  of  the  common  school  fund.  It  is  exclusive  in  its  charac- 
ter, and  is  calculated  to  divide  society  into  classes  and  grades,  contrary  to 
the  spirit  of  our  Constitution  and  Government. 

It  has  ever  been  a  favorite  maxim  with  American  legislators,  that  "  all 
mankind  are  born  free  and  equal ;  "  and  so  closely  is  this  principle  connect- 
ed with  our  political  institutions,  that,  to  make  any  discrimination  between 
the  different  occupations  of  individuals,  it  would  be  considered  as  a  de- 
parture from  first  principles,  and  a  virtual  violation  of  the  Constitution. 
The  division  of  society  into  grades,  even  for  the  purpose  of  education,  would 
be  productive  of  the  most  fatal  consequences.  An  odious  distinction  will 
be  early  instilled  into  the  minds  of  children,  and  the  division  lines  of  classes 
of  society  will  be  more  strongly  drawn  than  they  ever  have  been  under  the 
most  despotic  governments  of  Europe.  Children  will  then  regard  them- 
selves as  belonging  to  a  particular  rank  in  life,  which  will  give  rise  to  jeal- 
ousies calculated  to  disturb  the  harmony  and  present  arrangement  of  soci- 
ety. It  was  to  obviate  these  difficulties  that  our  system  of  common  school 
education  was  adopted.  The  early  associations  of  children  make  a  deep 
and  lasting  impression  ;  and  the  intimacies  formed  between  the  children  of 
the  rich  and  poor  at  school  will  ripen  into  indissoluble  friendship  in  maturer 
years. 

It  has  been  urged  upon  your  committee,  that,  by  the  act  of  1821,  in  rela- 
tion to  this  Society,  they  have  a  perpetual  vested  right  to  a  portion  of  the 
school  fund.  The  second  section  of  that  act  directs  that  the  Commissioners 
of  the  School  Money  for  the  city  of  New  York  shall  pay  to  the  Mechanics' 
Society,  in  pursuance  to  the  fourth  section  of  the  act  entitled  "  An  Act  for 
the  Establishment  of  Common  Schools,"  passed  March  12,  1813,  a  portion 
of  the  school  money.  The  fourth  section  referred  to  merely  designated  what 
schools  in  the  city  of  New  York  should  receive  a  portion  of  the  school  fund. 
As  the  Mechanics'  Society  was,-  subsequently  to  the  passage  of  that  act, 
authorized  to  establish  a  school,  in  order  to  entitle  them  to  receive  a  portion 
of  the  school  fund,  it  was  necessary  that  the  Legislature  should  authorize 
the  Commissioner  of  the  School  Fund  to  pay  a  portion  of  the  money  to  said 
Society.  It  was  for  this  purpose  the  second  section  above  referred  to  was 
incorporated  into  the  act  of  January  26,  1821.  That  section  did  not  confer 
on  the  Mechanic's  Society  any  other  or  greater  right  to  the  school  fund  than 
the  fourth  section  of  the  act  of  1813  did  on  all  the  other  schools  in  the  city 
of  New  York.  The  Legislature  had  the  same  power  to  repeal  the  one  as  the 
other,  which  power  was  exercised  in  1824.  Your  committee,  therefore,  can- 
not avoid  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  tffe  Mechanics'  School  is  not  enti- 
tled to  a  portion  of  the  school  fund. 


138  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

The  Orphan  Asylum  Society  heretofore  has  received  a  portion  of  this 
fund,  but  it  ought,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  to  be  placed  on  the 
same  footing  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society. 

Your  committee,  however,  individually  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  these  institutions,  and  are  extremely  solicitous  for  their  continued 
prosperity  and  success  in  the  work  of  benevolence.  Although  they  have 
contributed  in  an  eminent  degree  to  alleviate  the  wants  and  miseries  of  a 
helpless  class  of  individuals,  who  are  thrown  upon  the  world  destitute  and 
unprotected,  and  physically  disqualified  from  procuring  the  means  of  assist- 
ance, yet  they  are  very  limited  in  their  operations,  and  the  schools  attached 
to  them  are  solely  for  the  education  of  orphans  who  are  supported  by  the 
bounty  of  these  institutions. 

The  trustees  of  these  institutions  have  assumed  the  station  and  responsi- 
bility of  the  natural  guardians  of  the  orphans  received  into  them,  and  are 
bound  to  provide  for  their  support  and  education.  If  the  funds  of  these 
societies  are  insufficient  to  pay  for  the  education  of  tbe  children,  they  can 
be  sent  to  the  public  schools,  where  they  would  be  cheerfully  received,  and 
their  education  strictly  and  justly  attended  to. 

As  asylums,  these  institutions  appeal  to  the  sympathies  of  our  nature 
and  the  best  feelings  of  the  human  heart ;  and  although  they  rank  among 
the  most  laudable  of  the  institutions  which  have  sprung  up  in  this  age  of 
benevolence,  they  want  the  most  important  characteristic  of  common  schools, 
and  are  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  legislative  aid,  so  far  as  relates  to  this 
fund,  which  has  been  inviolably  appropriated  to  a  specific  object. 

It  has  been  repeatedly  charged  that  those  institutions  are  sectarian.  The 
information  before  your  committee  on  this  point  is  full  and  satisfactory. 
Any  respectable  female  may  become  a  member  of  the  Orphan  Asylum  Soci- 
ety by  paying  a  specific  sum,  and  the  door  is  open  to  all  who  wish  to  be- 
come members  of  the  institution,  without  distinction  of  religion  or  country ; 
but  the  recipients  of  their  bounty  are  instructed  in  the  Catechism  of  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church,  and  are  compelled  to  attend  religious  worship  at  a 
church  of  that  denomination.  This  renders  the  Greenwich  Asylum  secta- 
rian in  its  character. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society  also  has  strong  marks  of  secta- 
rianism about  it.  None  except  Catholics  can  become  regular  members  of 
the  Society,  although  any  person  whose  piety,  dignity,  and  morality  will 
reflect  honor  on  the  Society,  may  become  honorary  members.  This  feature 
in  the  organization  of  that  institution  will  forever  keep  its  government  ex- 
clusively under  the  direction  of  that  religious  sect.  And  although  it  18 
open  for  the  reception,  support,  and  education  of  destitute  and  unprotected 
orphans,  without  distinction  of  sex,  country,  or  religion,  yet  all  who  partici- 
pate in  its  bounty  are  exclusively  instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion. 

Here  another  objection  presents  itself,  in  which  is  involved  a  grave  and 
serious  constitutional  question,  a  correct  decision  of  which  will  save  us  from 
most  of  those  religious  struggles  which  have  disturbed  the  peace  and  repose 
of  Europe,  and  which  have  caused  so  much  bloodshed  throughout  the  world. 


EEPOKT   OF   THE   LAW   COMMITTEE.  139 

The  question  is  this :  Can  we,  without  violating  the  Constitution,  appro- 
priate any  of  the  public  funds  to  the  support  of  those  schools  or  institu- 
tions in  which  children  are  taught  the  doctrines  and  tenets  of  religious  sec- 
tarianism ?  The  Constitution  of  this  State  declares  that  the  free  exercise 
and  enjoyment  of  religious  professions  and  worship,  without  discrimination 
or  preference,  shall  forever  be  allowed  in  this  State  to  all  mankind.  This 
article  of  the  Constitution  recognizes  not  only  religious  toleration,  but  per- 
fect religious  freedom,  so  long  as  tha.t  freedom  is  exercised  in  a  manner  not 
inconsistent  with  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  State.  Each  individual,  in 
religious  matters,  is  left  to  pursue  the  bent  of  his  own  inclination,  and  to 
follow  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience. 

If  an  effort  should  be  made  to  raise  a  fund  by  taxation,  for  the  support 
of  a  particular  sect,  or  every  sect  of  Christians,  it  would  unhesitatingly  be 
declared  an  infringement  of  the  Constitution,  and  a  violation  of  our  char- 
tered rights.  Tour  committee  cannot,  however,  perceive  any  marked  differ- 
ence in  principle,  whether  a  fund  be  raised  for  the  support  of  a  particular 
church,  or  whether  it  be  raised  for  the  support  of  a  school  in  which  the 
doctrines  of  that  church  are  taught  as  a  part  of  the  system  of  education. 

In  the  one  case,  an  ordained  and  regularly  constituted  ministry  are  paid 
for  delivering  their  lessons  from  the  pulpit ;  and,  in  the  other,  a  more  hum- 
ble, though  not  less  useful  class  of  teachers  are  paid  for  giving  the  same 
instructions  in  a  different  manner.  Both  tend  to  the  same  end,  and  both 
designedly  promote  the  growth  and  extension  of  sectarianism.  The  one  act 
will  be  as  great  a  violation  of  the  constitutional  rights  and  conscientious 
scruples  of  the  people  as  the  other.  Jews,  Christians  of  every  denomination, 
deists,  and  unbelievers  of  every  description,  contribute  their  due  portion  to 
the  school  fund,  and  it  ought  to  be  so  distributed  and  disposed  of  that  all 
may  participate  in  the  benefits  flowing  from  it,  without  doing  violence  to 
their  consciences.  It  would  be  but  a  poor  consolation  to  an  individual  to 
know  that  he  may  entertain  whatever  religious  opinions  he  pleases,  and 
attend  any  church  he  may  select,  and  at  the  time  be  legally  compelled  to 
contribute  a  portion  of  his  property  to  the  support  of  a  school  in  which 
religious  doctrines  diametrically  opposed  to  those  he  entertains  are  taught. 
Any  legislation  sanctioning  such  a  principle  would  meet  with  the  decided 
disapprobation  of  this  community. 

So  thoroughly  were  the  founders  of  our  State  convinced  that  religion  in 
every  shape  should  be  untouched  by  legislative  acts,  that  they  urged  and 
procured  the  adoption  of  an  article  of  the  Constitution  disqualifying  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel,  and  priests  of  every  denomination,  from  holding  any 
civil  or  military  office  or  place  within  this  State. 

The  duties  of  a  spiritual  guide  and  religious  instructor  were  considered 
as  incompatible/with  those  of  a  civil  or  military  station.  It  would  be  a  vir- 
tual violation  of  this  article  of  the  Constitution  to  appropriate  a  fund,  purely 
civil  in  its  character  and  object,  to  the  support  of  religious  schools,  and 
would  not  be  sanctioned  by  a  people  ardently  and  devotedly  attached  to  the 
maintenance  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

Your  committee  are  of  the  opinion  that,  if  the  two  asylums  are  admit- 


140  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

ted  to  accept  a  portion  of  the  school  fund,  it  will  open  the  door  for  the 
admission  of  every  schooler  institution  in  which  children  arc  taught  gra- 
tuitously%  notwithstanding  it  may  be  sectarian  to  the  fullest  extent. 

Methodist,  Episcopalian,  Baptist,  and  every  other  sectarian  school,  must 
come  in  for  a  share  of  this  fund.  And  the  Common  Council  cannot  stop 
here.  If  charity  schools  are  founded  in  which  the  doctrines  of  an  Owen 
and  a  Wright  are  taught,  or  in  which  the  "  Age  of  Reason  "  or  the  Khoran 
is  adopted  as  a  standard  work,  they  will  stand  on  the  same  footing  as  other 
religious  schools.  Should  such  a  course  be  pursued,  it  will  be  a  violation 
of  the  liberal  principle  established  by  the  Common  Council  in  1825,  of  deny- 
ing admission  to  all  schools  and  institutions  which  were  considered  as  secta- 
rian. A  departure  from  this  salutary  precedent  will  be  productive  of  incal- 
culable mischief.  If  all  sectarian  schools  be  admitted  to  the  receipt  of  a 
portion  of  a  fund  sacredly  appropriated  to  the  support  of  common  schools, 
it  will  give  rise  to  a  religious  and  anti-religious  party,  which  will  call  into 
active  exercise  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  men.  A  fierce  and  uncompro- 
mising hostility  will  ensue,  which  will  pave  the  way  for  the  predominance 
of  religion  in  political  contests.  The  unnatural  union  of  Church  and  State 
will  then  be  easily  accomplished — a  union  destructive  of  human  happiness 
and  subversive  of  civil  liberty. 

It  should  ever  be  borne  in  mind,  that  ecclesiastical  despotism  is  the 
worst  and  most  oppressive  species  of  tyranny ;  it  is  unnecessary  to  inquire 
why  it  is  so.  The  fact  is  well  attested  by  the  history  of  every  people  who 
have  lived  under  the  government  of  monarchs  and  priests.  Many  of  the 
miseries  now  endured  by  the  laboring  class  in  England  are  attributable  to 
the  accumulation  of  the  immense  revenues  of  the  bishops  and  clergy,  and 
to  the  odious  and  oppressive  system  of  exacting  tithes  for  the  support  of  an 
established  church.  It  would  be  an  incipient  step  toward  engrafting  in  our 
institutions  a  system  not  less  odious  and  oppressive,  not  less  fatal  in  its  con- 
sequences to  the  liberties  and  happiness  of  our  country,  to  place  the  interest 
of  the  school  fund  at  the  disposal  of  sectarians.  It  is  to  tax  the  people  for 
the  support  of  religion,  contrary  to  the  Constitution,  and  in  violation  of 
their  conscientious  scruples. 

Your  committee  are  of  opinion  that  the  ordinance  referred  to  them  is 
unconstitutional,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  Mechanics'  Society,  the  Orphan  Asy- 
lum Society,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society,  and  therefore 
recommend  that  the  same  be  amended  so  as  to  exclude  those  institutions 
from  any  participation  in  the  school  fund. 

WILLIAM  VAN  WYCK,  -\ 

ERASTUS  BARNES,          >  Law  Committee. 

NEHEMIAH  BRUSH,        / 

The  report  was  read,  and  laid  on  the  table. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  board  on  the  24th  of  October,  Dr. 
Rhinelander  moved  that  the  school  question  be  made  the  order 
for  the  day  at  the  next  meeting,  which  was  agreed  to.  At  the 


METHODIST   FKEE   SCHOOL.  141 

time  designated,  the  board  went  into  Committee  of  the  Whole, 
Mr.  Labagh  in  the  chair.  After  considerable  discussion  the 
committee  rose,  reported,  and  asked  leave  to  sit  again,  which 
was  granted. 

The  Trustees  of  the  Methodist  Free  School,  while  the  mat- 
ter was  thus  pending,  sent  a  proposition  to  the  Public  School 
Society,  which  was  laid  before  the  Board  of  Trustees  at  their 
meeting  on  November  4th,  in  the  following  form  :• 

NEW  YORK,  4//i  November,  1831. 

The  subscribers,  representing  the  Trustees  of  the  Methodist  Charity  Free 
School  in  this  city,  respectfully  offer  to  the  New  York  Public  School  Soci- 
ety their  school-house  iii  Forsyth  street,  and  212  scholars  attached  thereto. 

The  premises  are  two  lots  of  ground,  under  lease  for  twenty-four  years 
unexpired,  at  the  yearly  rent  of  $100.  The  building  thereon  is  a  two-story 
frame  building,  30  feet  front  by  85  feet  deep.  The  whole  upper  part  is 
occupied  for  the  school-room,  the  lower  part  by  the  teacher,  and  for  society 
meetings.  The  lower  part  is  wished  to  be  retained  by  the  Trustees  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  until  August  next,  and  the  school-rooms  can  be 
had  immediately,  upon  an  arrangement  being  made  with  the  teachers,  who 
are  employed  until  May  next. 

GILBERT  COUTANT, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

This  proposition  was  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of 
Najah  Taylor,  George  T.  Trimble,  and  Robert  C.  Cornell,  who 
were  appointed  to  confer  with  the  committee  of  the  Trustees  of 
the  Free  School,  and  report  their  action  thereon.  The  price 
demanded  by  the  latter  for  their  real  estate — $3,500 — was 
deemed  to  be  too  high,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
Public  School  Society,  held  on  the  3d  of  February,  1832,  the 
proposition  was  declined,  and  the  committee  authorized  to  con- 
tinue the  negotiation.  No  arrangement,  however,  was  made 
between  the  parties. 

The  matter  remained  in  this  position  until  December  19, 
when  Mr.  Smith  introduced  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  .Committee  on  Arts  and  Sciences,  to  -whom  was  re- 
ferred the.  petition  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Methodist  Society,  for  a  participa- 
tion of  the  school  money,  be  requested  to  report  without  delay. 

The  resolution  accordingly  went  to  the  committee,  who,  how- 
ever, did  not  report  until  May  7th  of  the  following  year — only 


THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

one  day  previous  to  the  expiration  of  its  term  of  office,  at  which 
time  the  following  report  was  made : 

The  Committee  on  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Schools,  to  whom  was  referred  the 
annexed  memorial  from  the  Trustees  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
praying  to  be  admitted  to  participate  in  the  benefits  of  the  common  school 

fund,  RESPECTFULLY  REPORT  : 

That  they  have  had  the  same  under  consideration,  and  have  come  to  the 
following  conclusion,  viz. :  That,  inasmuch  as  the  memorialists  have  stated 
in  their  petition — which  your  committee  have  every  reason  to  believe  to  be 
true — that  they  at  all  times  have  admitted  children  of  every  denomination 
into  their  schools,  and  have,  at  the  present  time,  about  fifty  orphans  who 
are  educated  upon  general  principles,  without  reference  to  sectarianism,  your 
committee  are  of  opinion  that  they  are  of  right  and  ought  to  be  admitted 
to  a  participation  of  the  fund,  and  would  therefore  beg  leave  to  offer  the 
following  resolution,  viz. : 

Resolved^  That  the  ordinance  defining  what  societies  shall  be  admitted  to 
a  participation  of  the  common  school  fund  be  so  amended  as  to  embrace 
"  The  Trustees  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  City  of  New 
York." 

Respectfully  submitted  by  the  committee, 

NEHEMIAH  BRUSH, 
WILLIAM  MANDEVILLE. 

The  order  of  time  is  anticipated  by  the  insertion  of  the  above 
report  in  this  place  ;  but  as  it  gives  the  decision  of  the  commit- 
tee of  the  Board  of  Assistants,  and  permits  a  return  to  the  pro- 
ceedings in  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  it  is  deemed  proper  to  pre- 
sent it  in  this  connection.  No  action  was  taken  on  the  report. 

The  Trustees  of  the  Methodist  Free  School  had  thus  pressed 
their  application  upon  the  Common  Council ;  but  the  con- 
flicting opinions  and  interests  which  were  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  members  of  both  boards  occasioned  a  protracted  delay. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Public  School 
Society,  held  on  March  30th,  the  committee  of  the  board  sub- 
mitted a  memorial,  which  they  stated  had  been  referred  to  a 
committee,  and  had  been  printed,  and  made  the  special  order  for 
the  day  on  the  first  Monday  in  April  following. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Corporation  of  the  City  of  New  YorTt : 

The  memorial  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School   Society  HUMBLY 

SHEWETH  : 

That  they  have  seen,  with  deep  concern,  that  the  application  of  the 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  a  participation  in  the  fund  raised  for  the 


METHODIST   CHURCH    SCHOOL.  143 

support  of  common  schools,  has  met  with  a  favorable  report  by  a  committee 
appointed  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and  they  feel  constrained  to  present 
their  respectful  but  plain  and  solemn  remonstrance  against  the  measure  pro- 
posed. Your  honorable  bodies  are  not  ignorant  that  the  distribution  of  the 
school  fund  among  the  church  schools  of  the  city,  prior  to  1825,  gave  rise 
to  multiplied  abuses,  which  were  arrested,  and,  it  was  hoped,  terminated,  by 
an  ordinance  of  the  Common  Council,  which  was  received  with  almost  uni- 
versal public  approbation. 

The  reform  which  was  thus  established  was  followed  immediately  by  an 
increased  public  interest  in  the  schools ;  subsequently,  by  an  accession  to 
their  funds ;  and  recently,  by  a  liberal  and  ample  provision  for  that  object. 

Your  memorialists,  believing  that  the  circumstances  in  which  the  in- 
crease of  the  school  fund  originated  are  worthy  of  great  consideration,  in 
reference  to  the  measure-  now  before  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  beg  leave  to 
recall  them  to  the  memory  of  your  honorable  bodies. 

In  the  year  1828,  your  memorialists  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  their  fel- 
low-citizens "  upon  the  importance  of  enlarging  the  means  of  common  edu- 
cation." Your  memorialists  soon  after  were  instrumental  in  procuring  the 
circulation,  among  the  citizens  generally,  of  a  petition  addressed  to  the 
Common  Council  in  behalf  of  this  great  object.  That  petition  was  sub- 
scribed by  several  thousands  of  respectable  individuals,  and  embraced  a 
large  proportion  of  our  most  wealthy  citizens. 

The  object  embraced  in  that  petition  is  very  plainly  pointed  out.  The 
petitioners  say  they  are  desirous  that  the  common  schools  of  the  city  should 
be  multiplied  and  improved,  and,  if  possible,  that  others  should  be  estab- 
lished for  the  introduction  of  certain  of  the  higher  grades  of  instruction. 
They  propose  an  annual  tax  of  not  less  than  half  a  mill  on  the  dollar  upon 
the  amount  of  assessed  property  in  the  city,  "  for  the  purpose  of  free  and 
common  education  ;  the  fund  thus  to  be  raised  to  be  kept  separate  from  all 
others,  and  sacred  to  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  designed."  And  they 
pray  the  aid  of  the  Corporation  for  the  obtaining  such  a  law  as  might  be 
necessary  for  the  purposes  aforesaid. 

If  any  further  evidence  be  wanted  as  to  the  design  of  the  petitioners 
above  mentioned,  your  memorialists  beg  leave  to  state,  from  the  best  means 
of  information,  that  great  numbers  of  persons  refused  their  signatures  until 
they  were  assured  that  the  funds  to  be  raised  were  to  be  entirely  protected 
from  sectarian  employment  or  control. 

The  petition  above  referred  to  was  presented,  together  with  a  special  me- 
morial from  your  present  memorialists,  to  the  Common  Council,  early  in  1829  ; 
and  they  were  referred  to  a  committee,  who  reported  favorably  thereto. 

Application  was  accordingly  made  to  the  Legislature,  substantially  con- 
forming in  tenor,  and  exactly  in  spirit,  with  the  petition  and  memorial 
aforesaid.  The  Legislature  promptly  passed  a  law,  viz.,  on  the  25th  of 
April,  1829,  by  which  the  Corporation  was  authorized  to  collect,  by  tax,  a 
sum  of  money  equal  to  one  eightieth  of  one  per  cent,  upon  the  assessed 
property  of  the  city,  "  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  purposes  of  common 
schools  in  the  said  city." 


144:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

On  the  13th  of  April,  1831,  the  Legislature  passed  a  law  increasing  the 
amount  to  be  raised  to  four  eightieths  of  one  per  cent,  for  precisely  the  same 
objects. 

Your  memorialists  cannot  entertain  a  doubt  that  not  a  single  cent  of  the 
fund  thus  raised  by  taxation  ought  to  be  under  sectarian  control,  or  applied 
to  the  exclusive  benefit  of  any  particular  class  of  individuals. 

Your  memorialists  presume  that  the  present  application  has  been  encour- 
aged by  the  success  of  that  recently  made  by  the  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum. 

Your  memorialists  feel  bound  to  protest  in  this  instance,  as  they  did  in 
that,  on  the  ground  that  the  admission  of  this  school  would  be  a  violation 
of  the  Constitution  and  of  the  laws,  and  of  good  faith  toward  the  public. 
They  deem  it  also  irreconcilable  with  the  spirit  of  our  republican  institu- 
tions, inasmuch  as  it  involves  a  compulsory  support  of  religious  instruction, 
without  the  ability  to  participate  its  benefits. 

Your  memorialists  are  compelled  to  differ  with  the  respectable  commit- 
tee of  the  Board  of  Aldermen.  The  fact  that  "  the  school  fund  is  raised 
equally,"  in  their  judgments,  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  it  ought  to  be  dis- 
tributed equally. 

In  regard  to  the  Methodist  school  (which  alone  is  now  under  considera- 
tion), it  appears  that  a  preference  as  to  admission  is  given  to  the  children 
of  parents  of  the  same  persuasion,  provided  they  are  sufficient  to  fill  the 
school. 

If,  in  such  cases,  no  express  preference  or  prohibition  is  given  or  enacted, 
the  same  result  indirectly  obtains  from  the  sectarian  character  of  the  instruc- 
tion or  government  of  the  schools. 

A  perfect  equality  in  the  distribution  of  school  moneys  characterizes 
every  provision  of  the  Legislature  on  this  subject.  It  is  alleged  that  they 
have  not  "  shut  out  any  school  on  account  of  its  religious  connections."  If 
the  omission  of  any  prohibitory  enactment  furnishes  an  argument  in  favor 
of  the  present  application,  almost  any  claim  that  can  be  imagined  may  be 
established.  But  your  memorialists,  without  further  comment  upon  the 
great  principles  involved  in  the  proposed  measure,  beg  leave  to  state  that 
the  general  principle  of  excluding  the  church  schools,  adopted  in  1825,  was 
not,  as  they  have  understood,  intended  to  be  given  up  or  impaired  by  the 
admission  of  the  Catholic  Asylum  School,  but,  on  the  contrary,  this  princi- 
ple was  expressly  sanctioned  and  approved  by  the  Common  Council. 

Your  memorialists,  in  support  of  this  assertion,  refer  to  the  report  of  the 
committee  on  the  Catholic  application,  and  which  was  signed  by  the  chair- 
man of  the  committee,  who  have  now  reported  in  favor  of  the  Methodist 
school. 

Your  memorialists  quote  the  language  of  that  report :   - 

It  is  known  to  the  Common  Council  that  few  questions  of  public  policy 
have  caused  so  much  excitement,  as  well  in  the  government  of  the  State  as 
in  the  council  of  the  city,  as  that  of  the  distribution  of  school  money. 
During  several  years  prior  to  1825,  the  agitation  pervaded  all  classes  of  peo- 
ple, as  well  as  most  of  our  public  institutions.  The  adjustment  of  the  ques- 
tion, in  the  spring  of  1825,  was  hailed  with  joy.  The  facts,  arguments,  and 
principles  which  guided  the  government  and  dictated  the  laws  of  distribu- 


METHODIST   CHURCH   SCHOOL.  145 

tion  at  that  period,  are  too  well  understood  by  this  Common  Council  to 
require  to  be  recited  in  this  report.  The  cardinal  principles  then  adopted, 
the  classes  of  societies  and  schools  then  admitted  to  a  participation,  and  the 
classes  of  societies  and  schools  then  excluded,  were  so  generally  and  strong- 
ly approved  by  the  community,  that  no  deviation  from  those  principles  can 
now  be  advised. 

(Signed  by)  G.  LEE, 

JOHN  ROGERS, 
DAVID  BRYSOX, 
HENRY'  ARCULARIUS, 
TYLER  DIBBLEE. 

The  Methodist  Church  Charity  School — the  applicants  now  before  you — 
was  of  the  class  and  one  of  the  number  then  excluded  from  participation  in 
the  school  fund. 

Your  memorialists  suppose  that  your  honorable  bodies  considered  the 
Catholic  school  as  not  coming  within  the  rule  applicable  to  sectarian 
schools,  but,  on  the  contrary,  as  entitled  to  a  portion  of  the  school  fund, 
because  the  children  of  the  Asylum  would  otherwise  be  deprived  of  the 
power  of  participating  in  it. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  perceive  that,  if  the  Methodist  school  is  admitted, 
another,  and  the  only  remaining  barrier  to  the  admission  of  all  the  church 
schools,  will  be  broken  down.  The  children  of  the  Catholic  Asylum  are  all 
orphans.  The  Methodist  school  embraces  "  destitute  children  "  also.  If 
destitute  children  are  to  be  admitted  under  the  patronage  of  one  persuasion, 
what  fair  and  equitable  distinction  will  your  honorable  bodies  be  able  to 
fix,  which  will  exclude  any  other  persuasion  ?  It  is  well  known  that  the 
children  of  all  the  church  schools  were  fairly  embraced  in  the  description 
of  destitute  children.  The  circumstance  that  the  children  in  question  re- 
ceive other  aid  than  that  of  instruction,  creates,  instead  of  removing,  an 
objection,  in  the  opinion  of  your  memorialists.  This  distinction  between 
the  Methodist  and  other  churches,  if  it  now  exists,  will  be  shortly  removed 
by  sectarian  zeal,  and  the  schools  of  the  Society  represented  by  your  memo- 
rialists will,  of  course,  be  subjected  to  a  competition  in  which  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  their  superior  advantages  will  be  outweighed  by  inducements  of 
more  than  doubtful  expediency.  The  bare  suggestion  of  the  subject  in  this 
view  involves  considerations  on  which  your  memorialists  had  supposed  the 
public  mind  was  made  up. 

If  any  thing  more  than  what  has  been  stated  be  necessary  to  show  hovr 
the  principle  of  "  equal  rights  "  would  be  affected  by  the  measure  now  con- 
sidered, let  it  be  remembered  that  the  moneys  given  to  church  schools  are 
taken  away  from  the  public  schools,  and  that  there  is  a  large  portion  of  our 
fellow-citizens  who  belong  to  no  religious  society,  and  a  great  many  who 
would  refuse  any  instruction  if  encumbered  with  any  ecclesiastical  connec- 
tion. 

Tour  memorialists  beg  leave  to  add,  that  they  feel  confident  that  a  return 
to  the  sectarian  system  will  not  ultimately  be  tolerated  by  public  opinion. 
The  public  will  not  and  ought  not  to  consent  to  be  taxed  for  sectarian  edu- 
cation. 

10 


14:6  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Tour  memorialists  are  therefore  apprehensive,  that,  while  the  hopes  held 
out  to  the  churches  by  the  success  of  the  present  application  must  prove 
ultimately  fallacious  ;  that  the  sources  of  the  present  revenues  of  the  public 
schools  would  in  that  event  be  greatly  diminished,  and,  in  so  far  as  the  same 
depend  on  the  aforesaid  acts  of  the  Legislature,  would  be  withdrawn. 

If  the  public  confidence  in  the  equal  distribution  of  the  school  fund  is 
ever  lost,  it  is  possible,  not  to  say  probable,  that  it  will  never  be  regained. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

(Signed)  PETEB  AUGUSTUS  JAY,  President. 

LINDLEY  MURRAY,  Secretary. 

Dated  this  24th  day  of  March,  1932. 

A  long  and  earnest  discussion  took  place  upon  the  memorial, 
and  it  was  deemed  important  that  the  members  of  the  Board  of 
Aldermen  should  be  seen  personally  by  committees  on  behalf  of 
the  Society,  and  they  were  accordingly  appointed,  as  follows  : 

Alderman  Cebra,   to  be  seen  by  Messrs.  J.  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr., 

and  James  Heard. 
"          Stevens,  "  Hiram  Ketchum,  Clark,  and 

Richards. 
"          Van  Wagenen,  "  J.  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  and  James 

Heard. 
Lamb,  "  Ketchum,  Clark,  and  Depey- 

ster. 

"          Tucker,  «  Oakley  and  Wells.  . 

"          Meigs,  "  Mott  and  Peters. 

"          Jeremiah,          "  Leveridge  and  Brinsmade. 

Hall,  "  Swan  and  Depeyster. 

"          Palmer,  "  Childs  and  Najah  Taylor. 

"          Woodruff,          "  Delamater  and  Wells. 

The  petition  from  the  Methodist  Society  was  presented  in  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  on  the  same  evening  (September  5)  on 
which  it  was  laid  before  the  Assistants,  and  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Schools.  The  report  in  favor 
of  the  application  for  school  money  was  submitted  on  March  12, 
1832,  and  was  laid  on  the  table,  to  be  printed. 

The  remonstrance  of  the  Public  School  Society  against  grant- 
ing the  application  was  laid  before  the  board  at  the  meeting  held 
•on  March  26,  and  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Aits,  Sci- 
ences, and  Schools,  and,  with  the  other  papers  relative  to  the 


METHODIST   CHURCH   SCHOOL.  147 

matter,  was  made  the  order  of  the  day  for  the  following  meeting 
of  the  board.  The  committee  reported  on  the  remonstrance  at 
the  session  held  on  April  2,  in  which  the  recommendations  of  the 
first  report  were  reaffirmed,  and  their  adoption  strongly  urged. 
The  report  was  recommitted. 

On  May  2,  the  report,  on  motion  of  Alderman  Palmer,  was 
made  the  special  order  for  the  next  meeting  of  the  board,  which 
was  held  on  the  Tth  of  the  same  month,  when  Mr.  Palmer  called 
up  the  special  order  relative  to  the  school  question.  The  report 
of  the  Committee  on  Arts  and  Sciences  was  then  read,  as  fol- 
lows : 

The  Committee  on  Public  Schools,  &c.,  to  whom  was  referred  the  petition 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  praying  that  a  portion  of  the  common 
school  fund  may  be  given  to  aid  in  the  instruction  of  the  destitute  children 
and  helpless  orphans  who  are  taught  and  assisted  with,  clothing,  &c.,  at  the 
Methodist  free  school,  ask  leave  to  report : 

That  said  committee  have  had  the  subject  under  their  deliberation^  and 
submit  the  following  facts  and  resolutions : 

That,  for  nearly  forty  years,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  have  sup- 
ported a  school  in  this  city  for  the  gratuitous  instruction  of  orphan  children 
and  the  children  of  poor  and  destitute  parents. 

That  they  have  received  for  several  years  a  share  of  the  common  school 
fund,  for  all  children  taught  in  their  school. 

That,  encouraged  by  this  public  munificence,  and  prompted  by  a  laud- 
able desire  to  render  more  extensive  and  desirable  their  free  school  institu- 
tion, and  during  the  time  while  they  were  admitted  to  participate  in  the 
school  fund,  the  trustees  took  a  lease,  for  twenty-one  years,  of  two  lots  of 

ground  in  street,  and  the  Society  erected  thereon  a  school-house 

thirty  by  eighty  feet,  at  the  expense  of  about  four  thousand  dollars. 

That,  in  the  year  1826,  they  were  unexpectedly  deprived  of  all  participa- 
tion in  the  common  school  fund,  and  they  have  since  found  great  difficulty 
in  sustaining  their  school. 

That  they  have  usually  about  two  hundred  scholars  who  are  instructed 
at  their  school,  among  whom  there  are  about  fifty  orphans,  or  children  of 
parents  entirely  destitute. 

That  for  shoes,  clothing,  &c.,  their  poor  children  are  dependent  on  pri- 
vate charity,  the  funds  raised  for  the  school  being  inadequate ;  and  the  peti- 
tioners therefore  ask  that  the  Corporation  will  grant  to  the  said  school  an 
equitable  proportion  of  the  school  fund. 

It  further  appeared  before  your  committee,  that  the  concerns  of  said 
school  were  managed  by  fifteen  trustees,  chosen  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church. 

That  the  fund  which  supports  the  said  school  is  raised  by  contributions, 
and  is  kept  distinct  from  the  church  fund. 


148  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

That  the  teachers  are  of  the  Methodist  religious  denomination  ;  that  the 
children  of  parents  of  any  other  religious  denomination  are  admitted  into 
the  school  when  there  are  vacancies. 

That  the  school-house  is  distant  about  fifty  or  sixty  rods  from  Public 
School  No.  7,  in  Chrystie  street ;  that  the  trustees  never  encourage  children 
to  leave  the  public  schools,  but,  on  the  contrary,  refuse  to  receive  such  chil- 
dren. 

After  a  full  examination  of  facts,  your  committee  have  come  to  the  unani- 
mous conclusion  that  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  ought  to  be  granted ; 
that  they  believe  such  a  conclusion  to  be  consistent  with  equity  and  justice, 
because  the  common  school  fund  is  raised  equally.  They  believe  it  is  con- 
sistent with  the  intention  of  the  enlightened  Legislature  of  the  great  State 
of  New  York,  who,  in  their  statutes  which  create  and  distribute  their 
bounty  to  common  schools,  did  not  think  proper  to  shut  out  any  school  on 
account  of  its  religious  connections. 

Whether  the  Common  Council  would  deem  it  expedient  (should  they 
adopt  this  report)  to  admit  said  school  wholly,  or  only  in  part,  to  partici- 
pate in  the  school  fund  without  a  more  general  enactment,  your  committee 
have  no  means  of  judging.  They  therefore  submit  the  following  resolution, 
which  applies  only  to  the  destitute  children  in  said  school : 

Resolved,  That,  in  addition  to  the  institutions  in  this  city  entitled  to 
receive  a  portion  of  the  common  school  fund,  and  the  tax  raised  for  the 
benefit  of  the  public  schools  within  the  said  city,  the  school  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  its  proportion  for  all  the 
orphans  and  children  of  destitute  parents  who  may  be  taught  in  said 
school,  and  who  shall  be  duly  returned,  agreeably  to  the  provisions  of  the 
revised  statutes.  TYLEB  DIBBLEE, 

CHABLES  H.  HALL, 
HENRY  MEIGS. 

The  memorial  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Methodist  Society,  and 
the  remonstrance  of  the  Public  School  Society,  were  also  read. 
On  motion,  the  board  went  into  Committee  of  the  Whole,  Alder- 
man Cebra  in  the  chair.  After  some  time  spent  in  discussion, 
the  committee  rose,  and  the  chairman  reported  that  the  Commit- 
tee of  the  Whole  had  disagreed  with  the  report  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Arts  and  Sciences. 

The  President  then  put  the  question,  Will  the  board  agree  to 
the  report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  ?  and  a  decision  being 
called,  the  question  was  decided  in  the  affirmative,  as  follows : 

Ayes — Aldermen  Cebra,  Van  Wagenen,  Sharpe,  Lamb, 
Tucker,  Jeremiah,  Palmer,  Woodruff— 8. 

Nays — Aldermen  Meigs,  Dibblee,  and  Hall — 3. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  being  thus  adopt- 
ed, the  agitation  of  the  question  ceased,  and  the  Trustees  of  the 
Methodist  Society  abandoned  their  claim. 


PEIMAEY  SCHOOLS.  149 


CIIAPTEK  VII. 

HISTORY   FROM    1831   TO   1834. 

Infant  Schools — Primary  Departments — Harlem  School — Pay  System  Abolished — Lot- 
teries— Deaf  and  Dumb  Institution — Transfer  of  Property  to  the  Corporation — 
New  Plans — Delegation  to  Boston — Primary  Schools — Female  Teachers  Em- 
ployed — Vagrancy  and  Truantslup — Ordinance  of  the  Common  Council — New 
Public  Schools,  Nos.  13  and  14 — The  Asiatic  Cholera — Hospital  School-Houses — 
Evening  Schools — African  Free  Schools — Report  on  Reorganization — Manhattan- 
ville  Free  School— Samuel  F.  Mott— Public  School  No.  15— Opening  of  No.  14 — 
Normal  School — Salaries  of  Teachers — Evening  Schools. 

THE  expansion  of  the  school  system,  in  order  to  enable  it  to 
keep  pace  with  the  wants  of  the  metropolis,  continually  made 
new  demands  upon  the  labors  of  the  Society.  As  the  number 
of  the  schools  increased,  and  the  population  in  their  respective 
districts  became  more  dense,  it  was  made  apparent  that  a  new 
order  of  facilities  was  required,  and  that  a  better  classification 
of  the  scholars,  as  to  age,  proficiency,  and  qualification,  would 
increase  the  efficiency  of  the  system.  An  experiment  had  been 
made  by  an  association  of  ladies  for  the  establishment  of  infant 
schools,  and  the  basement  of  School  No.  8,  in  Grand  street,  had 
been  granted  for  the  purpose.  A  committee  to  examine  this 
school  and  report  upon  the  question,  recommended  the  adoption 
of  the  plan  which  is  fully  detailed  under  its  appropriate  section, 
and  also  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  examine  into  the  ex- 
pediency of  a  revision  of  the  system  of  instruction  in  use  for  the 
"  Junior  Classes."  This  committee  reported  in  July,  1830,  and 
submitted  a»  resolution  that  the  1st,  2d,  3d,  and  4th  classes  be 
designated  as  the  3d  or  Junior  Department,  and  that,  where 
practicable,  female  teachers  be  employed  for  the  care  of  the 
schools.  The  subject  was  subsequently  referred  to  a  new  com- 
mittee, who  reported  a  manual  and  regulations  for  the  Junior 
departments,  which  were  to  be  called  "  Primary  Departments  ;  " 
and  it  was  directed  that  application  be  made  to  the  Legislature 


150  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

for  authority  to  educate  and  draw  money  for  children  between 
two  and  sixteen  years  of  age. 

Overtures  were  made  at  this  time  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Har- 
lem School  for  the  transfer  of  that  school  to  the  Society  ;  but  as 
advantageous  arrangements  could  not  be  made,  and  it  appeared 
that,  at  most,  only  two  of  the  residents  at  that  part  of  the  island 
could  he  induced  to  become  members  of  the  Society,  and  aid  in 
the  supervision  of  the  school,  it  was  deemed  inexpedient  to  en- 
tertain the  proposition. 

Thus  opened  the  year  1831. 

An  application  having  been  made  for  a  school  at  the  Five 
Points,  a  committee  was  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  examining 
the  location,  and  reporting  the  facts  in  the  case.  Their  recom- 
mendations were  in  the  affirmative ;  but  the  party  with  whom 
they  supposed  they  had  agreed  relative  to  the  terms  of  lease  of 
the  premises,  subsequently  refused  to  fulfil  the  contract  except 
at  a  very  considerable  advance,  and  with  restrictions  which  were 
deemed  to  be  inimical  to  the  objects  of  the  Society,  and  the 
project  was,  for  the  time,  abandoned. 

The  Society  had  now  under  its  charge  twenty-three  schools 
and  7,383  pupils. 

The  practical  as  well  as  the  financial  results  of  the  "  pay  sys- 
tem "  were  observed  with  much  solicitude ;  and  when,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1832,  the  amount  of  tuition  fees  had  been 
reduced  to  a  comparatively  trifling  sum  per  quarter,  the  treas- 
urer, Samuel  F.  Mott,  in  his  quarterly  report  suggested  that  tho 
charges  for  tuition  be  abandoned.  Accordingly,  on  the  3d  of 
February,  on  a  consideration  of  the  quarterly  report  of  the 
treasurer,  it  was  resolved,  u  THAT  THE  PAY  SYSTEM  BE  ABOLISHED." 

By  the  statute  which  had  been  in  operation  many  years,  and 
in  obedience  to  which  the  Society  had  received  considerable 
sums  of  money,  the  Society  and  the  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb  had  been  made  the  recipients  of  the  tax  upon  lottery 
dealers.  The  directors  of  the  latter  institution  informed  the 
board,  in  February,  that  they  had  decided  to  apply  to  the  Legis- 
lature for  a  grant  of  the  whole  amount  so  collected.  The  mat- 
ter was  referred  to  a  committee,  to  consider  and  remonstrate ; 
but,  on  a  conference  with  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Institu- 
tion for  Deaf-Mutes,  they  reported  that  it  would  be  advisable  to 
leave  the  disposition  of  the  revenue  to  the  Legislature,  and  a 


TRANSFER   OF   REAL   ESTATE.  151 

resolution  was  adopted  declaring  it  inexpedient  to  interfere  with 
the  action  of  that  body.  This  was  substantially  a  surrender  of 
the .  income,  and  was  in  harmony  with  the  sentiments  of  the 
trustees,  who  had  long  borne  their  testimony  against  the  lottery 
system,  and  felt  unreconciled  to  receive  the  fruits  of  "  that  mode 
of  legalized  gambling,"  even  that  they  might  be  expended  in 
the  cause  of  educating  and  reforming  the  children  of  those 
classes  who  suffered  most  by  that  vicious  and  seductive  scheme. 

The  transfer  of  the  property  held  by  the  Society  to  the  Cor- 
poration of  the  city,  which  had  been  under  consideration  at  vari- 
ous times,  was  again  agitated  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1832. 
The  fact  that  the  Society  was  in  the  annual  receipt  of  a  large 
amount  of  money  from  the  public  funds,  part  of  which  was  ex- 
pended in  the  purchase  of  grounds  and  the  erection  of  valuable 
buildings,  thus  enabling  the  Society  to  become  possessed  of  a 
constantly  accumulating  mass  of  real  estate,  was  urged  on  every 
occasion  by  the  advocates  of  opposing  interests  as  a  formidable 
objection  to  the  institution.  The  pretext  that  the  Society  was 
"  a  close  corporation,"  perpetuating  itself  by  the  choice  of  its 
own  members  and  officers,  was  not  weakened  by  the  plea  of  its 
possession  of  so  much  real  estate,  which  was  obtained  by  the 
means  of  taxes  upon  "  the  people  ;  "  and  the  trustees,  ever  anx- 
ious to  promote  the  primary  and  noble  object  of  the  enterprise, 
and  having  no  personal  interests  to  subserve,  were  as  desirous 
of  lodging  the  title  in  the  city,  as  any  of  their  opponents.  Their 
desire  was,  however,  just  as  strong  that  the  property  should  not 
be  diverted  to  other  purposes,  and  that  they  should  not  be  de- 
prived of  the  power  of  carrying  out  the  scheme  of  popular  in- 
struction whenever  the  wants  of  the  city  called  for  the  purchase 
of  additional  locations  and  the  erection  of  new  buildings.  At 
the  meeting  held  on  the  14th  of  February,  the  following  pream- 
ble and  resolutions  were  considered  and  laid  on  the  table,  and 
subsequently  discussed,  and  the  matter  referred  to  a  committee  : 

Whereas,  By  an  act  of  the  Legislature  passed  January  8,  1826,  the  Public 
School  Society  was  authorized  to  convey  their  school  edifices,  and  other 
real  estate,  to  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  New  York,  upon  such  terms 
and  conditions,  and  in  such  form,  as  should  be  agreed  upon  between  the 
parties,  taking  back  from  the  said  Corporation  a  perpetual  lease  thereof, 
upon  condition  that  the  same  shall  be  exclusively  and  perpetually  applied 
to  the  purposes  of  education ;  and,  whereas,  it  is  deemed  expedient  and 


152  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

proper  that  the  authority  given  by  the  act  of  the  Legislature  above  recited, 
except  so  far  as  relates  to  School  No.  1,  should  now  be  exercised  ;  therefore, 
Besohed,  That  a  respectful  communication  be  made  to  the  honorable  the 
Common  Council,  of  the  readiness  of  this  board  to  make  such  conveyance 
to  the  city,  and  to  accept  from  the  city  in  return  such  lease  as  above  men- 
tioned, and  that  a  committee  of  three  trustees  be  appointed  to  arrange  the 
terms  and  conditions  of  the  transfer,  and  the  form  in  -which  the  same  shall 
be  made. 

The  transfer  contemplated  was  not  carried  into  effect,  and 
the  school  property  remained  in  the  care  of  the  Society  until 
transferred  to  the  Board  of  Education,  in  1853.  The  Corpora- 
tion did  not  deem  it  advisable  or  necessary  to  remove  the  prop- 
erty from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Society. 

The  State  Superintendent  had  devoted  a  considerable  portion 
of  his  annual  report  to  the  Legislature  to  a  review  of  the  school 
system  of  New  York  city,  and  had  made  important  suggestions 
relative  to  the  improvement  of  the  schools.  At  the  meeting  of 
the  board  held  on  the  21st  of  the  same  month,  the  report  was 
submitted,  and,  on  consultation,  a  committee  wns  appointed  to 
report  such  plans  as  might  be  deemed  calculated  to  meet  the 
necessities  of  the  schools.  This  committee  was  composed  of 
Samuel  F.  Mott,  James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  Hiram  Ketchum,  R. 
Havens,  J.  B.  Brinsmade,  Lindley  Murray,  and  R.  Sedgwick. 

The  committee  acted  promptly  upon  the  matters  referred  to 
them,  and  appointed  Mr.  Sedgwick  and  Samuel  W.  Seton  as  a 
sub-committee  to  visit  Boston,  for  the  purpose  of  inspecting  the 
school  system  of  that  city.  The  deputation  were  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  flourishing  state  of  the  schools  and  the  better- 
developed  system  of  instruction  in  use  in  that  city,  as  well  as  the 
more  advantageous  classification  with  regard  to  age  and  degree 
of  attainments  of  the  pupils.  The  committee,  deeming  a  very 
material  change  of  the  whole  system  necessary,  reported  their 
views  in  part  on  the  4th  of  May,  confining  their  recommenda- 
tions to  the  introduction  of  "  PRIMARY  SCHOOLS  "  for  young  chil- 
dren who  resided  at  too  great  distances  from  the  schools  already 
established.  The  recommendations  were  to  the  effect  that  ten 
primary  schools  be  established,  under  the  care  of  a  "  Committee 
on  Primary  Schools ; "  that  female  teachers  be  employed,  at  a 
salary  of  $200  per  annum,  with  an  assistant,  at  a  salary  of  $50 
per  annum ;  that  the  ages  be  from  four  to  ten  years,  and  that, 


VAGRANCY    AND   TKUANTSHIP.  153 

when  scholars  should  reach  the  age  of  seven  years,  they  should 
be  transferred  to  the  upper  schools,  if  fitted  to  enter  the  sixth 
class. 

The  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  Messrs.  S.  "W".  Seton,  G. 
T.  Trimble,  J.  B.  Brinsmade,  J.  H.  Taylor,  Mahlon  Day,  Heman 
Averill,  and  Samuel  Demilt,  were  appointed  as  the  Committee 
on  Primary  Schools.  For  specific  information,  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred to  the  chapter  devoted  to  this  grade  of  the  schools.  The 
growth  of  the  city  exhibited  a  corresponding  increase  in  the 
multitude  of  its  vagrant  and  untrained  youth.  The  original 
object  of  the  Society  grew  in  importance  with  each  year  of  its 
existence,  and  the  adoption  of  remedial  measures  pressed  upon 
the  attention  of  the  board  with  greater  urgency  than  at  any  pre- 
vious period. 

The  views  entertained  of  this  question  may  be  inferred  from 
the  following  passage,  contained  in  the  twenty-seventh  annual 
report,  adopted  in  the  month  of  May  : 

The  city  of  Boston,  with  a  population  more  than  two  thirds  less,  ex- 
pends annually  nearly  double  the  largest  sum  heretofore  appropriated  in  a 
year  to  the  purposes  of  education  in  New  York.  Their  system  should,  of 
course,  be  much  more  complete  and  effectual  than  ours ;  and  although,  in 
some  respects,  it  is  so,  yet  it  may  be  stated  with  confidence  that  the  New 
York  schools  compare  favorably  with  those  of  the  same  grades  in  Boston. 

Truantship  in  that  city  is  deemed  a  criminal  offence  in  children,  and 
those  who  cannot  be  reclaimed  are  taken  from  their  parents,  and  placed  in 
an  institution  called  the  "  School  of  Reformation,"  corresponding,  in  many 
respects,  with  our  House  of  Refuge,  from  which  they  are  bound  out  by  the 
competent  authority,  without  again  returning  to  their  parents.  As  a  neces- 
sary consequence,  the  percentage  of  absentees,  or  the  difference  between 
the  number  of  children  on  register  and  the  actual  attendance,  is  less  in  the 
Boston  public  schools  than  those  of  New  York.  This  subject  has  during 
the  past,  as  in  former  years,  received  the  attention  of  the  trustees,  and  will 
probably  be  brought  before  the  next  board,  in  connection  with  the  general 
subject  of  non-attendance  at  any  school,  which*  exists  to  such  an  alarming 
extent  in  this  city.  Efforts  have  been  made  by  the  present  board  to  obtain, 
in  some  way,  the  active  cooperation  of  the  city  government  in  applying  a 
remedy  to  this  extensive  evil.  Every  political  compact  supposes  a  surren- 
der of  some  individual  rights  for  the  general  good.  In  a  Government  like 
ours,  "  founded  on  the  principle  that  the  only  true  sovereignty  is  the  will  of 
the  people,"  universal  education  is  acknowleged  by  all  to  be  not  only  of  the 
first  importance,  but  necessary  to  the  permanency  of  our  free  institutions. 
If,  then,  persons  are  found  so  reckless  of  the  best  interests  of  their  children, 
and  so  indifferent  to  the  public  good,  as  to  withhold  from  them  that  instruc- 


THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

tion  without  which  they  cannot  beneficially  discharge  those  civil  and  politi- 
cal duties  which  devolve  on  them  in  after  life,  it  becomes  a  serious  and 
important  question  whether  so  much  of  the  natural  right  of  controlling 
their  children  may  not  be  alienated  as  is  necessary  to  qualify  them  for  use- 
fulness, and  render  them  safe  and  consistent  members  of  the  political  body. 
The  expediency  of  such  a  measure  would  be  confined  pretty  much — per- 
haps entirely — to  large  seaport  towns,  and,  in  its  practical  operation,  would 
be  found  to  affect  but  a  few  native  citizens.  The  number  of  families  arriv- 
ing in  this  city  almost  daily  from  Europe  is  so  great  as  to  require  some 
measure  of  the  kind ;  for  the  means  heretofore  used  to  induce  the  attend- 
ance of  their  children  at  the  public  schools  have  proved  insufficient.  The 
objectionable  mafiner  in  which  these  children  are  employed,  on  their  arrival 
here,  needs  no  description  ;  it  cannot  have  escaped  the  notice  of  any  observ- 
ing citizen. 

The  subject  having  been  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  city 
authorities,  proceedings  were  had  in  the  Common  Council  which 
resulted  in  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions  which  follow  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Almshouse,  be  requested  to  make  it  known  to  parents,  and 
all  persons,  whether  emigrants  or  otherwise,  having  children  in  charge 
capable  to  receive  instruction,  and  being  between  the  ages  of  five  and  twelve 
years,  that,  unless  said  parents  and  persons  do  or  shall  send  such  children  to 
some  public  or  other  daily  school,  for  such  time  in  each  year  as  the  Trustees 
of  the  Public  School  Society  may  from  time  to  time  designate,  that  all  such 
persons  must  consider  themselves  without  the  pale  of  public  charities,  and 
not  entitled,  in  case  of  misfortune,  to  receive  public  favor. 

Besohed,  That  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Almshouse,  are  hereby  authorized  to  take  such  steps  as 
they  may  deem  expedient,  from  time  to  time,  to  give  the  necessary  publicity 
to  the  preceding  resolution  ;  and  the  commissioners  are  hereby  requested  to 
use  such  means  as  may  be  in  their  power  and  discretion  to  carry  the  same 
into  effect. 

Adopted  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  April  23,  1832. 

Adopted  by  the  Board  of  Assistants,  May  7,  1832. 

Approved  by  the  Mayor, -May  10,  1832. 

Twenty  thousand  copies  of  these  resolutions,  in  the  form  of 
a  circular,  were  directed  to  be  printed  and  distributed  by  the 
agent  of  the  Society. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  recommended  Sunday-school  teachers, 
the  officers  and  agents  of  charitable  institutions,  and  others,  to 
urge  constantly  upon  all  their  pupils  or  beneficiaries  the  impor- 
tance of  attending  the  public  schools. 


THE  CHOLERA  SEASON.  155 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  board,  the  Finance  Committee 
submitted  a  statement,  showing  that  the  treasurer  would  have 
at  his  disposal,  at  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  of  the  Society,  a  bal- 
ance of  about  $37,000.  This  favorable  state  of  the  treasury  led 
the  board  to  adopt  a  resolution  directing  the  appropriation  of 
$10,000  toward  the  payment  of  the  loan  from  the  Savings  Bank, 
and  also  another  resolution  to  locate  a  school  in  the  Eleventh 
Ward,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Corlear's  Hook.  A  Committee  on 
Locations  was  appointed,  consisting  of  Messrs.  J.  Heard,  Benja- 
min L.  Swan,  Charles  Oakley,  Samuel  F.  Mott,  William  W. 
Fox,  and  R.  C.  Cornell.  In  November,  the  committee  reported 
the  purchase  of  four  lots  in  Madison  street,  for  No.  13,  at  a  cost 
of  $8,000  ;  and,  in  December,  the  further  purchase  of  four  lots 
in  Houston  (then  North)  street,  near  Norfolk,  for  $6,000.  The 
Building  Committee  proceeded  promptly  with  their  duties  in 
reference  to  the  erection  of  houses  upon  these  locations. 

The  year  1832  is  memorable  in  the  sanitary  history  of  the 
city,  as  the  period  of  the  first  visitation  to  the  New  World  of 
the  Asiatic  cholera.  Its  presence  in  the  city,  and  its  desolating 
sweep,  arrested  business,  and  impelled  tens  of  thousands  to  leave 
their  dwellings  for  a  temporary  residence  in  the  country.  Many 
also  removed  from  one  section  of  the  city  to  another.  Some  of 
the  school  buildings  were  used  as  hospitals,  and  the  schools  gen- 
erally were  dismissed  in  advance  of  the  usual  season.  The  com- 
mittee having  the  matter  in  charge  made  a  report  of  the  pro- 
ceedings during  the  summer,  from  which  the  following  facts  are 
gleaned : 

On  the  6th  of  July,  the  committee  were  informed  that  the 
Board  of  Health  intended  to  take  possession  of  No.  4.  They 
waited  on  the  Mayor  and  the  Board  of  Health,  and  remon- 
strated against  using  the  school  as  a  hospital,  but  to  no  purpose. 
The  school  was  dismissed,  the  desks  and  furniture  were  taken 
out,  and  the  building  appropriated  for  the  sick.  On  the  9th  of 
July,  No.  1  was  closed.  On  the  15th,  the  Board  of  Health 
gave  directions  to  close  No.  2,  in  order  that  the  building  should 
be  occupied  as  a  hospital.  On  the  17th,  Nos.  8  and  10  were 
closed  ;  on  the  18th,  No.  -11  \vas  also  closed  ;  and  on  the  20th, 
No.  5  was  dismissed.  A  large  number  of  children  having  been 
sent  to  the  "  Sailors'  Snug  Harbor  "  from  other  portions  of  the 
city,  a  temporary  school  was  opened  during  the  season  at  that 


156  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

place,  a  building  being  granted  for  the  purpose.  The  school'was 
kept  open  from  the  27th  of  July  to  the  31st  of  August,  two  ses- 
sions daily,  seven  days  in  the  week,  making  a  term  of  seven 
weeks  of  five  days  each,  with  an  average  of  104  pupils. 

The  epidemic  passed  away,  and  the  schools  resumed  their 
sessions  in  the  fall,  at  such  times  as  were  deemed  expedient  by 
the  respective  sections  having  them  in  charge. 

The  committee  having  in  charge  the  recommendation  to  reor- 
ganize the  system,  made  a  partial  report  in  November,  specially 
with  reference  to  evening  schools.  The  committee  reported  a 
resolution  declaring  it  inexpedient  to  establish  evening  schools, 
and  a  second  resolution,  offering  accommodations  to  such  per- 
sons or  associations  as  would  take  the  care  of  such  schools  under 
their  own"  charge.  The  first  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table, 
and  the  second,  after  having  been  negatived,  was  reconsidered, 
and  referred  to  James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  to  report  upon  the  legal 
right  of  the  Society  to  appropriate  moneys  to  schools  not  under 
the  charge  of  the  board.  The  report  was  adverse  to  the  appro- 
priation, and  the  opinion  was  adopted  in  the  form  of  a  resolu- 
tion, declaring  it  inexpedient  to  make  a  distribution  of  its  funds 
to  schools  not  under  the  management  of  the  Society. 

The  Committee  on  Primary  Schools  reported  that  locations 
for  five  schools  had  been  selected,  these  being  the  initiative  of 
that  branch  of  the  system. 

In  November,  the  board  received  a  communication  from  the 
Trustees  of  the  African  Free  Schools,  stating  that  they  had  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  confer  with  a  similar  committee  of  the 
Society,  relative  to  a  union  of  the  schools  and  a  transfer  of  the 
colored  schools  to  the  Society.  Messrs.  Samuel  Demilt,  George 
T.  Trimble,  J.  It.  Hurd,  S.  F.  Mott,  and  Lindley  Murray,  were 
selected  for  the  purpose. 

The  committee  on  the  improvement  of  the  system,  having 
been  interrupted  in  their  plans  by  the  prevailing  epidemic  of 
the  summer  months,  renewed  their  labors  with  increased  zeal 
and  earnestness  in  the  fall,  and,  at  the  meeting  in  December, 
submitted  a  report,  accompanied  with  a  revised  code  of  the  by- 
laws, which  formed  the  subject  of  protracted  discussion,  until 
they  were  finally  adopted,  after  a  long  and  careful  examination. 
The  general  principles  and  measures  recommended  by  the  com- 
mittee were  the  following  • 


IMPROVEMENTS   IN   THE   SYSTEM.  157 

The  extension  of  the  system  of  primary  schools,  so  as  to  em- 
brace every  portion  of  the  city  "where  the  younger  children  were 
unable  to  attend  the  larger  schools,  as  already  contemplated  and 
partially  introduced. 

The  consequent  improved  classification  of  pupils  in  the  upper 
schools. 

The  extension  and  advance  of  the  grade  of  studies  pursued 
in  the  public  schools. 

The  establishing  of  a  high  school,  or  academy,  where  the 
higher  branches  should  be  taught. 

The  appointment  of  a  larger  number  of  qualified  teachers, 
retaining,  however,  the  monitorial  system,  which  would  be  im- 
proved by  this  measure. 

To  accept  the  aid  of  gentlemen  not  connected  with  the  board, 
in  the  care  of  the  primary  schools,  the  large  number  of  which 
would  call  for  the  services  of  more  committees,  or  "  sections," 
than  could  be  constituted  from  the  board  at  that  time. 

To  discontinue  the  system  of  rewards. 

The  appointment  of  a  superintendent,  or  agent,  in  place  of 
the  "  visitor,"  whose  special  attention  should  be  given  to  the 
primary  schools. 

To  regulate  the  depository  and  mode  of  distributing  supplies. 

The  year  being  now  at  its  close,  the  maturing  of  these  plans 
became  the  prominent  measure  for  1833,  during  which  year  the 
system,  materially  improved  and  expanded,  was  placed  in  a 
position  of  increased  strength  and  importance. 

The  operations  of  the  year  1833  were  opened  in  the  board  by 
the  presentation  of  a  memorial  from  the  Trustees  of  the  Manhat- 
tanville  Free  School,  asking  the  Society  to  adopt  it  as  a  part  of 
their  system.  The  trustees  had  prepared  a  bill  for  enactment  by 
the  Legislature  authorizing  the  transfer,  which  was  afterward 
presented  to  that  body ;  but,  after  some  discussion,  it  failed  to 
meet  approval,  and  was  lost.  The  transfer  was,  accordingly,  not 
made  at  that  time,  although  it  was  subsequently  consummated 
under  the  authority  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

Pending  the  discussion  of  the  new  code  of  by-laws,  the  com- 
mittee submitted  a  new  chapter  relative  to  evening  schools,  and 
a  resolution  was  adopted  declaring  it  to' be  expedient  to  establish 
evening  schools  under  the  care  of  the  board. 

The  proposition  from  the  Trustees  of  the  African  Free  Schools 


158  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

for  their  transfer  was  reported  upon  favorably  by  the  Committee 
of  Conference  ;  but  an  impediment  being  discovered  which  made 
the  authority  of  the  Legislature  necessary  to  secure  the  title  to 
the  property  when  transferred,  further  action  was  postponed. 

In  October,  Samuel  F.  Mott,  the  Treasurer,  tendered  his 
resignation.  The  resignation  was  accepted,  and  George  T.  Trim- 
ble was  elected  as  his  successor. 

An  application  for  a  school  from  a  number  of  respectable 
citizens  in  that  portion  of  the  city  near  the  Third  avenue,  be- 
tween Fourteenth  and  Twenty-eighth  streets,  was  presented  to 
the  board.  The  Mayor,  Gideon  Lee,  united  in  the  request,  and 
a  Committee  on  Locations  was  appointed  to  report  thereon. 
Messrs.  Charles  Oakley,  J.  Heard,  B.  S.  Collins,  Benjamin  L. 
Swan,  and  J.  N.  Wells,  were  selected  for  this  purpose.  The 
committee  were  directed  to  select  a  location  in  the  vicinity  of 
Avenue  C  and  Seventh  street. 

On  the  8th  of  November,  School  No.  14,  in  Houston  street, 
was  opened,  on  which  occasion  Peter  A.  Jay,  the  President  of 
the  Society,  and  Hon.  Gideon  Lee,  the  Mayor,  delivered  appro- 
priate addresses.  The  school,  at  the  following  examination,  met 
the  expectations  of  the  trustees — 283  boys,  256  girls,  and  261  in 
the  primary  department  being  present. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Locations  was  submitted  at 
the  meeting  of  the  board  in  February,  1834,  at  which  time  they 
reported  the  purchase  of  four  lots  in  Twenty-seventh  street, 
between  Second  and  Third  avenues,  at  $800  per  lot ;  nnd  the 
committee  were  authorized  to  select  and  purchase  locations  for 
six  primary  schools. 

Communications  were  received  at  the  same  meeting  from  a 
committee,  of  which  Gideon  Lee  was  chairman,  and  T.  Dwight, 
Jr.,  secretary,  appointed  by  a  public  meeting  of  citizens  to  pro- 
mote the  formation  of  a  school  for  the  special  instruction  of 
common  school  teachers  ;  and  from  a  joint  meeting  of  conference 
of  that  committee,  and  a  committee  of  the  council  of  the  Uni- 
versity, of  which  Rev.  Archibald  Maclay,'  D.D.,  was  chairman, 
inviting  the  appointment  of  a  committee  on  behalf  of  the  board 
to  confer  with  them  on  the  subject.  A  committee  was  accord- 
ingly appointed,  consisting  of  Robert  C.  Cornell,  Gulian  C.  Ver- 
planck,  and  J.  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr. 

The  board  were  enabled  in  their  annual  report,  published  in 


EVENING   SCHOOLS.  159 

May,  1834,  to  state  that  the  number  of  pupils  in  the  schools  was 
11,205 ;  the  receipts,  including  a  balance  of  $15,000,  were 
$100,056.31,  and  the  expenditures  were  $91,656.10.  The  debt  of 
the  Society  amounted  to  $40,000,  due  to  the  Bank  for  Savings, 
and  secured  by  bond  and  mortgage  on  the  property  of  the  So- 
ciety. 

The  salaries  of  the  teachers  had  been  raised  during  the  year, 
so  as  to  give  the  principals  of  the  male  departments  $1,000,  to 
principals  of  female  departments,  $400,  and  to  assistant  teachers 
in  the  female  and  primary  departments,  $160  to  $250.  The  sal- 
ary of  monitors  ranged  from  $25  to  $200.  There  were  then 
employed  forty-nine  teachers,  twenty-eight  assistant  teachers, 
and  seventy-five  monitors,  to  whom  $35,600  were  annually  paid 
for  their  services. 

The  experiment  of  evening  schools  for  apprentices  had  been 
made  during  the  winter  of  1833-'34,  four  schools  having  been 
kept  open  for  six  months,  from  October  to  March.  The  result 
was  satisfactory,  although  some  difficulties  had  arisen  which 
served  to  impair  their  usefulness. 

The  close  of  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  the  existence  of  the 
Society,  in  view  of  the  extent  of  the  system  which  had  been 
developed  by  its  labors  and  the  good  which  had  been  done,  was 
an  occasion  of  pleasure  and  congratulation.  The  promising  con- 
dition of  the  schools,  the  practical  value  of  the  new  measures, 
which  had  been  fairly  tried  and  found  eminently  useful,  the  lib- 
eral endowment  from  the  public  treasury,  and  the  evidences  of 
growing  interest  with  which  the  institution  was  regarded  by 
many  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  city,  as  well  as  by  distin- 
guished strangers,  wrere  at  once  rewards  and  incentives  of  no 
small  magnitude,  and  the  board  addressed  itself  to  the  labors  of 
the  future  with  confidence  and  hope. 


160  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

BISHOP   DUBOIS   AND   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   No.  6.— 1834. 

Application  of  Bishop  Dubois  to  the   Trustees — Action  of  the  Board — Committee 
Appointed — Report  of  the  Committee — Expurgation  of  School-Books. 

THE  reader  will  recollect  that,  in  the  year  1821,  previous  to 
the  controversy  with  the  Trustees  of  the  Bethel  schools,  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  had  resolved  to 
occupy  the  ground  ibelow  Bleecker  street,  and  between  Broad- 
way and  Bowery,  by  the  erection  of  a  commodious  school-build- 
ing. The  location  was  chosen  in  Mott  street,  not  far  from  St. 
Patrick's  Cathedral,  on  the  spot  which  it  still  occupies.  The  con- 
dition of  the  children  attracted  the  attention  of  Rev.  Dr.  Du- 
bois, then  Roman  Catholic  bishop  of  the  diocese  of  New  York, 
and  he  was  earnestly  solicitous  to  improve  the  social  and  moral 
condition  of  the  multitudes  of  young  persons  of  both  sexes  who 
inhabited  that  portion  of  the  city.  No  man  professing  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  and  a  witness  of  the  destitution,  moral  and  intellect- 
ual, of  hundreds  who  were  either  nominally  or  really  professors 
of  the  faith  which  he  taught,  could  fail  to  be  profoundly  con- 
cerned at  the  spectacle.  The  benevolent  bishop,  moved  as  well 
by  his  philanthropy  as  by  his  zeal  to  have  the  young  instructed 
in  the  doctrines  of  his  Church,  devised  a  plan  for  making  avail- 
able all  the  agencies  and  facilities  which  could  be  used  in  this 
benevolent  object.  He  therefore  made  an  application  to  the 
Board  of  Trustees  in  the  following  form,  wliich  was  laid  before 
that  body  at  a  meeting  held  on  the  1st  of  August,  1834 : 

The  Roman  Catholic  Bishop,  anxious  to  promote  the  education  of  the 
children  belonging  to  his  persuasion  around  St.  Patrick's,  begs  leave  to 
submit  to  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Public  Schools  the  following  re- 
quests, which  he  considers  as  sufficient  to  ensure  the  confidence  of  Catholic 
parents,  and  remove  the  false  excuses  of  those  who  cover  their  neglect  under 
the  false  pretext  of  religion,  which  they  do  not  practice.  He  assures  the 


BISHOP   DUBOI8.  161 

board  that  he  is  influenced  by  no  sectarian  motive,  no  views  of  proselytism, 
and  that  he  is  as  much  averse  to  encroach  upon  the  conscience  of  others,  as 
to  see  others  encroach  upon  his.  As  his  demands  are  grounded  upon  u  long 
experience  of  the  evils  produced  by  the  want  of  those  regulations — abuses 
which  it  would  require  a  long  time  to  explain — he  hopes  the  board  will  rely 
upon  "his  candor  in  this  case. 

1st.  That  the  board  would  permit  him  to  present  a  Catholic  teacher  for 
that  school,  subject,  of  course,  to  the  examination  and  approbation  of  the 
board,  and  also  to  the  removal  by  the  board,  whenever  they  think  it  fit, 
according  to  the  rules  admitted  for  the  other  schools. 

3d.  That  the  use  of  the  school  shall  be  admitted  to  the  Bishop,  or 
clergyman  appointed  by  him,  with  a  society  of  young  men  employed  by 
him,  on  Sundays,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  to  the  Roman  Catholic  children 
instructions  in  their  religion ;  and  of  keeping  a  Sunday  school  in  the  eve- 
ning for  poor  apprentices  and  servants,  who  have  no  other  time  to  devote  to 
their  education. 

3d.  That  no  books  shall  be  received  in  the  school  but  such  as  will  have 
been  submitted  to  the  Bishop,  as  free  from  sectarian  principles,  or  calum- 
nies against  his  religion.  And  as  many  otherwise  good  books  may  require 
only  that  such  passages  should  be  expunged,  or  left  out  in  binding,  that  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  Bishop,  the  board  will  order  it  to  be  done. 

4th.  That  the  bishop  will  be  permitted  to  visit  the  school  every  now 
and  then,  and  submit  such  observations  to  the  board  as  he  may  think  calcu- 
lated to  improve  the  system  of  education,  but  so  that  their  final  adoption 
may  be  left  entirely  to  the  judgment  of  the  board. 

5th.  The  bishop,  moreover,  begs  leave  to  have  evening  instruction  on 
religion  given  only  to  the  Roman1  Catholic  children  by  a  clergyman  appoint- 
ed ad  hoc  by  him  after  the  school  is  broken  up,  any  time  between  five  and 
seven. 

6th.  As  the  School  of  the  Sisters  has  been  burnt  in  the  late  conflagra- 
tion in  Mulberry  street,  by  which  accident  more  than  two  hundred  girls 
have  been  thrown  out  of  education,  if  the  upper  part  of  the  school  could 
be  conceded  to  them,  with. a  different  passage  from  that  of  the  boys,  until, 
at  least,  another  school-house  could  be  built  on  their  own  premises,  this 
new  favor  would  add  to  the  gratitude  of  the  bishop  ;  but,  if  found  imprac- 
ticable, may  be  dispensed  with  by  the  bishop  having  that  school  in  the  very 
inconvenient,  unwholesome,  and  dark  school-room  under  St.  Patrick's. 

Should  the  above  requests  be  objectionable,  could  not  one  of  the  school- 
houses,  which  the  bishop  heard  was  for  sale  for  want  of  sufficient  scholars, 
be  obtained  en  easy  terms,  and  bought  by  the  Trustees  of  St.  Patrick's  ? 

The  proposition  was  considered,  and,  after  mature  discussion, 
tne  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were  adopted  : 

Whereas,  The  Constitution  of  the  Public  School  Society  offers  and  en- 
sures to  all  classes  and  denominations  of  our  fellow-citizens  a  free  and  equal 
participation  in  the  advantages  which  it  affords ;  and,  whereas,  the  religious 
11 


162  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

and  moral  instruction  is  given  in  the  public  schools  entirely  free  from  sec- 
tarianism, and  it  always  has  been  and  is  now  the  design  and  endeavor  of 
the  trustees  so  to  conduct  them  as  that  all  sects  may  have  their  children 
educated  therein,  without  fear  of  their  peculiar  religious  views  being  inter- 
fered with;  and,  whereas,  the  propositions  made  by  the  Catholic  bishop 
contain  requirements  of  privileges  from  this  Society,  •which  have  never  been 
asked  by,  or  granted  to,  any  other,  and  which  would  be  incompatible  with 
the  constitutiton :  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  it  is  both  unconstitutional  and  inexpedient  to  accede  to 
said  propositions,  but  that  it  is  deemed  by  the  trustees  highly  desirable  that 
the  Catholic  children  generally  should  attend  the  public  schools,  and  that 
the  interest  and  cooperation  of  the  bishop  be  requested  in  promoting  this 
object. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  wait  on  the  bishop,  furnish 
him  with  a  copy  of  the  preceding  preamble  and  resolution,  and  give  him 
such  verbal  explanations  as  may  be  proper ;  and  particularly,  that  they  in- 
form him  that  the  use  of  one  of  the  rooms  in  each  of  the  public  school 
buildings  is  freely  granted  to  any  denomination  of  Christians  for  Sabbath- 
school  instruction ;  and  that,  if  there  be  in  any  of  the  school-books  used 
in  the  schools,  matter  which  can  fairly  be  considered  objectionable  by  any 
sect,  the  trustees  would  deem  it  a  duty  to  have  such  matters  erased,  or  .the 
use  of  the  book  discontinued. 

The  committee  to  confer  with  Bishop  Dubois  was  appointed, 
in  accordance  with  the  resolution  to  that  effect,  and  consisted  of 
Messrs.  Lindley  Murray,  Charles  Oakley,  and  James  F.  Depey- 
ster.  They  discharged  the  duties  assigned  to  them,  and  had  an 
interesting  and  amicable  interview  with  the  venerable  prelate. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  board  held  on  the  7th  of  November  fol- 
lowing, they  submitted  a  report,  which  reads  as  follows  : 

The  committee  appointed  to  confer  with  the  Roman  Catholic  bishop 
respectfully  report : 

That  they  have  had  a  satisfactory  interview  with  Bishop  Dubois,  fur- 
nished him  with  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  board,  and  gave 
such  verbal  explanations  as  appeared  proper.  The  committee  propose  that 
a  letter  of  the  following  import  be  addressed  by  the  board  to  the  bishop 
and  trustees  of  the  Catholic  schools,  viz : 

To  Bishop  Dulois  and  tlic  Trustees  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Schools  : 

GENTLEMEN  :  The  attention  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society 
having  been  recently  called  to  the  consideration  of  the  expediency  of  some 
means  being  adopted  to  induce  a  more  general  attendance  of  the  children 
of  Catholics  at  the  public  schools,  and  Bishop  Dubois  having  submitted 
several  propositions  which  were  deemed  by  the  board  inconsistent  with  the 
constitution  of  the  Society,  on  account  of  their  requiring  certain  privileges 


BISHOP   DUBOI8.  163 

for  one  sect  which  had  never  been,  nor  could  constitutionally  be,  granted  to 
any,  the  trustees,  impressed  with  a  strong  desire  that  the  children  of  our 
Roman  Catholic  population  should  all  attend  the  public  schools  as  far  as 
their  education  is  not  otherwise  provided  for,  would  respectfully  invite  such 
lay-members  of  the  Catholic  Church  as  feel  an  interest  in  this  important 
subject,  and  are  disposed  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  management  of  these 
schools,  to  become  members  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  of  its  Board 
of  Trustees. 

The  board  have  always  desired,  and  do  now  decidedly  wish,  so  to  con- 
duct the  schools  under  their  charge,  as  that  all  Christian  sects  shall  feel 
entire  freedom  in  sending  their  children  to  them.  And  if  there  be  in  the 
system  of  the  schools,  or  in  the  books  used  in  them,  any  matter  which  can 
reasonably  be  objected  to  by  any  denomination,  they  would  gladly  remove 
the  same.  And  this  invitation  is  given  with  the  conviction  that,  if  accepted, 
the  gentlemen  who  may  unite  with  us  will  have  no  difficulty  in  inducing 
such  alterations,  if  any  be  needed,  as  will  or  should  convince  the  members  of 
your  Church,  that  they  may  freely  send  their  children  to  our  schools,  without 
fear  of  their  peculiar  views  being  in  any  degree  interfered  with. 

By  order  and  in  behalf  of  the  trustees. 

The  letter  submitted  by  the  committee  was  adopted,  and 
ordered  to  be  signed  by  the  President  and  Secretary,  and  trans- 
mitted to  Bishop  Dubois  and  the  trustees  of  the  schools  connect- 
ed with  that  church.  No  reply  was  ever  sent  to  the  communi- 
cation, and  the  matter  was  abandoned. 

The  proposition  of  the  bishop  relative  to  the  expunging  or 
erasing  of  certain  offensive  passages  from  the  school-books  was 
not  then  acted  on  ;  but  on  a  revival  of  the  school  question,  in 
184rl-'42,  a  revision  was  carefully  executed  ly  order  of  the 
loard. 


164  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SQCIETY. 


CHAPTEK  IX. 

HISTORY  CONTINUED.— 1834  TO   1839. 

Transfer  of  the  African  Schools  to  the  Public  School  Society — The  Manumission  Soci- 
ety— School  for  Female  Monitors — George  T.  Trimble — Transfer  of  Property  to 
the  Corporation — Library  for  Teachers — House  of  Refuge — School  for  Male  Moni- 
tors— Public  School  No.  16 — School  for  Colored  Children — Music  in  No.  10 — 
Death  of  Lloyd  D.  Windsor — School  in  Oak  Street — Superintendent  of  Repairs — 
Workshop— Loan — Schools  for  German  Children — Study  of  French — Public 
School  No.  16  Opened — Surplus  Revenue  and  the  School  Fund — Opening  of  Cen- 
tre Street — Public  School  No.  1  Removed  to  William  Street — African  Schools — 
Trustees'  Hall — Death  of  Joseph  Lancaster — Vagrancy — Religious  Instruction — 
Primary  Schools — School  for  German  Children — Lots  for  the  Trustees'  Hall  Pur- 
chased. 

I 

THE  year  1834  was  rendered  specially  interesting  by  the 
transfer  of  the  schools  for  colored  children,  under  the  care  of  the 
Manumission  Society,  to  the  Public  School  Society,  and  the 
foundation  of  the  Female  Normal  School,  under  the  name  of 
"  School  for  Monitors." 

The  impediment  which  had  affected  the  power  of  the  Manu- 
mission Society  to  give  a  perfect  title'to  the  property  proposed 
to  be  transferred,  was  subjected  to  a  close  investigation,  and  an 
application  to  the  Legislature  was  found  necessary.  This  appli- 
cation was  made,  and  the  authority  having  been  granted,  nego- 
tiations were  immediately  renewed,  and  on  the  1st  of  August 
the  Committee  of  Conference  were  enabled  to  report  the  comple- 
tion of  their  labors.  The  property  consisted  of  two  lots  of 
ground  in  Mulberry  street,  and  the  perpetual  lease,  for  school 
purposes,  of  two  lots  in  William  street,  both  sites  having  brick 
buildings  thereon.  In  addition  to  the  real  estate,  the  buildings 
contained  fixtures,  furniture,  books,  cabinets  of  specimens,  &c., 
as  also  similar  apparatus  in  seven  hired  rooms,  where  smaller 
schools  were  kept.  The  total  appraised  value  of  the  property 
was  $12,132.22.  The  number  of  scholars  on  register  on  the  1st 
of  May  was  1,608,  with  an  average 'of  75 7.  The  school  moneys 


A   TEACHERS     LIBRARY.  165 

in  the  possession  of  the  Manumission  Society,  or  to  which  it  was 
entitled  for  the  year,  amounted  to  $9,304.64,  which  sum  was 
paid  over  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Public  School  Society. 

Resolutions  comprising  the  proceedings  of  the  committee 
were  adopted,  and  the  following  named  gentlemen  from  the 
Manumission  Society  were  elected  members  of  the  board : 
Messrs.  Israel,  Corse,  Thomas  Bussing,  Edmund  Willetts,  Henry 
Hinsdale,  Charles  Walker,  Edmund  Haviland,  Thomas  L.  Jew- 
ett,  William  L.  Stone,  and  Ira  B.  Underbill.  These  gentlemen, 
together  with  Samuel  Wood  and  Mahlon  Day,  were  appointed  a 
"  section,"  or  committee,  for  the  care  of  the  colored  schools. 
The  title  of  No.  2,  in  Mulberry  street,  was  changed  to  No.  1, 
and  No.  1,  in  William  street,  was  changed  to  a  primary  school. 

Messrs.  Samuel  W.  Seton,  George  T.  Trimble,  Samuel  De- 
milt,  Ira  B.  Underbill,  and  Thomas  Bussing,  were  named  as  a 
committee  to  report  on  the  system  of  instruction  pursued  in  the 
schools,  and  recommend  such  changes  as  should  make  it  conform 
to  that  of  the  schools  for  white  children. 

The  Executive  Committee,  at  the  same  meeting,  submitted 
the  report  of  a  sub-committee  on  the  expediency  of  establishing 
a  school  for  female  monitors,  or  normal  school,  which  recom- 
mended the  early  organization  of  a  school  which  should  hold  one 
session  of  five  hours  on  Saturday  of  each  week,  in  Public  School 
No.  5,  in  Mott  street.  The  report  was  referred  back  to  the  Ex- 
'ecutive  Committee,  to  be  carried  into  efiect  at  the  earliest  day. 

In  November,  George  T.  Trimble,  the  Treasurer,  resigned 
his  office,  his  predecessor,  Samuel  F.  Mott,  having  returned  from 
his  visit  to  Europe.  The  latter  gentleman,  being  nominated  for 
the  office,  was  unanimously  elected  to  perform  the  duties  which 
he  had  previously  discharged  with  so  much  fidelity  and  ability. 

The  Board  of  Supervisors  of  the  city  and  county  held  a 
meeting  on  the  15th  of  October,  at  which  it  was  resolved  that  a 
special  committee  be  appointed,  to  confer  with  the  board  of  the 
Society  relative  to  the  transfer  of  the  property  to  the  city,  tak- 
ing back  a  perpetual  lease  of  the  same  for  school  purposes.  The 
proceedings  were  laid  before  the  trustees  at  the  quarterly  meet- 
ing in  November,  and  a  committee  of  fifteen  was  appointed  on 
behalf  of  the  Society  to  negotiate  the  transfer. 

In  February,  1835,  resolutions  were  adopted  appointing  a 
committee  to  procure  a  library  for  the  trustees  and  teachers,  and 


166  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

authorizing  the  expenditure  of  $100  the  first  year,  and  $50 
annually  thereafter,  for  works  on  education  and  science  suitable 
for  common  schools,  and  such  periodicals  and  other  publications 
as  related  to  popular  instruction.  Messrs.  Gulian  C.  Yerplanck, 
Hamilton  Fish,  and  J.  B.  Collins  were  appointed  as  the  com- 
mittee. 

A  proposition  submitted  to  the  board  by  the  managers  of  the 
House  of  .Refuge,  to  adopt  the  school  in  that  institution  as  one 
of  their  number,  was  subsequently  reported  upon  adversely,  and 
the  measure  was  abandoned. 

The  necessity  for  a  school  in  which  instruction  of  a  higher 
grade  should  be  given,  had  been  already  frequently  urged  upon 
the  board  in  various  forms,  and  at  the  quarterly  meeting  in  Feb- 
ruary, the  board  directed  the  Executive  Committee  to  take  the 
question  of  establishing  such  an  institution  into  consideration. 
In  November,  the  committee  reported  in  favor  of  a  school  for 
male  monitors,  and  the  board  authorized  the  organization  of 
such  a  school,  to  be  held  every  evening,  except  Saturday  and 
Sunday  of  each  week,  from  October  to  March,  in  No.  5,  and  the 
rest  of  the  year  on  Saturdays,  at  school-house  No.  7. 

The  Committee  on  Locations  reported  in  favor  of  the  pur- 
chase of  four  lots  of  ground  in  Fifth  street,  between  Avenues  C 
and  D,  and  also  two  lots  of  ground  in  Laurens  street,  for  a  school 
for  colored  children ;  both  of  which  were  confirmed  by  the 
board. 

The  number  of  pupils  at  this  time  in  the  schools  was  17,318, 
and  the  expenses  had  been,  for  the  year,  about  $115,000. 

The  year  1836  opened  upon  the  Society  with  promises  of 
increasing  usefulness,  which  were  at  the  time  unclouded  by  any 
signs  of  adverse  influences.  The  diligent  care  and  faithfulness 
of  the  board  had  been  guaranteed  by  its  previous  history,  and 
they  were  cheerfully  given  with  a  singleness  of  purpose  unsur- 
passed by  that  of  any  similar  institution  in  the  world. 

A  new  proposition  was  now  destined  to  awaken  the  interest 
of  the  board  and  of  the  schools.  Mr.  Darius  E.  Jones,  a  gentle- 
man of  cultivation  and  liberal  views,  who  was  a  professional 
musician,  had,  for  a  period  of  six  months,  been  giving  lessons  in 
vocal  music  in  School  No.  10 ;  and  the  quarterly  report  from 
that  section,  presented  at  the  February  meeting  of  the  board  in 
1836,  proposed  and  recommended  the  introduction  of  vocal 


SUPERINTENDENT  OF  KEPAIBS.  167 

music  as  a  branch  of  instruction  in  the  schools.  The  scheme 
was  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Theodore 
Dwight,  Jr.,  James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  John  Morrison,  Samuel  B. 
Childs,  Samuel  F.  Mott,  J.  R.  Hurd,  and  A.  R.  Lawrence.  The 
committee  reported  six  months  afterward,  without  any  declara- 
tion of  policy  other  than  that  the  matter  should  be  left  to  the 
discretion  of  the  several  sections,  and  with  the  proviso  that, 
where  introduced,  the  Society  should  bear  no  expense  in  conse- 
quence, and  that  the  lessons  in  music  should  not  interfere  with 
the  regular  course  of  school  studies. 

The  Society  and  the  cause  of  education  met  with  a  great  loss, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1836,  by  the  death  of  LLOYD  D. 
WINDSOR,  Principal  of  No.  1,  which  position  he  had  held  for 
twenty  years,  with  great  honor  to  himself  and  advantage  to  the 
school.  His  loss  was  universally  lamented,  and  he  left  behind 
him  a  hallowed  memory  and  an  unsullied  name. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  board  held  in  August,  the  Property 
Committee  was  authorized  to  erect  a  house  on  the  lots  in  Fifth 
street,  for  No.  16. 

The  Committee  on  Locations  had  selected  a  piece  of  property 
on  Roosevelt  and  Oak  streets,  near  Pearl,  and,  acting  under  the 
powers  vested  in  them,  had  negotiated  for  its  purchase,  at  the 
price  of  $21,500.  The  board  approved  the  selection  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  in  May,  1837,  directed  the  President  and  Secretary 
to  complete  the  purchase  and  affix  the  seal  of  the  Society  to  the 
usual  forms. 

Peter  A.  Jay,  Esq.,  the  President  of  the  Society,  and  Lind- 
ley  Murray,  Secretary,  having  declined  a  renomination,  their 
offices  were  filled,  at  the  annual  election,  by  the  choice  of  Robert 
C.  Cornell  as  President,  and  Anthony  P.  Halsey  as  Secretary. 

Considerations  of  economy,  both  in  time  and  expense,  sug- 
gested to  the  board  the  propriety  of  employing  a  Superintendent 
of  Repairs,  who  should  have  the  care  of  the  carpenter's  work, 
painting,  glazing,  &c.,  required  upon  the  school-houses.  The 
bills  for  carpenter's  work  alone  averaged  from  seven  to  eight 
hundred  dollars  per  month,  and  the  remaining  items  of  expendi- 
ture for  other  work  made  a  considerable  aggregate-  during  the 
year.  The  Property  Committee  were  therefore  directed,  early 
in  the  year,  to  examine  the  facts  and  make  such  recommenda- 
tions as  appeared  to  them  necessary  to  meet  the  requirements  of 


168  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  system.  A  report  from  the  committee,  presented  in  August, 
advised  the  erection  of  a  workshop,  and  the  appointment  of  a 
competent  foreman,  at  a  salary  not  to  exceed  eight  hundred  dol- 
lars per  annum.  The  recommendations  of  the  committee  were 
adopted,  and  the  new  feature  thus  introduced  was  successfully 
and  advantageously  put  into  operation.  A  workshop  was  erect- 
ed on  the  rear  of  the  lots  belonging  to  the  Society,  known  as  No. 
61  Thompson  street,  and  Amnon  McVey  was  appointed  foreman, 
at  a  salary  of  $750  a  year. 

At  the  close  of  the  year,  the  board,  in  view  of  the  demand 
for  additional  means  to  purchase  lots  and  erect  buildings,  ordered 
a  loan  of  $30,000,  to  be  secured  by  bond  and  mortgage  upon  the 
property  of  the  Society. 

The  great  increase  in  the  number  of  children  of  emigrants 
from  Europe  suggested  the  adaptation  of  the  system  to  meet  the 
wants  of  that  class  of  the  population,  as  far  as  it  could  be  done 
consistently  with  the  objects  of  the  Society  and  the  powers  vest- 
ed in  them  by  the  Legislature.  The  rapid  increase  in  the  popu- 
lation speaking  the  German  language,  and  the  very  large  num- 
ber of  children  who  were  professedly  shut  out  of  school  in  con- 
sequence of  the  absence  of  opportunities  to  speak  or  learn  inx 
their  own  tongue,  were  made  the  subject  of  earnest  consideration 
by  the  board,  at  the  meeting  in  November  of  this  year  (1837). 
Several  communications  had  been  laid  before  the  Executive 
Committee  at  its  session  on  the  2d  of  the  month,  and  the  matter 
was  referred  to  a  sub-committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Lyman 
Cobb,  Joseph  B.  Collins,  Lindley  Murray,  G.  T.  Trimble,  and 
A.  P.  Halsey.  This  committee  submitted  a  resolution  to  the 
board,  which  was  unanimously  approved,  and  is  introduced  in 
the  following  report  to  the  Executive  Committee.  As  this  ques- 
tion afterward  became  identified,  in  another  form,  with  the  name 
of  a  gentleman  who  held  a  high  position  in  the  State,  the  pro- 
ceedings in  relation  to  this  measure  are  entitled  to  a  full  detail, 
independently  of  their  own  importance.  The  report  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  application  of  John  Rudy  and 
Thomas  Cook,  for  the  establishment  of  schools  for  the  benefit  of  German 
children,  have  had  that  subject  under  consideration,  and  have  given  the 
attention  to  it  which  its  importance  demands.  They  are  satisfied  that  a 
necessity  exists  for  affording  to  that  class  of  our  population  opportunities 


GERMAN   AND   FRENCH.  169 

for  receiving  instruction  which  our  present  schools  do  not  supply.  Under 
this  conviction,  and  knowing  that  the  present  by-laws  do  not  invest  the 
Executive  Committee  with  power  to  establish  schools  of  a  different  character 
from  the  present  primaries,  they  presented  to  the  trustees,  at  their  meeting 
on  the  17th  of  November,  the  following  resolution,  which  was  unanimously 
adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  Primary  School  Committee  be  authorized,  under  the 
advice  of  the  Executive  Committee,  to  establish  one  or  more  primary  schools 
for  the  instruction  of  German  children  in  the  English  language ;  and  that 
the  operation  of  existing  by-laws  be  so  far  suspended  as  to  allow  the  admis- 
sion of  children  of  that  class  to  these  schools  from  the  ages  of  four  to  six- 
teen years ;  also,  to  place  the  schools  for  boys  under  the  care  of  male  teach- 
ers, with  such  other  modifications  as  may  be  necessary. 

Believing  that  much  good  may  be  done  to  this  class  of  emigrants  by 
thus  affording  them  the  means  of  instruction,  the  committee  recommend 
that  an  experiment  be  made  with  two  schools  for  children  of  the  ages  con- 
templated in  the  above  resolution ;  and  as  the  object  is  simply  to  prepare 
the  children,  to  pursue  their  education  in  the  existing  public  schools,  and 
thus  to  become  identified  with  our  native  population,  from  doing  which 
they  are  debarred  by  the  causes  stated  in  the  applications,  they  further 
recommend  that  the  term  of  attendance  be  limited  to  twelve  months,  and 
that  it  be  particularly  urged  upon  the  sections,  under  whose  care  they  may 
be  placed,  to  give  attention  to  this  part  of  the  subject,  and  to  insist  very 
rigidly  on  a  compliance  with  this  rule ;  and  in  special  cases  where  the  re- 
moval to  a  public  school  may  be  beneficially  made  at  an  earlier  period,  to 
cause  it  to  be  done. 

They  therefore  ask  leave  to  introduce  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Primary  School  Committee  be  requested  to  open  two 
schools  for  the  instruction  of  German  children  in  the  English  language, 
under  such  regulations  as  may  be  necessary,  and  in  compliance  with  the 
general  scope  of  the  preceding  remarks. 

An  effort  was  made  to  introduce  another  novelty  into  the 
schools,  by  the  formation  of  classes  for  the  study  of  French. 
The  proceeding  was  altogether  unofficial,  and,  the  facts  having 
been  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Executive  Committee,  the 
Committee  on  Teachers  and  Monitors  investigated  the  matter, 
and  made  the  following  report : 

The  committee  on  teachers  and  monitors  report  on  the  subject  of  instruc- 
tion in  the  French  language,  that  they  find  on  inquiry  that  a  teacher  of 
French  offered  his  services  some  months  since  at  Public  School  No.  10,  pre- 
vious to  the  present  teacher  of  the  male  department  taking  charge  thereof; 
that  with  the  implied,  if  not  expressed,  sanction  of  one  or  more  of  the 
section,  he  was  permitted  to  attend  one  hour  a  day,  three  times  a  week,  and 
to  instruct  all  such  of  the  scholars,  male  and  female,  as  wished  to  attend, 


170  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

and  were  willing  to  pay  one  dollar  per  quarter,  the  hour  appropriated  to 
this  object  not  being  permitted  or  intended  to  interfere  with  the  usual  school 
hours. 

The  committee  also  find  that  tuition  in  French  has  been  allowed  in 
nearly  all  the  other  schools,  on  the  same  terms,  precedent  being  assigned  by 
the  teachers  as  a  ground  of  permission,  and  generally  without  the  previous 
knowledge  of  the  sections. 

One  or  more  of  our  teachers  have  become  satisfied,  from  the  experiment, 
of  the  impolicy  of  the  measure,  and  it  would  probably  be  permitted  to 
cease  without  any  action  of  the  trustees.  But  as  none  of  the  teachers  appear 
to  have  thought  there  was  any  illegality  in  the  plan,  so  long  as  it  was  not 
allowed  to  interfere  with  the  usual  school  hours,  your  committee  deem  it 
proper  to  say,  that  although  they  do  not  consider  the  teachers  much,  if  any, 
to  blame  for  the  past,  as  they  have  acted  under  an  erroneous  impression 
and  from  good  motives,  yet  they  think  it  requisite  that  in  future  our  teach- 
ers should  understand  that  the  trustees  are  not  willing  that  any  person  not 
in  the  employ  of  the  Society  be  allowed  to  give  instruction  in  any  branch 
whatever,  in  our  buildings,  whether  for  pay  or  not,  without  the  previous 
sanction  of  the  Board  or  Executive  Committee. 

The  committee  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  folio  wing  resolutions  : 

1st.  That  the  teachers  be  directed  to  put  an  end  to  the  existing  courses 
of  instruction  in  French,  so  soon  as  agreements  made  with  the  French  in- 
structor will  permit. 

2d.  That  the  teachers  be  directed  not  to  permit  instruction  in  any 
branch  whatever  to  be  given  in  our  buildings,  by  any  person  not  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  trustees,  without  the  consent  of  the  board. 

The  report  and  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  experiments  of 
the  kind  were  not  again  made,  except  under  the  proper  author- 
ity and  control  of  the  several  sections,  or  of  the  board. 

The  Property  Committee,  during  the  month  of  July,  had 
made  contracts  for  the  erection  of  a  building  on  the  lots  in  Fifth 
street,  between  Avenues  C  and  D,  and  the  work  was  carried  for- 
ward with  all  the  promptitude  which  the  case  permitted.  The 
house  was  completed  and  opened  on  the  27th  of  April,  1838, 
and  this  circumstance  was  the  first  marked  occurrence  of  the 
new  year,  which  was  preceded,  a  few  days  before,  by  an  order 
for  the  purchase  of  lots  in  Thirteenth  street  for  a  new  school, 
No.  17,  in  order  to  relieve  Nos.  3  and  12,  which  were  over- 
crowded with  pupils,  the  new  location  making  a  very  appropri- 
ate site  for  a  school. 

The  remarkable  occurrences  in  our  national  and  commercial 
history,  which  render  the  years  1834  to  1842  memorable  as  a 
development  of  grand  economical  laws,  had  matured  in  the  first 


TBUSTEES'    HALL.  171 

stage  of  their  operation  in  a  plethora  in  the  national  treasury, 
arising  from  the  vast  receipts  from  the  revenue  on  imports  and 
the  sale  of  public  lands.  Under  this  state  of  things,  a  bill  was 
passed  in  Congress  and  became  a  law,  depositing  the  surplus 
revenue  with  the  several  States  of  the  Union  ;  and  that  portion 
which  was  deposited  with  the  State  of  New  York  was,  by  a  law 
passed  at  the  session  of  the  Legislature  (1837-'3S),  appropriated 
for  school  purposes.  This  became  a  source  of  increased  and 
very  desirable  revenue  to  the  Public  School  Society,  and,  the 
facts  being  committed  to  the  board  by  Hon.  Gulian  0.  Yer- 
planck,  a  committee  on  l£e  subject  was  appointed,  which  re- 
ported a  statement  of  the  measure,  with  a  copy  of  the  law,  and 
were  thereupon  discharged. 

The  Common  Council  had  adopted  resolutions  and  taken  the 
preliminary  steps  for  the  opening  of  Centre  street  to  Chatham, 
the  Park  at  that  time  extending  to  an  angle  which  made  a  cir- 
cuitous route  through  Chambers  street  necessary  for  all  other 
than  pedestrians.  The  extension  required  the  demolition  and 
removal  of  No.  1,  as  that  building  occupied  a  position  on  the 
line  of  the  opening.  The  school  for  colored  children,  known  as 
No.  1,  was  located  in  William  street,  on  lots  leased  from  the 
city,  but  which  had  been  vacated  soon  after  the  transfer  to  the 
Society  in  1834,  and  a  new  house  erected  in  Laurens,  near 
Broome  street.  The  building  in  William  street  was  occupied,  at 
the  time  of  the  extension,  for  public  purposes,  and,  on  its  sur- 
render to  the  Society,  was  replaced  by  a  new  and  commodious 
house,  the  schools,  in  the  interval,  being  accommodated  in  hired 
premises. 

On  the  4th  of  May,  the  name  of  the  "  African  "  schools  was 
changed  to  that  of  "  Colored." 

The  average  attendance  for  the  year  ending  May  1,  1838,  as 
reported  to  the  Commissioners  of  School  Money,  was  19,982,  of 
which  1,441  were  colored  children. 

The  increase  in  the  business  of  the  Society  by  the  multiplica- 
tion of  schools,  the  system  of  supplies,  &c.,  made  it  expedient  to 
secure  sufficient  apartments  for  the  meetings  of  the  board  and  its 
committees,  as  well  as  to  provide  for  the  preservation  of  the 
records,  and  a  suitable  depository.  Only  a  part  of  these  pur- 
poses were  originally  contemplated  in  a  resolution  by  which  a 
committee  was  appointed  in  November,  1837,  to  take  such  steps 


172  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

as  might  be  deemed  necessary  to  procure  a  hall  for  meetings  of 
the  board.  The  committee,  in  1838,  were  directed,  on  their  own 
recommendations,  to  apply  to  the  Common  Council  for  the  use 
of  an  apartment  in  one  of  the  public  buildings,  but  the  request 
was  not  granted.  The  committee  reported  in  favor  of  making 
an  appropriation  of  not  over  $1,500  a  year  for  the  purpose, 
which  should  be  expended  in  rent,  or  in  "  interest  on  the  cost," 
as  the  case  might  be.  The  recommendation  was  adopted,  and 
the  foundation  laid  for  the  "  Trustees'  Hall,"  now  occupied  by 
the  Board  of  Education. 

The  new  building  for  No.  1,  erected  on  the  lots  occupied  as  a 
school  for  colored  children,  having  been  completed  and  prepared 
for  the  reception  of  pupils,  the  dedication  exercises  were  held  on 
the  16th  of  October.  The  scholars  passed  a  creditable  examina- 
tion, and  the  audience  were  highly  gratified  at  the  condition  of 
the. school.  Thirty  of  the  trustees  and  a  large  number  of  visit- 
ors were  present  on  the  occasion. 

During  the  month  of  October,  the  friends  of  education  in 
New  York  were  called  to  pay  their  tribute  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  JOSEPH  LANCASTER,  the  distinguished  and  indefatiga- 
ble laborer  in  the  cause  of  popular  instruction,  and  the  founder 
of  the  system  known  by  his  name,  which  had  been  so  success- 
fully adopted  and  improved  by  the  Public  School  Society. 

Mr.  Lancaster  took  a  great  interest  in  the  schools,  and  had 
commenced  a  series  of  visits  for  the  purpose  of  inspection  and 
counsel.  On  the  22d  of  October,  an  examination  took  place  at 
No.  7,  in  Chrystie  street,  at  the  close  of  which  he  left  the  school. 
In  crossing  Grand  street,  he  was  thrown  down  by  a  horse  and 
carriage,  and  very  seriously  injured.  He  was  taken  to  the  house 
of  a  friend,  where  his  physicians  attended  him,  but  without 
avail.  He  was  called  to  his  rest  on  the  24:th,  two  days  after- 
ward, and  his  remains  were  placed  in  the  burying-ground  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  in  Houston  street,  between  the  Bowery  and 
Chrystie  street. 

On  the  announcement  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Lancaster  in  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  Benjamin  Clark,  Lindley  Murray,  and  Sam- 
uel F.  Mott  were  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  a  testimonial 
to  his  memory ;  which  duty  was  performed,  and  the  following 
"  minute  "  was  directed  to  be  engrossed  by  a  competent  pupil 
of  the  public  schools,  and  placed  in  the  trustees'  room  : 


TEIBUTE  TO  JOSEPH  LANCASTER.  173 

JOSEPH     LANCASTER, 

THE  AUTHOR  OF  TUB  MONITORIAL  OR  SYSTEM  OF  MUTUAL    IXSTKIJCTIOK,  OH1GINAI.LY  KNOWN  AS 

THE    LANCASTERIAN"   SYSTEM, 

•     WAS   BOBS 

*'          NEAR     LONDON     ON    THE     25TH     OF     SEPTEMBER,     1778, 
AMD  DIBD 

AT    WILLIAMSBUKGH,    IN    THE    STATE    OF    NEW    YORK, 
ON    THE    24TH    B"A  Y    OF    OCTOBER,    A.  D.    1838. 


HE     TRAVELLED     EXTENSIVELY    IN    BOTH    HEMISPHERES,    FOR    THE    PURPOSE    OP 
INTRODUCING   AND   PROMOTIKG   HIS 


A    SYSTEM    WHICH    IS     RAPIDLY     AMELIORATING    THE     CONDITION     OF    MAN, 
AND      EXTENDING      T  1!  K      BLESSINGS    OF 

EDUCATION 

TO    MILLIONS    WHO    MIGHT    OTHERWISE    HAVE    LIVED    AND    DIBD    IN     THE    DARKNESS    OF 

IGNORANCE. 


IN  THE  PROSECUTION  OF  THIS  NOBLE  AND  BENEVOLENT  OBJECT 
HE  WAS  ON  A  VISIT  TO  THK    CITY  OF  NEW  YORK,  AND   HAD  JUST  LEFT  ONE  OF  THK 

PUBLIC    SCHOOLS, 

WHEN   HB   MET    WITH   THE    CASUALTY  WHICH   IN   A    FEW   BOCRS  TERMINATED   HIS  MORTAL   CAREER. 


AS    A 

TRIBUTE    OF    RESPECT 

TO  HIS  MEMORY, 

THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY  OF  NEW  YORK 

HAVE  CAUSED  THIS  SHEET  TO  BE  EXECUTED  BY  A  PUPIL  OF  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.  ,  IN  THK 

CITY  OF  NEW  YORK. 


174  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Early  in  life,  Mr.  Lancaster  had  become  impressed  with  the 
advantages  of  the  system  of  mutual  instruction,  and  resolved 
to  develop  his  method  at  the  most  favorable  opportunity.  He 
opened  a  school  in  Southwark,  in  1789,  where  he  taughf  almost 
gratuitously.  The  success  of  his  labors  soon  attracted  atten- 
tion to  his  system,  and  subscriptions  began  to  pour  in  upon 
him  to  sustain  him  in  his  benevolent  work,  by  which  he  was 
enabled  not  only  to  enlarge  his  own  school,  but  to  travel 
through  the  kingdom  and  introduce  it  in  other  cities.  Numer- 
ous schools  were  established  under  his  personal  supervision. 
Dr.  Bill  now  appeared  as  a  rival,  and  claimed  to  be  the  origi- 
nator of  the  monitorial  system,  and  by  his  personal  and  pro- 
fessional influence  he  commanded  so  much  attention,  that  Mr. 
Lancaster,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  was 
overborne  in  the  competition,  and  compelled  to  yield  to  the 
pressure  of  his  more  pretentious  and  successful  rival.  He 
visited  the  United  States  and  Canada,  the  Legislature  of  which 
province  made  him  an  appropriation  to  assist  him  in  develop- 
ing the  school  system  ;  but,  not  deriving  sufficient  income  from 
that  source  to  complete  his  plans,  he  was  again  forced  to  re- 
tire from  the  active  pursuit  of  his  scheme,  and  sought  a  home 
in  New  York,  with  the  expectation  of  giving  some  additional  evi- 
dences of  the  perfection  to  which  he  had  brought  his  system.  He 
had  submitted  a  proposition  to  the  Executive  -Committee  to  make 
an  experiment  with  forty  children,  and  with  the  aid  of  ten  others 
as  monitors,  to  teach  them  in  from  four  to  six  weeks  to  read  and 
spell  accurately.  Mr.  Lancaster*  was  reluctant  to  communicate 
the  details  of  his  plan  to  the  committee,  or  to  permit  them  to  be 
present  at  any  of  his  exercises.  The  committee  reported  unfa- 
vorably upon  the  application,  but  recommended  that  he  be 
allowed  the  use  of  a  room  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  his  class- 
es. The  report  was  accepted,  laid  on  the  table,  and  a  resolu- 
tion adopted  declaring  it  to  be  inexpedient  to  grant  the  appli- 
cation. 

Mr.  Lancaster  shared  the  fate  of  most  pioneers  in  literature, 
science,  and  reform,  for  he  never  amassed  any  pecuniary  rewards 
from  his  labors.  A  few  friends  had,  however,  purchased  a  small 
annuity  for  him,  and  he  was  devoting  his  time  to  general  visita- 
tion and  advisory  examinations  when  his  labors  were  terminated 
by  his  death. 


VAGRANCY.  175 

The  condition  of  the  vagrant  and  unemployed  children  of 
the  city  was  made  again  the  subject  of  special  consideration  by 
the  Executive  Committee,  and  referred  to  a  sub -committee  to 
devise  plans  for  correcting  the  evil.  The  committee  reported  a 
project,  of  which  the  leading  features  were : 

1st.  To  appoint  three  visitors,  who  should  visit  certain  sec- 
tions of  the  city  where  such  labors  were  most  required,  and  urge 
upon  children  and  parents  the  necessity  and  duty  of  improving 
the  privileges  offered  them. 

2d.  To  procure  the  passage  of  a  law  making  it  an  offence  in 
a  minor  to  be  found  idle  and  uninstructed,  and  subject  to  com- 
mitment if  reformation  did  not  take  place. 

3d.  The  establishment  of  a  Manual  Labor  Farm  School,  to 
which  such  children  should  be  sent  when  arrested  under  the  law. 

Visits,  printed  addresses,  handbills,  and  other  means  of  se- 
curing the  greatest  publicity,  were  also  recommended.  The 
report  was  adopted,  and  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  to 
the  Corporation  of  the  city  submitted  a  draft  of  the  paper  they 
had  prepared,  in  which  similar  views  and  plans  were  advocated. 
The  memorial  was  adopted,  and  ordered  to  be  properly  signed, 
authenticated,  and  submitted  to  the  Common  Council.  Nothing, 
however,  resulted,  except  indirectly,  from  these  efforts,  as  the 
plans  were  never  matured,  the  board  having  failed  to  obtain  the 
patronage  or  the  sanction  of  either  the  city  or  the  State. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee,  November  26, 
a  resolution  was  adopted  appointing  a  committee,  consisting  of 
Joseph  B.  Collins,  Samuel  K.  Childs,  and  William  L.  Stone,  to 
inquire  into  the  expediency  of  introducing  into  the  schools  suit- 
able books  setting  forth  "  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion, 
free  from  all  sectarian  bias."  A  report  was  submitted,  and  an 
amendment  of  the  by-laws  was  proposed,  defining  the  position 
of  the  Society  ;  bnt  the  agitation  of  the  school  question,  which 
was  then  threatening  the  public  mind,  and  which  followed  soon 
afterward,  arrested  any  further  action.  The  agent  was  directed 
to  ascertain,  by  a  new  census  of  the  schools,  what  proportion  of 
the  pupils  attended  Sunday  schools. 

A  committee  was  appointed,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year 
(1839),  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  comparative  advantages 
of  the  primary  schools  and  primary  departments.  The  first 
were  the  schools  established  in  various  localities,  in  order  to  place 


176  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

school  privileges  within  the  reach  of  the  youngest  children,  many 
of  whom  would  have  been  unprovided  for,  in  consequence  of  the 
distance  of  the  larger  schools  from  their  abodes.  The  result  was 
much  in  favor  of  the  departments  of  the  large  schools,  but  the  dis- 
crepancy was  easily  understood  and  recognized,  and  the  commit- 
tee recommended  such  a  revision  of  the  manual  as  would  not 
only  develop  the  primary  schools  and  make  them  more  efficient, 
but  would  also  remove  the  difficulties  which  apparently  existed 
in  regard  to  their  cost  and  attendance.  The  committee  were 
decided  in  their  conviction  that  moral  and  physical  education 
are  far  more  important  for  children  under  six  years  of  age  than 
instruction  in  letters,  and  that  frequent  intermissions  and  varied 
exercises  for  children  of  that  age  are  necessary,  while  the  con- 
finement of  the  scholars  to  a  bench  for  hours  in  succession  is 
injurious  and  improper.  The  recommendations  of  the  commit- 
tee were  adopted. 

The  experiment  of  a  school  for  the  special  instruction  of  Ger- 
man children  had  now  been  fairly  tried,  and  the  Primary  School 
Committee  was  requested  to  submit  a  report  thereon.  They 
ascertained  that,  during  the  first  year,  380  pupils  had  been  ad- 
mitted, of  whom  328  entered  the  first  class.  Of  these,  57  had 
learned  to  read,  and,  out  of  this  number,  15  had  removed  to  the 
country,  and  27  had  entered  upon  some  business  occupation. 
The  object  of  the  school — which  was,  to  make  it  introductory  to 
the  public  schools — had  been  lost  sight  of  by  the  teacher,  as  no 
transfers  had  been  made,  in  consequence  of  the  reluctance  of  the 
scholars  to  leave  the  teacher  and  the  school  to  which  they  had 
become  attached,  and  the  apprehension,  which  was  strengthened 
by  the  declaration  of  many,  that  they  would  abandon  school 
altogether  if  so  transferred.  The  teacher  desired  that  certain 
privileges  in  regard  to  advanced  lessons  might  be  granted,  but 
the  committee  were  unwilling  to  concur  with  the  plan,  except  in 
a  modified  form.  They  recommended  a  school  for  German  girls 
in  the  eastern  section  of  the  city,  and  two  other  schools,  one  for 
each  sex,  in  any  locality  where  they  appeared  to  be  required. 
The  schools  were  to  be  strictly  conducted  as  primary  schools, 
except  that  the  boys'  schools  might  be  under  the  care  of  a  male 
teacher,  and  that  minors  of  any  age  over  four  years  might  be 
admitted. 

The  committee,  on  obtaining  a  suitable  place  for  the  use  of 


TRUSTEES'  HALL.  177 

the  Society  for  its  business  departments,  reported,  in  June,  in 
favor  of  purchasing  the  property  on  the  northwest  corner  of 
Grand  and  Elm  streets,  at  a  cost  of  $19,500,  and  the  erection 
thereon  of  a  suitable  building.     The  recommendation  was  adopt- 
ed, the  appropriate  committees  were  directed  to  prosecute  the 
work  with  all  the  promptitude  the  case  demanded,  the  plans 
were  procured,  and  the  building  speedily  put  under  contract. 
Thus  closed  the  year  1839. 
12 


178  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE   ROMAN   CATHOLIC   SCHOOL   QUESTION.— 1840. 

Annual  Message  of  Governor  Seward — Petition  of  Roman  Catholics  to  the  Common 
Council — Remonstrance  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society — Remon- 
strance of  the  Executive  Committee — Commissioners  of  School  Money — Commu- 
nication from  Rev.  Felix  Varela — School  Books — Roman  Catholic  Association — 
The  Freeman's  Journal  Established — Public  Meetings  of  Roman  Catholics — Bishop 
Hughes — Resolutions — Address  to  the  Public — Rev.  Dr.  Pise — Catholic  Memorial 
to  the  Common  Council — Board  of  Aldermen — Committee  Appointed — Remon- 
strance of  Public  School  Society — Remonstrance  of  Methodists — Special  Meeting 
of  Common  Council  to  Hear  the  Petitioners  and  Remonstrants — Speech  of  Bishop 
Hughes — Speech  of  Theodore  Sedgwick — Speech  of  Hiram  Ketchum — Rev.  Dr. 
Bond — Bishop  Hughes — Samuel  F.  Mott — Second  Session — Speech  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Bond — Speech  of  David  M.  Reese,  M.  D. — Speech  of  Rev.  John  Knox — Speech 
of  Rev.  Dr.  Bangs — Speech  of  Rev.  Dr.  Spring — Closing  Speech  of  Bishop 
Hughes — Rejoinder  of  Mr.  Ketchum — Report  of  the  Committee — Application  of 
Roman  Catholics  for  School  Fund  Distribution  Negatived. 

THE  repeated  controversies  in  which  the  Society  had  been 
engaged  relative  to  the  distribution  of  moneys  raised  for  the  pur- 
poses of  common  school  education,  and  the  legislation  thereon, 
had  not  yet  put  to  rest  the  desire  of  a  portion  of  the  citizens  for 
a  specific1  appropriation  for  the  support  of  schools  under  a  de- 
nominational control.  The  efforts  of  the  several  parties  making 
these  appeals  to  the  Common  Council,  the  Legislature  of  the 
State,  and  their  fellow-citizens,  were  now  renewed  by  a  more 
fully  organized  effort  than  had  yet  been  made.  This  controversy 
eventually  influenced  the  action  of  the  political  parties  in  the 
city,  and  threatened,  were  it  not  terminated,  to  override  the 
broader  issues  at  large  throughout  the  State,  and  become  the 
battle-ground  for  contending  partisan  interests.  The  beginning 
of  the  year  1840  was  the  period  chosen  for  the  movement. 

The  Governor  of  the  State,  Hon.  William  II.  Seward,  in  re- 
viewing the  condition  of  the  common  schools  in  his  annual  mes- 
sage, made  the  following  recommendations,  which,  as  they  were 


ooy.  SEWARD'S  MESSAGE.  179 

deemed  by  many  to  have  been  submitted  with  a  reference  to  the 
pending  controversy,  are  worthy  of  a  place  in  this  connection  : 

Although  our  system  of  public  education  is  well  endowed,  and  has  been 
eminently  successful,  there  is  yet  occasion  for  the  benevolent  and  enlight- 
ened action  of  the  Legislature.  The  advantages  of  education  ought  to  be 
secured  to  many,  especially  in  our  large  cities,  whom  orphanage,  the  de- 
pravity of  parents,  or  some  form  of  accident  or  misfortune  seems  to  have 
doomed  to  hopeless  poverty  and  ignorance.  Their  intellects  are  as  suscepti- 
ble of  expansion,  of  improvement,  of  refinement,  of  elevation,  and  of  direc- 
tion, as  those  minds  which,  through  the  favor  of  Providence,  are  permitted 
to  develop  themselves  under  the  influence  of  better  fortunes.  They  inherit 
the  common  lot  to  struggle  against  temptations,  necessities,  and  vices ;  they 
are  to  assume  the  same  domestic,  social,  and  political  relations,  and  they  are 
born  to  the  same  ultimate  destiny. 

The  children  of  foreigners,  found  in  great  numbers  in  our  populous  cities 
and  towns,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  our  public  works,  are  too  often  deprived 
of  the  advantages  of  our  system  of  public  education,  in  consequence  of 
prejudices  arising  from  difference  of  language  or  religion.  It  ought  never 
to  be  forgotten  that  the  public  welfare  is  as  deeply  concerned  in  their  educa- 
tion as  in  that  of  our  own  children.  I  do  not  hesitate,  therefore,  to  recom- 
mend the  establishment  of  schools,  in  which  they  may  be  instructed  by 
teachers  speaking  the  same  language  with  themselves,  and  professing  the 
same  faith.  There  would  be  no  inequality  in  such  a  measure,  since  it  bap- 
pens  from  the  force  of  circumstances,  if  not  from  choice,  that  the  responsi- 
bilities of  education  are  in  most  instances  confided  by  us  to  native  citizens ; 
and  occasions  seldom  offer  for  a  trial  of  our  magnanimity  by  committing 
that  trust  to  persons  differing  from  ourselves  in  language  or  religion. 

Since  we  have  opened  our  country,  and  all  its  fulness,  to  the  oppressed 
of  every  nation,  we  should  evince  wisdom  equal  to  such  generosity,  by 
qualifying  their  children  for  the  high  responsibilities  of  citizenship. 

The  trustees  of  the  Catholic  schools  prepared  and  submitted 
to  the  Common  Council  an  application  for  a  portion  of  the  school 
moneys,  which  was  transmitted  to  that  body  during  the  month 
of  February,  and  printed  on  the  2d  of  March. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Society, 
held  on  the  20th  of  the  same  month,  for  the  purpose  6f  consider- 
ing what  measures  should  be  taken  with  reference  to  this  appli- 
cation, it  was  deemed  expedient  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  to  be  convened  on  the  24th,  that  a  carefully-advised 
course  might  be  recommended.  A  committee,  consisting  of- 
Samuel  F.  Mott,  George  T.  Trimble,  A.  P.  Halsey,  Robert  C. 
Cornell,  Lindley  Murray,  Stephen  Allen,  and  Peter  Cooper,  was 
appointed,  to  prepare  a  remonstrance  against  granting  the  appli- 


180  THE    PCBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

cation,  and  to  adopt  such  other  measures  as  they  might  deem 
necessary.  The  committee  were  also  authorized  to  employ  coun- 
sel, if  the  case  demanded  legal  services. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  held  pursuant  to 
the  call  of  the  Executive  Committee,  the  following  remonstrance 
was  adopted,  as  a  declaration  from  the  trustees,  to  be  followed 
by  a  more  carefully  prepared  examination  of  the  question  by  the 
Executive  Committee. 

To  the  Common  Council : 

The  undersigned,  in  their  associate  capacity  as  Trustees  of  the  Public 
School  Society,  and  in  their  individual  character  as  citizens,  hereby  respect- 
fully but  urgently  remonstrate  against  the  granting  of  a  request  presented 
by  the  trustees  of  the  Catholic  schools  for  a  participation  in  the  common 
school  moneys. 

Your  remonstrants  are  opposed  to  this  proposition,  as  being  unconstitu- 
tional and  inexpedient. 

Unconstitutional — because  in  our  State  charter,  and  in  our  statute-book, 
the  common  school  fund  is  appropriated  to  and  for  the  benefit  and  support 
of  common  schools  only  and  exclusively ;  and  we  deem  it  self-evident  that 
no  school  can  be  so  called,  unless  opened  to  all  classes  and  descriptions  of 
citizens,  and  conducted  on  a  system  to  which  none  can  reasonably  object. 
Such  is  not  the  case  with  the  Catholic  schools.  The  peculiar  sectarian 
tenets  of  that  faith  are  part,  and  by  them  thought  to  be  an  essential  part  of 
the  course  of  instruction ;  and  hence  all  unbelievers  in  Catholic  doctrines 
are  unwilling,  and  may  with  good  reason  object,  to  send  their  children  to 
such  schools. 

Unconstitutional — because  it  is  utterly  at  variance  with  the  letter  and 
spirit  of  our  chartered  rights,  and  with  the  genius  of  our  political  institu- 
tions, that  the  community  should  be  taxed  to  support  an  establishment  in 
which  sectarian  dogmas  are  inculcated,  whether  that  establishment  be  a 
school  or  a  church. 

Inexpedient — because  the  public  schools,  open  to  all  without  discrimina- 
tion, and  so  conducted  that  no  reasonable  objection  can  be  made  by  any  to 
sending  their  children  to  them,  are  now  in  a  very  flourishing  and  satisfactory 
condition,  and  are  annually  increasing  in  numbers  and  usefulness ;  and 
which  schools  would,  by  the  admission  of  church  schools  to  participate  in 
the  school  fund,  be  crippled,  and  probably  destroyed. 

Inexpedient — because  the  question  was  fully  examined  by  the  Common 
Council  in  1822,  and  all  the  church  schools,  including  the  Catholic,  which 
had  previously  drawn  from  the  school  fund,  were  cutoff;  and  the  great 
principle  of  non-sectarianism  adopted  as  the  basis  for  subsequent  appropria- 
tions from  this  fund. 

Inexpedient — because,  by  the  concentration  of  the  fund  in  one  channel, 
a  much  greater  amount  of  good  is  produced,  than  could  be  the  case  were  it 
divided  and  subdivided  among  many ;  for  in  the  public  schools  the  same 


REMONSTRANCE   OF   THE   SOCIETY.  181 

expense  for  teachers,  &c.,  would  be  incurred  in  a  school  of  100  or  150,  as  in 
one  of  double  the  number. 

Induced  by.  these  leading  positions,  which  they  consider  fully  tenable, 
and  by  others  which  brevity  induces  the  omission  of,  your  remonstrants 
urgently  protest  against  the  admission  of  the  Catholic,  or  any  other  sectarian 
school,  to  a  participation  in  the  public  moneys.  And  of  such  great  import- 
ance do  they  consider  the  subject,  that,  unless  the  Common  Council  are  pre- 
pared, on  a  mere  statement  of  these  objections,  to  deny  the  application, 
your  remonstrants  respectfully  request  that  they  may  be  heard,  in  defence 
of  their  positions,  before  a  joint  meeting  of  your  two  boards. 

Our  Executive  Committee  will  prepare  and  present  a  remonstrance  more 
in  detail. 

The  committee  appointed,  as  already  stated,  to  act  on  behalf 
of  the  Society,  prepared  a  remonstrance,  which  was  promptly 
printed  for  general  distribution,  as  well  as  for  the  use  of  the 
members  of  the  Common  Corfu cil.  This  paper  was  adopted  by 
the  Executive  Committee,  as  follows  : 

To  the  Honorable  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New  York,  the  Remon- 
strance of  the  Public  School  Society,  ~by  their  Executive  Committee,  RESPECT- 
FULLY SHEWETH  : 

That  your  remonstrants  learn  with  regret  and  surprise,  that  the  Trustees 
of  the  Catholic  Schools,  have  petitioned  for  a  portion  of  the  school  fund,  to 
support  the  schools  under  their  care.  Nearly  twenty  years  have  elapsed 
since  sectarian  schools  were  excluded  from  a  participation  in  this  fund,  and 
your  remonstrants  had  indulged  a  hope,  that  the  question  was  forever  at 
rest. 

The  injustice  of  taxing  the  whole  community  for  the  support  of  sectarian 
schools  is  so  manifest,  and  it  is  so  glaringly  incompatible  with  the  genius  of 
our  political  institutions,  that  the  naked  proposition  would  seem  to  carry 
with  it  its  own  refutation.  The  Constitution  of  this  State  declares,  "  that 
the  proceeds  of  certain  lands  belonging  to  the  State,  together  with  the  fund, 
denominated  the  common  school  fund,  shall  be,  and  remain  a  perpetual  fund, 
the  interest  of  which  shall  be  inviolably  appropriated  to  the  support  of 
common  schools  throughout  the  State." 

So  far  as  your  memorialists  are  aware,  there  is  not  in  any  law  regulating 
the  general  distribution  of  this  fund,  nor  in  either  of  the  numerous  circulars 
issued  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  his  capacity  as  Superintendent  of  Com- 
mon Schools,  is  there  the  most  remote  allusion  to  sectarian  instruction  in 
religion,  except  that  on  one  occasion,  after  citing  some  ten  or  twelve  class- 
books  of  a  strictly  literary  and  moral  character,  he  refers  to  Sampson's 
"  Beauties  of  the  Bible,"  as  a  compilation  well  adapted  to  common  schools ; 
but  as  if  aware  of  the  delicate  ground  on  which  he  was  treading,  the  secre- 
tary immediately  remarks,  "  that  the  selection  has  been  made  without 
reference  to  any  disputed  points  of  doctrine  ;  and  it  is  entirely  free  from  all 


182  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

sectarian  spirit ;  "  thus  evincing  his  own  view  of  the  necessity  of  excluding 
sectarian  instruction  from  the  common  school  system  of  education. 

Owing  to  the  impracticability  of  apportioning  the  school  moneys  among 
the  citizens  of  this  city  in  the  manner  adopted  for  the  districts,  the  Legis- 
lature was  induced  in  1813,  to  pass  a  law  authorizing  "  such  incorporated 
religious  societies  in  the  city  of  New  York,  as  supported,  or  should  establish 
charity  schools,"  to  participate  in  the  income  of  the  school  fund.  That 
income  was  then  Tery  small,  and  there  was  no  direct  tax  on  the  city  for 
school  purposes,  independent  of  the  school  fund  tax.  The  amount  thus 
drawn  was  so  inconsiderable,  that  the  subject  did  not  attract  much  attention, 
until  1822,  when  it  was  discovered  that  one  congregation,  or  rather  its  pastor, 
had  embarked  in  the.  business  of  school-keeping  as  matter  of  speculation, 
and  had  established  three  charity  schools. 

By  deceptive  returns  he  managed  to  draw  from  the  fund  a  greater  sum 
than  was  required  for  the  payment  of  teachers  (to  which  its  application  was 
restricted  by  law).  He  then  procured  an  enactment,  authorizing  him  to 
apply  the  surplus  to  the  erection  of  school-houses  and  all  other  purposes  of 
education.  Under  a  liberal  construction  of  this  clause,  he  ventured  to  build 
a  church,  with  miserable  accommodations  for  a  school  on  the  basement  floor. 
These  proceedings  alarmed  not  only  your  memorialists,  but  the  citizens 
generally,  as  well  as  several  of  the  churches  who  had  received  and  applied 
the  public  money  in  good  faith,  and  they  united  in  asking  of  the  Legislature 
a  remedy  for  these  abuses.  So  important  was  the  subject  deemed,  that  the 
Corporation  of  the  city,  without  a  negative  vote,  joined  in  the  application, 
which  finally  brought  the  whole  question  before  the  State  government. 

The  committee  charged  with  its  consideration,  after  a  patient  investiga- 
tion, during  which,  gross  fraud  and  peculation  were  proved  to  have  been 
practiced  by  the  clergyman  referred  to,  made  a  report  in  which  the  following 
language  occurs : 

There  is,  however,  one  general  principle,  of  no  ordinary  magnitude,  to 
which  the  committee  would  beg  leave  to  call- the  attention  pf  the  house. 

It  appears  that  the  city  of  New  York  is  the  only  part  of  the  State,  where 
the  school  fund  is  at  all  subject  to  the  control  of  religious  societies.  This 
fund  is  considered  by  your  committee  purely  of  a  civil  character,  and  there- 
fore it  never  ought,  in  their  opinion,  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  any  corpora- 
tion, or  set  of  men,  who  are  not  directly  amenable  to  the  constituted  civil 
authorities  of  the  government,  and  bound  to  report  their  proceedings  to  the 
public.  Your  committee  forbear,  in>  this  place,  to  enter  fully  into  this  branch 
of  the  subject,  but  they  respectfully  submit  whether  it  is  not  a  violation  of  a 
fundamental  principle  of  our  legislation  to  allow  the  funds  of  the  State, 
raised  by  a  tax  on  the  citizens,  and  designed  for  civil  purposes,  to  be  subject 
to  the  control  of  any  religious  corporation.  [See  page  70.] 

The  report  was  approved,  and  the  only  law  of  this  State  which  ever 
authorized  an  ecclesiastical  or  religious  association  to  use  the  "  common 
school  fund,"  was  stricken  from  the  statute  book,  and  the  right  conferred  on 
the  corporation  of  this  city,  of  designating  the  "  societies  and  schools  "  to 
which  the  money  should  be  given. 

The  conflict  was  thus  transferred  from  Albany  to  New  York,  and  the 


REMONSTRANCE   OF   THE   SOCIETY.  183 

whole  question  was  brought  by  the  parties  interested,  before  the  municipal 
Government,  and  by  them  referred  to  a  committee,  whose  report,  after  a 
patient  and  laborious  investigation,  is,  perhaps,  among  the  most  impartial, 
able,  and  conclusive  documents  that  ever  was  presented  to  your  honorable 
body. 

After  a  merited  compliment  to  the  respectable  churches,  and  religious 
societies,  who  participated  in  the  fund,  and  whose  delegates  had  been  fully 
heard,  the  committee  concluded  their  report  as  follows :  * — "  but  the  weight 
of  the  argument,  as  urged  before  them,  and  which  they  have  endeavored  to 
condense  in  this  report,  and  the  established  constitutional  and  political  doc- 
trines, which  have  a  bearing  on  this  question,  and  the  habits  and  modes  of 
thinking  of  the  constituents  at  large  of  this  board,  require,  in  the  opinion 
of  your  committee,  that  the  common  school  fund  should  be  distributed  for 
civil  purposes  only,  as  contra-distinguished  from  those  of  a  religious  or 
sectarian  description."  The  recommendation  of  the  committee  was  approved 
by  the  Common  Council,  and  all  church  schools  were,  and  continue  to  be, 
excluded  from  participating  in  the  fund. 

Your  memorialists  were  thus  induced  to  prosecute  the  cause  of  general 
education  with  renewed  vigor,  but  finding  the  sum  derived  from  the  school 
fund,  and  its  equivalent  local  tax,  very  inadequate  to  the  pressing  wants  of 
a  rapidly  increasing  population,  they  procured  the  signatures  of  several  thou- 
sands of  our  largest  tax-paying  citizens,  to  a  petition  to  the  Common  Council, 
requesting  that  an  application  might  be  made  to  the  Legislature,  for  author- 
ity to  lay  "  an  annual  tax  of  not  less  than  half  a  mill  on  the  dollar,  upon 
the  amount  of  assessed  property  in  the  city,  for  the  purpose  of  free  and 
common  education ;  the  funds  thus  to  be  raised,  to  be  kept  separate  from  all 
others,  and  sacred  to  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  designated." 

The  whole  tenor  of  this  petition  clearly  shews,  that  it  was  in  aid  of  "  the 
common  schools  of  the  city,"  and  of  "  free  and  common  education,"  that  the 
petitioners  asked  to  be  taxed.  They  declare  that  their  object  is  "  to  provide 
for  the  security  and  permanency  of  our  republican  institutions  by  the  gen- 
eral diffusion  of  knowledge." 

Does  any  person  believe  that  a  sectarian  education  is  necessary  to  the 
attainment  of  these  objects  ?  Or,  that  a  diversion  of  the  fund  to  ecclesias- 
tical uses  would  not  be  a  violation  of  the  "  purposes  for  which  it  was 
designed  ?  " 

Your  memorialists  dwell  with  stress  on  this  petition,  because  from  it 
arose  the  present  tax  of  four  eightieths  of  one  per  cent,  which  is  something 
more  than  three  fifths  of  the  entire  sum  devoted  to  the  common  school 
education  in  this  city. 

It  is  perhaps  the  only  petition  that  ever  was  presented  to  a  Legislative 
Body  soliciting  the  privilege  of  being  taxed.  It  was  signed  understandingly 
and  on  mature  reflection,  by  thousands  whose  immediate  pecuniary  interest 
was  adverse  to  the  prayer :  and  hence,  your  memorialists  respectfully  urge, 

*  See  Document,  dated  April  11,  1825,  signed  &  COWDEKY  (Chairman),  THOMAS 
EOLTON,  E.  W.  KING.  [See  Appendix  A.]_ 


184  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

that  a  strict  and  sacred  regard,  in  the  distribution  of  its  avails,  should  be 
had  to  the  motives  which  influenced  the  petitioners. 

With  the  greatly  augmented  means  afforded  by  the  proceeds  of  this  tax, 
your,  memorialists  were  enabled  not  only  largely  to  increase  the  number,  but 
greatly  to  improve  the  quality  of  the  public  schools.  At  this  time  there  are 
ninety-seven  schools  of  the  various  grades,  in  the  benefits  of  which,  upward 
of  twenty  thousand  children  participated  during  the  past  year.  The  quality 
of  these  schools,  it  is  believed,  may  safely  challenge  a  comparison  with  those 
of  the  same  grade,  in  this  or  any  other  country.  The  question  is  now  sub- 
mitted to  the  guardians  of  the  city  whether  these  schools  shall  be  sustained 
or  abandoned  ;  and  the  funds  created  for  their  support,  diverted  to  the  sup- 
port of  ecclesiastical  establishments. 

Your  memorialists  feel  warranted  in  presenting  this  issue,  because  the 
income  of  the  "  Public  School  Society  "  is  scarcely  sufficient  to  sustain  the 
present  public  schools  ;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted,  that  if  the  petition  of  the 
"  Trustees  of  the  Catholic  Schools,"  is  successful,  similar  applications  will 
immediately  be  made  by  the  numerous  sects  into  which  the  Christian  church 
is  divided.  And  it  is  not  perceived  upon  what  ground  they  could  under 
such  circumstances  be  denied,  nor  why  associations  of  unbelievers  (of  which 
there  are  a  number  in  this  city,)  may  not  with  equal,  and  in  some  respects 
greater  propriety,  demand  and  receive  a  portion  of  the  fund. 

The  amount  annually  paid  to  teachers  in  the  "  public  schools,"  is  about 
$60,000.  And  it  is  a  well-known  feature  of  the  system  of  education  prac- 
tised in  the  public  schools,  that  a  reduction  of  one  half  the  number  of 
pupils  in  each  school  (which  is  a  probable  consequence  of  the  contingency 
referred  to,)  would  not  materially  lessen  the  expense  of  tuition,  without 
serious  detriment  to  those  remaining. 

Should  the  school  money  be  divided  and  subdivided  among  church 
schools,  some  of  which  would  necessarily  be  very  small,  your  memorialists 
entertain  a  confident  belief,  that  the  important  cause  of  general  education 
would  receive  a  fatal  check  ;  for,  besides  the  loss  sustained  in  frittering  away 
the  fund  among  small  schools,  too  numerous  and  diversified  to  undergo  the 
healthy  supervision  of  the  commissioners,  the  managers  of  those  schools, 
having  what  they  might  deem  higher  and  more  important  objects  in  view, 
in  the  inculcation  of  religious  creeds  or  dogmas,  could  scarcely  fail  to  neg- 
lect the  literary  for  the  religious  culture  of  the  children's  minds. 

If  it  be  urged  that  the  Catholic  schools  are  open  to  all  without  distinc- 
tion, as  to  religious  sect ;  your  remonstrants  reply,  that  this  fact  only  en- 
hances the  objection  to  granting  the  prayer  of  their  petition ;  which  then 
virtually  is,  that  they  may  be  enabled  to  gain  proselytes  at  the  public  ex- 
pense ;  and  that,  too,  in  the  most  effectual  way,  by  an  influence  exerted  on 
the  tender  and  susceptible  minds  of  youth.  Such  an  applicaton  of  public 
money  is  not,  perhaps,  inconsistent  with  purity  of  motive ;  but  can  it  be 
done  with  justice  to  those  who,  with  at  least  equal  sincerity,  entertain 
direclly  opposite  views  ? 

It  is  not  understood  that  the  Catholic  clergy  object  to  the  public  schools, 
on  account  of  any  religious  doctrines  taught  in  them,  but  because  the  pecu- 


REMONSTRANCE   OF   THE   SOCIETY.  185 

liar  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Rome  are  not  taught  therein  :  and  they  now 
ask  for  a  portion  of  the  public  money  in  order  that  these  doctrines  may  be 
taught,  in  connection  with  the  kind  of  instruction  for  which  alone  these 
moneys  were  raised.  And  here  it  may  be  proper  to  state,  that  several  inter- 
views were  formerly  had  with  the  Catholic  bishop,  for  the  purpose  of  remov- 
ing any  reasonable  objections  he  might  have  to  the  system  of  instruction  in 
the  public  schools,  or  to  the  books  used  in  them ;  and  it  was  proposed  to 
submit  the  books  to  his  inspection,  in  order  that  they  might,  if  found  objec- 
tionable, undergo  expurgation. 

In  selecting  teachers  for  the  public  schools,  no  regard  is  had  to  the  sec- 
tarian views  of  the  candidates ;  and  since  the  application  now  under  con- 
sideration, it  has  been  ascertained  that  at  least  six  of  the  teachers  belong  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

Your  memorialists  disclaim  all  feeling  of  hostility  to  the  respectable 
body  against  whose  petition  they  remonstrate.  Nor  are  they  conscious  of 
a  want  of  sympathy  for  the  oppressed  of  other  lands,  who  seek  an  asylum  in 
this ;  on  the  contrary,  they  act  under  a  firm  conviction  that  the  sooner  such 
persons  abandon  any  unfavorable  prejudices  with  which  they  rr.ay  arrive 
among  us,  and  become  familiar  with  our  language,  and  reconciled  to  our 
institutions  and  habits,  the  better  it  will  be  for  them,  and  for  the  country 
of  their  adoption.  If  this  be  true,  the  best  interests  of  all  will  be  alike 
promoted  by  having  their  children  mingle  with  ours  in  the  public  seminaries 
of  learning. 

The  theory  and  practice  of  our  happy  and  equal  form  of  government  is, 
to  protect  every  religious  persuasion,  and  support  none.  It  was  supposed 
for  ages,  that  religion  could  not  flourish  without  aid  from  the  strong  arm  of 
secular  power ;  and  even  now  this  delusion  prevails  extensively  in  the  old 
world.  The  political  compact  by  which  these  United  States  are  governed, 
divorced  the  unholy  alliance  between  Church  and  State.  Yet,  until  within 
a  recent  period,  the  lingering  remains  of  prejudice  derived  from  pious  but 
bigoted  ancestors,  retained  one  feature  of  the  exploded  system,  in  the  code 
of  a  neighboring  State  ;  but  even  there,  those  laws  which  taxed  the  people 
at  large  for  the  support  of  sectarian  schools,  have  been  abrogated ;  and  it 
remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  city  of  New  York  will  take  the  first  step  in 
a  retrograde  course. 

Your  memorialists  have  no  interest  in  the  pending  question,  other  than 
is  common  to  the  great  mass  of  their  fellow-citizens.  But  having  devoted 
much  time  and  gratuitous  labor,  in  building  up  the  present  unrivalled  pub- 
lic-school system,  their  feelings  are  more  ardently  embarked  in  the  cause ; 
and  they  have  greatly  erred  in  estimating  the  tone  of  the  public  mind,  if  the 
views  here  expressed  are  not  fully  sustained  by  public  opinion. 

Powerful  and  pervading  as  the  influence  of  party  politics  is  known  to  be, 
it  is  believed  that  there  are  principles  so  dear,  and  so  deeply  rooted,  that 
honest  men,  of  every  party,  will  lose  sight  of  inferior  objects,  and  unite  in 
their  support. 

In  conclusion,  your  remonstrants  refer  to  the  annexed  communication  and 
resolutions  of  the  "  Commissioners  of  School  money,"  who  derive  their  ap- 


186  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

pointment  from  your  honorable  body,  and  whose  duty  it  is  to  visit  all  schools 
that  participate  in  the  school  fund,  and  report  their  condition  to  the  Cor- 
poration of  this  city,  and  to  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  at 
Albany.  This  document,  it  will  be  seen,  fully  sustains  the  reasoning  and 
conclusions  of  your  remonstrants. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submtitted. 

R  C.  CORNELL,  President. 
A.  P.  HALSET,  Secretary. 

N«w  YORK,  Feb.  29,  1840. 


The  trustees  of  the  Society  having  sent  communications  rela- 
tive to  the  application  of  the  trustees  of  the  Catholic  schools' to 
the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  School  Money,  the  subject  came 
up  before  the  board  at  their  meeting  on  the  29th  of  February. 
The  following  extract  from  the  minutes  of  that  day  was  pub- 
lished by  authority : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  of  School  Money,  held  at  the  City 
Hall  of  New  York,  on  the  29th  day  of  February,  1840, 

A  communication  having  been  received,  at  a  former  meeting,  from  the 
Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  of  New  York,  referring  to  an  applica- 
tion now  pending  before  the  Common  Council,  which  prays  that  the  schools 
in  this  city  established  and  governed  by  one  of  the  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians, be  admitted  to  a  participation  of  the  common  school  moneys ;  and 
this  board,  deeming  it  their  duty  to  consider  and  answer  any  communica- 
tion connected  with  the  interests  of  the  schools  subject  to  their  visitation  : 

It  is  therefore  unanimously  Resolved,  As  the  opinion  of  this  board,  that 
schools  created  and  directed  by  any  particular  religious  society  should 
derive  no  aid  from  a  fund  designed  lor  the  common  benefit  of  all  the  youth 
of  this  city,  without  religious  distinction  or  preference. 

That  an  appropriation  of  the  school  moneys  to  establishments  controlled 
by  any  individual  sect,  would  be  unjust  to  all  other  denominations  not  simi- 
larly favored,  and  constitute  a  partiality  irreconcilable  with  the  spirit  of  our 
political  institutions ;  would  narrow  the  liberal  and  expanded  scheme  of 
public  education,  for  which  the  community  at  large,  without  religious  dis 
crimination,  is  taxed  ;  would  make  the  common  school  money  a  source  of 
intrigue,  cupidity,  and  contention  among  the  various  portions  of  our  citizens 
who  are  divided  in  tenets  of  faith ;  and  would,  in  its  progressive  results, 
render  useless  many  of  tjie  commodious  structures  erected  in  this  city  at  the 
general  expense,  which  are  now  the  thronged  seats  of  public  instruction ; 
and  injure,  perhaps  fatally,  the  noble  system  of  common  school  education 
that  distinguishes  our  city  and  State. 

fiesolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  proceedings,  signed  by  the  Chairman  and 
Secretary,  in  behalf  of  the  Commissioners  of  School  Money,  be  forwarded 
to  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  of  New  York,  with  permission 
*o  make  such  use  of  it,  in  sustaining  the  common  school  system  unfettered 


ROMAN   CATHOLIC    PROCEEDINGS.  187 

by  sectarian  connections,  as,  in  their  opinion,  may  best  promote  that  ob- 
ject. SAMUEL  GILFORD,  JR., 

Chairman  of  Common  School  Money. 
M.  B.  EDGAR,  Secretary. 

The  usual  annual  examinations  of  the  several  schools  com- 
menced on  the  17th  of  March  following,  and  on  the  24th  the 
examination  of  Public  School  No.  5,  in  Mott  street,  was  held. 
After  the  exercises,  the  trustees  retired  to  the  recitation-room, 
and  held  a  meeting  for  the  consideration  of  important  business'. 
The  Vice-Presideut  announced  that  Rev.  Felix  Varela,  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  had  sent  a  request  to  be  furnished  with 
a  set  of  the  reading- books  used  in  the  public  schools.  A  com- 
mittee was  subsequently  appointed,  whose  action  gave  rise  to 
the  expunging  proceedings  which  became  so  prominent  a  topic 
of  discussion  ;  and  forming,  as  it  does,  an  event  of  a  peculiar 
character,  the  facts  are  presented  in  a  succeeding  chapter,  em- 
bodying the  report  of  the  committee,  in  which  a  full  statement 
of  the  case  is  detailed. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  year  1840,  the  Roman  Catholics 
organized  ah  association  to  take  such  measures  as  might  appear 
to  be  politic  or  necessary  for  the  furtherance  of  their  claims. 
The  Freemarts.  Journal,  a  weekly  newspaper,  was  also  pub- 
lished, the  first  number  appearing  on  the  4th  of  July,  a  promi- 
nent object  of  which  was  to  press  the  claims  of  the  school  ques- 
tion \vith  uninterrupted  diligence  upon  the  minds  of  the  people. 

The  meetings  of  the  Roman  Catholics  were  held  in  the 
school-house  attached  to  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral.  On  the  20th 
of  July,  a  meeting  was  held,  at  which  Rev.  Dr.  Power  presided, 
when  addresses  were  made  by  the  Chairman,  Dr.  Sweeney,  and 
Bishop  Hughes.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  procure  a  more 
commodious  place.  The  next  meeting  was  held  in  the  basement 
of  St.  James'  Church,  in  James  street,  on  the  27th  of  July, 
when  THOMAS  O'CONNOR,  Esq.,  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  the 
bishop  again  addressed  the  assembly.  At  the  close  of  his  speech 
he  submitted  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  : 

"Whereas,  The  wisdom  and  liberality  of  the  Legislature  of  thus  State  did 
provide,  at  the  public  expense,  for  the  education  of  the  poor  children  of  the 
State,  without  injury  or  detriment  to  the  civil  and  religious  rights  vested  in 
their  parents  or  guardians  by  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  the  land ;  and, 
whereas,  the  administration  of  that  system,  as  now  conducted,  is  such  that 


188  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  parents  or  guardians  of  Catholic  children  cannot  allow  them  to  frequent 
such  schools  without  doing  violence  to  these  rights  of  conscience  which  the 
Constitution  secures  equal  and  inviolable  to  all  citizens,  viz. :  They  cannot 
allow  their  children  to  be  brought  up  under  a  system  which  proposes  to 
shut  the  door  against  Christianity,  under  the  pretext  of  excluding  sectarian- 
ism, and  which  yet  has  not  the  merit  of  being  true  to  its  bad  promise ; 

And,  whereas,  Catholics  who  are  the  least  wealthy,  and  most  in  need  of 
the  education  intended  by  the  bounty  of  the  State,  are  those  cut  off  from 
the  benefit  of  funds  to  which  they  are  obliged  to  contribute,  and  constrained 
.either  to  contribute  new  funds  for  the  purposes  of  education  among  them- 
selves, or  else  to  see  their  children  brought  up  under  a  system  of  free-think- 
ing and  practical  irreligion,  or  else  to  see  them  left  in  that  ignorance  which 
they  dread,  and  which  it  was  the  benevolent  and  wise  intention  of  the 
Legislature  to  remove  ;  therefore, 

1.  Resolced,  That  the  operation  of  the  common  school  system,  as  the 
same  is  now  administered,  is  a  violation  of  our  civil  and  religious  rights. 

2.  Resolve;!,  That  we  should  not  be  worthy  of  our  proud  distinction  as 
Americans  and  American  citizens,  if  we  did  not  resist  such  invasion  by 
every  lawful  means  in  our  power. 

3.  Resolved,  That  in  seeking  the  redress  of  our  grievances,  we  have  con- 
fidence in  our  rulers,  more  especially,  as  by  granting  that  redress  they  will 
but  carry  out  the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  which  secures  equal  civil 
and  religious  rights  to  all. 

4.  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  eight  be   appointed  to  prepare  and 
report  an  address  to  the  Catholic  community  and  the  public  at  large,  on  the 
injustice  which  is  done  to  the  Catholics,  in  their  civil  and  religious  right, 
by  the  present  operation  of  the  common  school  system. 

5.  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  prepare  a  report 
on  the  public  moneys  which  have  been  expended  by  the  bounty  of  this 
State  for  education,  both  in  colleges  and  in  common  schools,  to  which  Cath- 
olics have  contributed  their  proportion  of  taxes,  like  other  citizens,  but 
from  which  they  have  never  received  any  benefit. 

James  W.  McKeon,  Esq.,  seconded  the  resolutions,  and  the 
following  committees  were  appointed  : 

On  the  Address — Right  Rev.  Bishop  Hughes,  James  "W. 
McKeon,  Thomas  O'Connor,  Dr.  Sweeney,  James  W.  White, 
James  Kelley,  Gregory  Dillon,  II.  O'Connor,  and  John  Mc- 
Loughlin. 

On  the  School  Moneys — C.  F.  Grirn,  James  W.  McKeon,  and 
James  W.  White. 

At  the  meeting  held  in  the  same  place  on  the  10th  of  Au- 
gust, the  committee  to  prepare  the  address  presented  their  report, 
which  was  read  by  Bishop  Hughes.  After  the  reverend  speak- 
er had  concluded,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Shorthill,  the  address  was 


ROMAN    CATHOLIC   MEMORIAL.  189 

adopted  ;  and,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Gallagher,  it  was  ordered  that 
five  thousand  copies  be  printed  for  distribution.  The  address 
will  be  found  in  the  chapter  which  treats  of  the  "  Expurgation 
of  the  School  Books." 

The  meeting  was  further  addressed  by  Rev.  CONSTANTINE  D. 
PISE,  one  of  the  Roman  Catholic  clergymen  of  the  city,  an 
accomplished  scholar  and  an  earnest  and  eloquent  preacher,  and 
JAMES  "W.  WHITE,  Esq. 

On  the  24th  of  August  and  the  7th  of  September,  adjourned 
meetings  were  held,  at  which  "Bishop  Hughes  continued  his  re- 
marks upon  the.  exciting  question  of  the  time.  On  the  21st,  the 
committee  appointed  to  prepare  the  memorial  to  the  Common 
Council  submitted  their  report,  which  was  read  by  Bishop 
Hughes,  the  Chairman,  after  which  a  committee  of  four  gentle- 
men— Messrs.  Thomas  O'Connor,  Dr.  Hugh  Sweeney,  James  W, 
McKeon,  and  J.  K  el  ley — was  appointed,  to  proceed  with  the 
same  to  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  then  in  session,  and  present  it 
to  that  body.  Rev.  Dr.  Power  rose  to  address  the  meeting,  when 
the  committee  retired  from  the  hall,  and  presented  the  memorial 
to  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  as  follows  : 

PETITION 
To  the  Honorable  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  the  City  of  New  York : 

The  petition  of  the  Catholics  of  New  York  RESPECTFULLY  REPRESENTS  : 

That  your  petitioners  yield  to  no  class  in  their  performance  of,  and  dis- 
position to  perform,  all  the  duties  of  citizens.  They  bear,  and  are  willing 
to  bear  their  portion  of  every  common  burden ;  and  feel  themselves  entitled 
to  a  participation  in  every  common  benefit. 

This  participation,  they  regret  to  say,  has  been  denied  them  for  years 
back,  in  reference  to  common  school  education  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
except  on  conditions  with  which  their  conscience,  and,  as  they  believe,  their 
duty  to  Gocl,  did  not,  and  does  not,  leave  them  at  liberty  to  comply. 

The  rights  of  conscience  in  this  country  are  held  by  both  the  Constitu- 
tion and  universal  consent,  to  be  sacred  and  inviolable.  No  stronger  evi- 
dence of  this  need  be  adduced  than  the  fact,  that  one  class  of  citizens  are 
exempted  from  the  duty  or  obligation  of  defending  their  country  against 
any  invading  foe,  out  of  delicacy  and  deference  to  the  rights  of  conscience 
which  forbids  them  to  take  up  arms  for  any  purpose. 

Your  petitioners  only  claim  the  benefit  of  this  principle,  in  regard  to  the 
public  education  of  their  children.  They  regard  the  public  education, 
which  the  State  has  provided  as  a  common  benefit,  in  which  they  are  most 
desirous,  and  feel  that  they  are  entitled,  to  participate ;  and  therefore  they 
pray  your  honorable  body  that  they  may  be  permitted  to  do  so,  -without 
violating  their  conscience. 


190  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

But  your  petitioners  do  not  ask  that  this  prayer  be  granted,  without 
assigning  their  reasons  for  preferring  it. 

In  ordinary  cases,  men  are  not  required  to  assign  the  motives  of  conscien- 
tious scruples  in  matters  of  this  kind.  But  your  petitioners  are  aware  that 
a  large,  wealthy,  and  concentrated  influence  is  directed  against  their  claim 
by  the  corporation  called  the  Public  School  Society.  And  that  this  influ- 
ence, acting  on  a  public  opinion  already  but  too  much  predisposed  to  judge 
unfavorably  of  the  claims  of  your  petitioners,  requires  to  be  met  by  facts 
which  justify  them  in  thus  appealing  to  your  honorable  body,  and  which 
may,  at  the  same  time,  convey  a  more  correct  impression  to  the  public  mind. 
Your  petitioners  adopt  this  course  the  more  willingly,  because  the  justice 
and  impartiality  which  distinguish  the  decisions  of  public  men  in  this  coun- 
try, inspire  them  with  the  confidence  that  your  honorable  body  will  main- 
tain, in  their  regard,  the  principle  of  the  rights  of  conscience,  if  it  can  be 
done  without  violating  the  rights  of  others ;  and  on  no  other  condition  is 
the  claim  solicited. 

It  is  not  deemed  necessary  to  trouble  your  honorable  body  with  a  detail 
of  the  circumstances  by  which  the  monopoly  of  the  public  education  of 
children  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  of  the  funds  provided  for  that  pur- 
pose, at  the  expense  of  the  State,  have  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  private 
corporation,  styled,  in  its  act  of  charter,  "  The  Public  School  Society  of  the 
City  of  New  York."  It  is  composed  of  men  of  different  sects  or  denomina- 
tions. But  that  denomination  of  Friends,  which  is  bjelieved  to  have  the 
controlling  influence,  both  by  its  numbers  and  otherwise,  holds  as  a  sectarian 
principle,  that  any  formal  or  official  teaching  of  religion  is,  at  best,  unprofit- 
able. And  your  petitioners  have  discovered  that  such  of  their  children  as 
have  attended  the  public  schools  are  generally,  and  at  an  early  age,  imbued 
with  the  same  principle — that  they  become  untractable,  disobedient,  and 
even  contemptuous  toward  their  parents — unwilling  to  learn  any  thing  of 
religion — as  if  they  had  become  illuminated,  and  could  receive  all  the 
knowledge  of  religion  necessary  for  them  by  instinct  or  inspiration.  Your 
petitioners  do  not  pretend  to  assign  the  cause  of  this  change  in  their  chil- 
dren ;  they  only  attest  the  fact  as  resulting  from  their  attendace  at  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  the  Public  School  Society. 

This  Society,  however,  is  composed  of  gentlemen  of  various  sects,  in- 
cluding even  one  or  two  Catholics.  But  they  profess  to  exclude  all  secta- 
rianism from  their  schools.  If  they  do  not  exclude  sectarianism,  they  are 
avowedly  no  more  entitled  to  the  school  funds  than  your  petitioners,  or  any 
other  denomination  of  professing  Christians.  If  they  do  as  they  profess, 
exclude  sectarianism,  then  your  petitioners  contend  that  they  exclude  Chris- 
tianity, and  leave  to  the  advantage  of  infidelity  the  tendencies  which  are 
given  to  the  minds  of  youth  by  the  influence  of^  this  feature  and  pretension 
of  their  system.  If  they  could  accomplish  what  they  profess,  other  denomi- 
nations would  join  your  petitioners  in  remonstrating  against  their  schools. 
But  they  do  not  accomplish  it.  Your  petitioners  will  show  your  horibrable 
body  that  they  do  admit  what  Catholics  call  sectarianism  (although  others 
may  call  it  only  religion),  in  a  groat  variety  of  ways. 


ROMAN   CATHOLIC   MEMORIAL.  191 

In  their  twenty-second  report,  as  far  back  as  the  year  1827,  they  tell  us, 
p.  14,  that  they  "  are  aware  of  the  importance  of  early  religious  instruction," 
and  that  none  but  what  is  "  exclusively  general  and  spriptural  in  its  char- 
acter, should  be  introduced  into  the  schools  under  their  charge."  Here, 
then,  is  their  own  testimony  that  they  did  introduce  and  authorize  "  reli- 
gious instruction  "  in  their  schools.  And  that  they  solved,  with  the  utmost 
composure,  the  difficult  question  on  which  the  sects  disagree  by  determining 
what  kind  of  "  religious  instruction  "  is  "  exclusively  general  and  scriptural 
in  its  character." 

Neither  could  they  impart  this  "  early  religious  instruction  "  themselves. 
They  must  have  left  it  to  their  teachers ;  and  these,  armed  with  official  in- 
fluence, could  impress  those  "  early  religious  instructions  "  on  the  susceptible 
minds  of  the  children,  with  the  authority  of  dictators. 

The  Public  School  Society,  in  their  report  for  the  year  1832,  p.  10,  de- 
scribe the  effects  of  these  "  early  religious  instructions,"  without,  perhaps, 
intending  to  do  so,  but  yet  precisely  as  your  petitioners  have  witnessed  it  in 
such  of  their  children  as  attended  those  schools.  "  The  age  at  which  chil- 
dren are  usually  sent  to  school  affords  a  much  better  opportunity  to  mould 
their  minds  to  peculiar  and  exclusive  forms  of  faith,  than  any  subsequent 
period  of  life."  In  p.  11  of  the  same  report,  they  protest  against  the  in- 
justice of  supporting  "  religion  in  any  shape  "  by  public  money — as  if  the 
early  religious  instruction,  which  they  themselves  authorized  in  their  schools 
five  years  before,  was  not  "  religion  in  some  shape,"  and  was  not  supported 
by  public  taxation.  They  tell  us  again,  in  more  guarded  language,  "  The 
trustees  are  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of  imbuing  the  youthful 
mind  with  religious  impressions ;  and  they  have  endeavored  to  attain  this 
object,  as  far  as  the  nature  of  the  institution  will  admit."  Report  of  1837, 
p.  7. 

In  their  thirty-third  annual  report,  they  tell  us  that  "  they  would  not  be 
understood  as  regarding  religious  impressions  in  early  youth  as  unimport- 
ant. On  the  contrary,  they  desire  to  do  all  which  may  with  propriety  be 
done  to  give  a  right  direction  to  the  minds  of  the  children  entrusted  to 
their  care.  Their  schools  are  uniformly  opened  with  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  class-books  are  such  as  recognize  and  enforce  the  great 
and  generally  acknowledged  principles  of  Christianity."  Page  7. 

In  their  thirty-fourth  annual  report,  for  the  year  1839,  they  pay  a  high 
compliment  to  a  deceased  teacher  for  the  "  moral  and  religious  influence 
exerted  by  her  over  the  three  hundred  girls  daily  attending  her  school,"  and 
tell  us  that  "  it  could  not  but  have  a  lasting  effect  on  many  of  their  suscepti- 
ble minds."  Page  7.  And  yet  in  all  these  "  early  religious  instructions — 
religious  impressions,  and  religious  influence,"  essentially  anti-Catholic — 
your  petitioners  are  to  see  nothing  sectarian.  But  if,  in  giving  the  educa- 
tion which  the  State  requires,  they  were  to  bring  the  same  influences  to  bear 
on  the  "susceptible  minds  of  their  own  children,  in  favor,  and  not 'against 
their  own  religion,  then  this  Society  contends  that  it  would  be  sectarian  !  " 

Your  petitioners  regret  there  is  no  means  of  ascertaining  to  what  extent 
the  teachers  in  the  schools  of  the  Society  carried  out  the  views  of  their  prin- 


192  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

cipals,  on  the  importance  of  conveying  "  early  religious  instructions  "  to  the 
susceptible  minds  of  the  children.  But  they  believe  it  is  in  their  power  to 
prove  that,  in  some  instances,  the  Scriptures  have  been  explained,  as  well  as 
read,  to  the  pupils. 

Even  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  those  schools,  your  petitioners  can- 
not regard  otherwise  than  as  sectarian ;  because  Protestants  would  certainly 
consider  as  such  the  intention  of  the  Catholic  Scriptures,  which  are  different 
from  theirs  :  and  the  Catholics  have  the  same  ground  to  objection  when  the 
Protestant  version  is  made  use  of.  Your  petitioners  have  to  state  further,  as 
grounds  of  their  conscientious  objections  to  those  schools,  that  many  of  the 
selections  in  their  elementary  reading-lessons  contain  matter  prejudicial  to 
the  Catholic  name  and  character.  The  term  "  popery  "  is  repeatedly  found 
in  them.  This  term  is  known  and  employed  as  one  of  insult  and  contempt 
toward  the  Catholic  religion,  and  it  passes  into  the 'minds  of  children  with 
the  feelings  of  which  it  is  the  outward  expression.  Both  the  historical  and 
religious  portions  of  the  reading-lessons  are  selected  from  Protestant  writers, 
whose  prejudices  against  the  Catholic  religion  render  them  unworthy  of 
confidence  in  the  mind  of  your  petitioners,  at  least  so  far  as  their  own  chil- 
den  are  concerned. 

The  Public  School  Society  have  heretofore  denied  that  their  books  con- 
tained any  thing  reasonably  objectionable  to  Catholics.  Proofs  of  the  con- 
trary could  be  multiplied,  but  it  is  unnecessary,  as  they  have  recently  re- 
tracted their  denial,  and  discovered,  after  fifteen  years'  enjoyment  of  their 
monopoly,  that  their  books  do  contain  objectionable  passages.  But  they 
allege  that  they  have  proffered  repeatedly  to  make  such  corrections  as  the 
Catholic  clergy  might  require.  Your  petitioners  conceive  that  such  a  pro- 
posal could  not  be  carried  into  effect  by  the  Public  School  Society,  without 
giving  just  grounds  for  exceptions  to  other  denominations.  Neither  can 
they  see  with  what  consistency  that  Society  can  insist,  as  it  has  done,  on  the 
perpetuation  of  its  monopoly,  when  the  trustees  thus  avow  their  incompe- 
tency  to  present  unexceptionable  books,  without  the  aid  of  the  Catholic  or 
any  other  clergy.  They  allege,  indeed,  that  with  the  best  intentions  they 
have  been  unable  to  ascertain  the  passages  which  might  be  offensive  to 
Catholics.  With  their  intentions,  your,  petitioners  cannot  enter  into  any 
question.  Nevertheless,  they  submit  to  your  honorable  body  that  this  Soci- 
ety is  eminently  incompetent  for  the  superintendence  of  public  education,  if 
they  could  not  see  that  the  following  passage  was  unfit  for  the  public 
schools,  and  especially  unfit  to  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  Catholic  children. 

They  will  quote  the  passage  as  one  instance,  taken  from  "  Putnam's 
Sequel,"  p.  296. 

Huss,  John,  a  zealous  reformer  from  popery,  who  livsd  in  Bohemia 
toward  the  close  of  the  fourteenth,  and  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  centu- 
ries. He  was  bold  and  persevering ;  but  at  length,  trusting  to  the  deceitful 
Catholic*,  he  was  by  them  brought  to  trial,  condemned  as  heretic,  and  burnt 
at  the  stake. 

The  Public  School  Society  may  be  excused  for  not  knowing  the  historical 
inaccuracies  of  this  passage ;  but  surely  assistance  of  the  Catholic  clergy 


ROMAN   CATHOLIC   MEMORIAL.  193 

could  not  have  been  necessary  to  an  understanding  of  the  word  "  deceitful," 
as  applied  to  all  who  profess  the  religion  of  your  petitioners. 

For  these  reasons,  and  others  of  the  same  kind,  your  petitioners  cannot 
in  conscience,  and  conscientiously  with  their  sense  of  duty  to  God  and  to 
their  offspring,  intrust  the  Public  School  Society  with  the  office  of  giving 
"  a  right  direction  to  the  minds  of  their  children."  And  yet  this  Society 
claims  that  office,  and  claims  for  the  discharge  of  it  the  common  school 
funds  to  which  your  petitioners,  in  common  with  other  citizens,  are  con- 
tributors. In  so  far  as  they  are  contributors,  they  are  not  only  deprived  of 
any  benefit  in  return,  but  their  money  is  employed  to  the  damage  and  detri- 
ment of  their  religion,  on  the  minds  of  their  own  children,  and  of  the  rising 
generation  of  the  community  at  large.  The  contest  is  between  the  guaranteed 
rights,  civil  and  religious,  of  the  citizen  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  preten- 
sions of  the  Public  School  Society  on  the  other ;  and  whilst  it  has  been 
silently  going  on  for  years,  your  petitioners  would  call  the  attention  of  your 
honorable  body  to  its  consequences  on  the  class  for  whom  the  benefits  of 
public  education  are  most  essential — the  children  of  the  poor. 

This  class  (your  petitioners  speak  only  so  far  as  relates  to  their  own 
denomination),  after  a  brief  experience  of  the  schools  of  the  Public  School 
Society,  naturally  and  deservedly  withdraw  all  confidence  from  it.  Hence 
the  establishment  by  your  petitioners  of  schools  for  the  education  of  the 
poor. 

The  expense  necessary  for  this  was  a  second  taxation,  required  not  by 
the  laws  of  the  land,  but  the  no  less  imperious  demands  of  their  conscience. 

They  were  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  seeing  their  children  growing  up 
in  entire  ignorance,  or  else  taxing  themselves  anew  for  private  schools,  whilst 
the  funds  provided  for  education,  and  contributed  in  part  by  themselves, 
were  given  over  to  the  Public  School  Society,  and  by  them  employed  as  has 
been  stated  above. 

Now  your  petitioners  respectfully  submit,  that  without  this  confidence, 
no  body  of  men  can  discharge  the  duties  of  education  as  intended  by  the 
State  and  required  by  the  people.  The  Public  School  Society  are,  and  have 
been  at  all  times,  conscious  that  they  had  not  the  confidence  of  the  poor. 
In  their  twenty-eighth  report,  they  appeal  to  the  ladies  of  New  York  to  cre- 
ate or  procure  it  by  the  "  persuasive  eloquence  of  female  kindness,."  p.  5 ; 
and  from  this  they  pass  on  to  the  next  page,  to  the  more  efficient  eloquence 
of  coercion  under  penalities  and  privations,  to  be  visited  on  all  persons, 
"  whether  emigrant  or  otherwise,"  who,  being  in  the  circumstances  of  pov- 
erty referred  to,  should  not  send  their  children  to  some  "  public  or  other 
daily  school." 

In  their  twenty-seventh  report,  pp.  15  and  16,  they  plead  for  the  doctrine, 
and  recommend  it  to  public  favor,  by  the  circumstance  that  it  will  affect  but 
"  few  natives."  But  why  should  it  be  necessary  at  all,  if  they  possessed 
that  confidence  of  the  poor,  without  which  they  need  never  hope  to  succeed? 
So  well  are  they  convinced  of  this,  that  no  longer  ago  than  last  year,  they 
gave  up  all  hope  of  inspiring  it,  and  loudly  called  for  coercion  by  "  the 
strong  arm  of  the  civil  power"  to  supply  its  deficiency.  Your  petitioners  will 
13 


194  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

close  this  part  of  their  statement  with  the  expression  of  their  surprise,  and 
regret  that  gentlemen,  who  are  themselves  indebted  much  to  the  respect 
which  is  properly  cherished  for  the  rights  of  conscience,  should  be  so  un- 
mindful of  the  same  rights  in  the  case  of  your  petitioners.  Many  of  them 
are  by  religious  principle  so  pacific,  that  they  would  not  take  up  arms  in 
the  defence  of  the  liberties  of  their  country,  though  she  should  call  them  to 
her  aid :  and  yet  they  do  not  hesitate  to  invoke  the  "  strong  arm  of  the 
civil  power  "  for  the  purpose  of  abridging  the  private  liberties  of  their  fel- 
low-citizens, who  may  feel  equally  conscientious. 

Your  petitioners  have  to  deplore,  as  a  consequence  of  this  state  of 
things,  the  ignorance  and  vice  to  which  hundreds,  nay  thousands  of  their 
children  are  exposed.  They  have  to  regret,,  also,  that  the  education  which 
they  can  provide,  under  the  disadvantages  to  which  they  have  been  subject- 
ed, is  not  as  efficient  as  it  should  be.  But  should  your  honorable  body  be 
pleased  to  designate  their  schools  as  entitled  to  Realize  a  just  proportion  of 
the  public  funds  which  belong  to  your  petitioners  in  common  with  other 
citizens,  their  schools  could  be  improved  for  those  who  attend,  others  now 
growing  up  in  ignorance  could  be  received,  and  the  ends  of  the  Legislature 
could  be  accomplished — a  result  which  is  manifestly  hopeless  under  the 
present  system. 

Your  petitioners  will  now  invite  the  attention  of  your  honorable  body  to 
the  objections  and  misrepresentations  that  have  been  urged  by  the  Public 
School  Society,  to  granting  the  claim  of  your  petitioners.  It  is  urged  by 
them  that  it  would  be  appropriating  money  raised  by  general  taxation  to 
the  support  of  the  Catholic  religion.  Your  petitioners  join  issue  with  them, 
and  declare  unhesitatingly,  that  if  this  objection  can  be  established,  the 
claim  shall  be  forthwith  abandoned.  It  is  objected  that  though  we  are 
taxed  as  citizens,  we  apply  for  the  benefits  of  education  as  "  Catholics.1' 
Your  petitioners,  to  remove  this  difficulty,  beg  to  be  considered  in  their 
application  in  the  identical  capacity  in  which  they  are  taxed,  viz.,  as  citizens 
of  the  commonwealth.  It  has  been  contended  by  the  Public  School  Society 
that  the  law  disqualified  schools  which  admit  any  profession  of  religion, 
from  receiving  any  encouragement  from  the  school  fund.  Your  petitioners 
have  two  solutions  for  this  pretended  difficulty.  1.  Your  petitioners  are 
unable  to  discover  any  such  disqualification  in  the  law,  which  merely  dele- 
gates to  your  honorable  body  the  authority  and  discretion  of  determining 
what  schools  or  societies  shall  be  entitled  to  its  bounty.  2.  Your  petitioners 
are  willing  to  fulfill  the  conditions  of  the  law  as  far  as  religious  teaching  is 
prescribed,  during  school  hours.  In  fine,  your  petitioners,  to  remove  all  ob- 
jections, are  willing  that  the  material  organization  of  their  schools,  and  the 
disbursements  of  the  funds  allowed  for  them,  should  be  conducted  and 
made  by  persons  unconnected  with  the  religion  of  your  petitioners,  even  the 
Public  School  Society,  if  it  should  please  your  honorable  body  to  appoint 
them  for  that  purpose.  The  public  may  then  be  assured  that  the  money 
will  not  be  applied  to  the  support  of  the  Catholic  religion. 

It  is  deemed  necessary  by  your  petitioners,  to  save  the  Public  School 
Society  the  necessity  of  future  misconception,  thus  to  state  the  things  which 


BOARD   OF   ALDERMEN.  195 

are  not  petitioned  for.  The  members  of  that  Society  who  have  shown  them- 
selves so  impressed  with  the  importance  of  conveying  their  notions  of  "  early 
religious  instruction  "  to  the  "  susceptible  minds  "  of  Catholic  children,  can 
have  no  objection  that  the  parents  of  the  children,  and  teachers  in  whom 
the  parents  have  confidence,  should  do  the  same,  provided  no  law  is  violated 
thereby,  and  no  disposition  evinced  to  bring  the  children  of  other  denomina- 
tions within  its  influence. 

Your  petitioners,  therefore,  pray  that  your  honorable  body  will  be  pleased 
to  designate  as  among  the  schools  entitled  to  participate  in  the  common 
school  fund,  upon  complying  with  the  requirements  of  the  law  and  the 
ordinances  of  the  Corporation  of  the  city,  or  for  such  other  relief  as  to  your 
honorable  body,  shall  seem  meet — St.  Patrick's  school,  St.  Peter's  school, 
St.  Mary's  school,  St.  Joseph's  school,  St.  James1  school,  St,  Nicholas'  school, 
Transfiguration  Church  school,  and  St.  John's  school. 

And  your  petitioners  further  request,  in-  the  event  of  your  honorable 
body's  determining  to  hear  your  petitioners  on  the  subject  of  their  petition 
that  such  time  may  be  appointed  as  may  be  most  agreeable  to  your  honor 
able  body  ;  and  that  a  full  session  of  your  honorable  board  be  convened  for 
that  purpose. 

And  your  petitioners,  &c. 

THOMAS  O'CONNOR,  Chairman. 

GREGORY  DILLON,     \ 

ANDREW  CARRIGAN,  >  Vice- Chairmen, 

PETER  DUFFY,  ) 

Of  a  general  meeting  of  the  Catholics  of  the  city  of  New  York,  convened  in  the 

school-room  of  St.  James1  Church,  21st  of  September,  1840. 
B.  O'CONNOR,  J.  KELLY,  J.  MCLAUGHLIN,  Secretaries. 


When  the  petition  was  presented  to  the  board,  Alderman 
Chamberlain  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  it  be  referred  to  a  special  committee  to  inquire  into  the 
expediency  of  granting  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners,  to  be  heard  before  the 
board,  and  that  they  report  to  this  board  with  all  convenient  dispatch,  and 
that  the  petition  be  printed. 

Alderman  Graham  rose,  and  moved  a  substitute  for  the  reso- 
lution of  Alderman  Chamberlain,  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  petitioners  be  heard  before  the  full  board  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  petition,  and  that  the  next  regular  meeting  of  the  board  be 
assigned  for  that  purpose. 

A  division  being  called  for  by  Alderman  Graham,  the  ques- 
tion was  decided  in  the  negative,  as  follows  : 
Ayes — Aldermen  Balis  and  Graham — 2. 


196  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Nays — The  President  (Elijah  F.  Purdy),  Aldermen  Kich, 
Chamberlain,  Campbell,  Hatfield,  Jarvis,  Smith,  Nichols,  Coop- 
er, and  Nash — 10. 

The  question  was  then  put,  on  the  motion  of  Alderman 
Chamberlain,  and  it  was  unanimously  adopted.  The  President 
then  appointed  Messrs.  Chamberlain,  Graham,  and  Jarvis,  as 
the  committee. 

On  the  5th  and  19th  of  October,  adjourned,  meetings  of  the 
Catholics  were  held,  at  which  Bishop  Hughes,  and  others,  made 
vigorous  appeals  on  behalf  of  their  movement. 

Remonstrances  were  prepared  on  the  part  of  the  Public 
School  Society  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  which  are 
as  follows : 

To  ike  Honorable  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  the  City  of  Nffw  York : 

The  memorial  and  remonstrance  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School 
Society  of  New  York,  RESPECTFULLY  REPRESENTS  : 

That  your  memorialists  learn  that  a  petition  from  the  Roman  Catholics 
of  this  city  is  no.w  before  your  honorable  body,  in  which  they  again  ask  for 
a  portion  of  the  school  money  in  aid  of  the  schools  under  their  charge. 
After  the  late  unanimous  decision  of  one  branch  of  the  municipal  govern- 
ment, in  which  the  other  was  supposed  tacitly  to  unite,  adverse  to  several 
petitions  of  the  same  kind  from  religious  societies,  it  is  unexpected  to  your 
remonstrants  to  be  so  soon  placed  in  a  position  which,  in  their  opinion,  ren- 
ders it  necessary  to  oppose  the  application  of  a  large  and  influential  body 
of  their  fellow-citizens.  But  until  the  confidence  which  has  been  so  long 
reposed  in  them  by  the  city  government,  and  the  public  generally,  is  with- 
drawn, they  feel  it  to  be  an  imperious  though  an  unpleasant  duty  to  remon- 
strate against  what  they  deem  a  dangerous  application  of  funds  raised  for 
the  promotion  of  common  and  general  education. 

The  subject  has,  however,  been  so  fully  elucidated  and  ably  argued,  in 
documents  now  among  the  public  records,  that  your  remonstrants  cannot 
hope  to  shed  any  additional  light  upon  it.  They  therefore  beg  leave  to  refer 
your  honorable  body  to  Document  No.  80  of  the  late  Board  of  Assistant 
Aldermen,  as  containing  the  reasons  on  which  your  remonstrants  would  rely, 
in  opposing  the  applications  of  religious  societies  for  a  portion  of  the  school 
fund.  It  is  believed  that  no  decision  of  the  city  government  ever  met  with 
a  more  general  and  cordial  response  in  the  public  mind.  And  as  the  Roman 
Catholics  very  recently  issued  an  address  to  the  people  of  this  city  and 
State,  urging  at  large  their  reasons  for  a  separate  appropriation  of  school 
money,  to  which  your  remonstrants  have  replied,  they  now  present  copies 
of  said  documents,  which  they  respectfully  submit  to  your  honorable  body, 
us  containing  matter  relevant  to  the  question  under  consideration. 

The  petition  of  the  Roman  Catholics  now  pending  presents,  nevertheless, 
borne  points  which  your  remonstrants  feel  called  upon  to  notice. 


REMONSTRANCE   OF   THE   SOCIETY.  197 

By  a  misapprehension  of  the  law  in  relation  to  persons  who  are  conscien- 
tiously opposed  to  bearing  arms,  which  is  applicable  to  persons  of  every 
religious  persuasion,  they  attempt  to  adduce  an  argument  in  favor  of  the 
prayer  of  their  petition,  and  say,  that  they  only  claim  the  benefit  of  the 
same  principle  in  regard  to  the  education  of  their  children.  Now  the  facts 
are,  that  the  law  imposes  a  fine,  or  tax,  as  an  equivalent  for  personal  military 
service,  and,  in  the  event  of  there  being  no  property  on  which  to  levy,  sub- 
jects such  persons  to  imprisonment,  and  numbers  are  every  year  actually 
confined  in  the  jails  of  this  State. 

With  the  religious  opinions  of  the  denomination  of  Christians  referred 
to,  your  remonstrants  have  nothing  to  do.  In  opposing  the  claims  of  the 
Roman  Catholic,  and  several  other  churches,  to  the  school  money,  they  have 
confined  their  remarks  to  the  broad  general  grounds  alike  applicable  to  all ; 
but  the  petitioners  have  seen  fit  to  single  out  a  religious  society  by  name, 
and  intimate,  or  indirectly  assert,  not  only  that  their  peculiar  religious  views 
lead  to  insubordination  and  contempt  of  parental  authority,  but  that  the 
trustees  of  the  public  schools  who  are  of  this  denomination,  by  reason  of 
their  numbers,  or  the  "  controlling  influence  "  they  exert,  have  introduced 
the  "  same  principle  "  into  the  public  schools,  and  that  their  effects  are  mani- 
fested in  the  conduct  of  the  Catholic  children  who  have  attended  them. 
Your  remonstrants  feel  bound,  therefore,  in  reply,  to  state  that,  of  the  one 
hundred  citizens  who  compose  the  Board  of  Trustees,  there  are  only  twelve 
of  the  denomination  thus  traduced  ;  and  of  these,  six  or  seven  accepted  the 
situation  by  solicitation  of  the  board,  for  the  purpose  of  superintending  the 
management  of  the  colored  schools,  to  which  object  they  have  almost  exclu- 
sively confined  themselves.  Of  the  motive  that  induced  this  extraordinary 
portion  of  the  petition,  your  remonstrants  will  not  trust  themselves  to 
speak  ;  of  so  much  of  it  as  conveys  an  idea  that  the  trustees  who  are  of  this 
religious  persuasion  introduce,  or  attempt  to  introduce,  into  the  public 
schools  their  own  peculiar  opinions,  they  can  only  say,  that  no  one  of  the 
numerous  and  serious  charges  brought  against  your  remonstrants  by  the 
petitioners  is  more  entirely  destitute  of  foundation  in  fact.  If  a  disposition 
existed  in  any  quarter  to  give  a  sectarian  bias  to  the  minds  of  the  children, 
it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the  most  successful  method  would  be  through 
the  selection  of  teachers. 

In  one  of  the  documents  now  submitted  to  your  honorable  body,  it  is 
stated  that,  in  appointing  teachers,  no  regard  is  had  by  the  trustees  to  the 
religious  profession  of  the  candidates,  and  that  six  or  seven  of  the  present 
number  are  Roman  Catholics.  From  an  inquiry  now  made,  it  is  found  that 
only  two  of  the  teachers  belong  to  the  "  Society  of  Friends." 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  charge  made  in  the  petition  of  the  Roman 
Catholics,  that  such  of  their  children  as  have  attended  the  public  schools 
are  generally,  and  at  an  early  age,  imbued  with  a  principle  which  they 
impute  to  a  portion  of  the  trustees,  falls  to  the  ground,  and  is  proved  to  be 
as  unfounded  as  it  is  illiberal  and  ungenerous. 

It  is  with  regret  that  your  remonstrants  find  themselves  under  the  pain- 
ful necessity  of  saying,  that  the  petition  of  the  Catholics  contains  garbled 


198  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

extracts  and  detached  portions  of  some  parts  of  their  annual  reports  in  rela- 
tion to  religious  instruction,  and  so  arranged  and  commented  upon  as  to 
convey  a  meaning  directly  opposite  to  the  one  intended  and  clearly  ex- 
pressed in  the  original  documents. 

The  same  means  are  resorted  to  in  quoting  the  language  of  the  trustees, 
when  urging  the  importance  of  using  measures  for  inducing  the  poor  to 
have  their  children  educated.  On  different  occasions,  your  remonstrants 
have  suggested  to  the  Common  Council  the  expediency  of  requiring,  by 
legal  enactment,  the  attendance  at  some  "  public  or  other  daily  school "  of  the 
numerous  "  vagrant  children  who  roam  about  our  streets  and  wharves,  beg- 
ging and  pilfering;"  and  this  is  tortured,  in  the  Catholic  petition,  into  a 
desire  of  "  abridging  the  private  liberties  of  their  fellow-citizens,"  and  an 
acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  the  trustees  "  that  they  had  not  the  confi- 
dence of  the  poor." 

The  records  of  the  schools  will  demonstrate  that  the  industrious  and 
respectable  portions  of  the  laboring  classes  repose  entire  confidence  in  the 
public  school  system  and  its  managers. 

The  subject  of  objectionable  matter  in  the  books  used  in  the  public  . 
schools  is  so  fully  discussed  in  the  papers  now  submitted  to  your  honorable, 
body,  that  little  more  would  seem  to  be  called  for  under  this  head.  Find- 
ing their  strenuous  and  long  continued  efforts  to  induce  the  Catholic  clergy 
to  unite  in  an  expurgation  of  the  books  unavailing,  the  trustees  commenced 
the  work  without  them,  and  it  is  now  nearly  completed.  If  any  thing 
remains  to  which  the  petitioners  can  take  exception,  no  censure  can  by  pos- 
sibility attach  to  your  remonstrants;  and  the  trustees  assert  with  confidence, 
that,  if  any  has  escaped  them,  there  is  now  less  matter  objectionable  to  the 
Roman  Catholics  to  be  found  in  the  books  used  in  the  public  schools  than 
in  those  of  any  other  seminary  of  learning,  either  public  or  private,  within 
this  State. 

In  conclusion,  your  remonstrants  would  remark  that  they  have  not 
thought  it  expedient,  on  this  occasion,  to  enter  into  a  detailed  defence  of 
their  conduct  as  regards  all  of  the  charges  preferred  by  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics. Those  charges  are  before  your  honorable  body,  and  the  trustees  will 
cheerfully  submit  to  any  inquiry  that  you  may  see  fit  to  institute  in  relation 
to  them  ;  and,  even  if  it  can  be  shown  that  your  remonstrants  are  as  "  emi- 
nently incompetent  to  the  superintendence  of  public  education  "  as  the  peti- 
tion of  the  Roman  Catholics  intimates,  it  would  not,  they  respectfully  sug- 
gest, furnish  any  apology  for  breaking  down  one  of  the  most  important 
bulwarks  of  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of  the  American  people. 

Should  your  honorable  body  decide  to  hear  the  petitioners  before  the 
collected  board,  your  remonstrants  respectfully  ask  to  be  heard  on  the  same 
occasion,  in  reply: 

ROBERT  C.  CORNELL,  President. 
A.  P.  HA.LSEY,  Secretary. 

NEW  YOKK,  October  3d,  1840.  » 

To  the  Honorable  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New  York  : 

The  undersigned  committee,  appointed  by  the  pastors  of  the  Methodist 


REMONSTRANCE   OF  THE   METHODISTS.  199 

Episcopal  Church  in  this  city,  on  the  part  of  said  pastors  and  churches,  do 

MOST  RESPECTFULLY  REPRESENT  : 

That  they  have  heard  with  surprise  and  alarm  that  the  Roman  Catholics 
have  renewed  their  application  to  the  Common  Council  for  an  appropriation 
from  the  common  school  fund,  for  the  support  of  the  schools  under  their 
own  direction,  in  which  they  teach,  and  propose  still  to  teach,  their  own 
sectarian  dogmas,  not  only  to  their  own  children,  but  to  such  Protestant 
children  as  they  may  find  means  to  get  into  these  schools. 

Your  memorialists  had  hoped  that  the  clear,  cogent,  and  unanswerable 
arguments  by  which  the  former  application  for  this  purpose  was  resisted, 
would  have  saved  the  Common  Council  from  further  importunity. 

It  was  clearly  shown,  that  the  Council  could  not  legally  make  any  secta- 
rian appropriation  of  the  public  funds  ;  and  it  was  as  clearly  shown  that  it 
would  be  utterly  destructive  of  the  whole  scheme  of  public  school  instruction 
to  do  so,  even  if  it  could  be  legally  done.  But  it;  seems  that  neither  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  State  nor  the  public  welfare  are  to  be  regarded,  when  they 
stand  in  the  way  of  Roman  Catholic  sectarianism  and  exclusiveness. 

It  must  be  manifest  to  the  Common  Council,  that,  if  the  Roman  Catholic 
claims  are  granted,  all  the-  other  Christian  denominations  will  urge  their 
claims  for  a  similar  appropriation,  and  that  the  money  raised  for  education 
by  a  general  tax  will  be  solely  applied  to  the  purposes  of  proselytism, 
through  the  medium  of  sectarian  schools.  But  if  this  were  done,  would  it 
be  the  price  of  peace  ?  or  would  it  not  throw  the  apple  of  discord  into  the 
whole  Christian  community,  should  we  agree  in  the  division  of  the  spoils  ? 
Would  each  sect  be  satisfied  with  the  portion  allotted  to  it  ?  We  venture 
to  say  that  the  sturdy  claimants  who  now  beset  the  Council  would  not  be 
satisfied  with  much  less  than  the  lion's  share ;  and  we  are  sure  that  there  are 
other  Protestant  denominations  beside  ourselves  who  would  not  patiently 
submit  to  the  exaction.  But,  \vhen  all  the  Christian  sects  shall  be  satisfied 
with  their  individual  share  of  the  public  fund,  what  is  to  become  of  those 
children  whose  parents  belong  to  none  of  these  sects,  and  who  cannot  con- 
scientiously allow  them  to  be  educated  in  the  peculiar  dogmas  of  any  one 
of  them  ?  The  different  committees  who,  on  a  former  occasion,  approached 
your  honorable  body,  have  shown  that,  to  provide  schools  for  these  only, 
would  require  little  less  than  is  now  expended ;  and  it  requires  little  arith- 
metic to  show  that,  when  the  religious  sects  have  taken  all,  nothing  will 
remain  for  those  who  have  not  yet  been  able  to  decide  which  of  the  Chris- 
tian denominations  to  prefer.  It  must  be  plain  to  every  impartial  observer, 
that  the  applicants  are  opposed  to  the  whole  system  of  public  school  in- 
struction ;  and  it  will  be  found  that  the  uncharitable  exclusiveness  of  their 
creed  must  ever  be  opposed  to  all  public  instruction  which  is  not  under  the 
direction  of  their  own  priesthood.  They  may  be  conscientious  in  all  this  ; 
bnt,  though  it  be  no  new  claim  on  their  part,  we  cannot  yet  allow  them  to 
guide  and  control  the  consciences  of  all  the  rest  of  the  community.  We  are 
sorry  that  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools,  without  note  or 
commentary,  is-  offensive  to  them ;  but  we  cannot  allow  the  Holy  Scriptures 
to  be  accompanied  with  their  notes  and  commentaries,  and  to  be  put  into  the 


200  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL  SOCIKTT. 

hands  of  the  children  who  may  hereafter  be  the  rulers  and  legislators  of  our 
beloved  country  ;  because,  among  other  bad  things  taught  in  these  commen- 
taries, is  to  be  found  the  lawfulness  of  murdering  heretics,  and  the  unquali- 
fied submission,  in  all  matters  of  conscience,  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

But  if  the  principle  on  which  this  application  is  based  should  be  admit- 
ted, it  must  be  carried  far  beyond  the  present  purpose. 

If  all  are  to  be  released  from  taxation  when  they  cannot  conscientiously 
derive  any  benefit  from  the  disbursement  of  the  money  collected,  what  will 
be  done  for  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  other  sects  who  are  opposed  to  war 
under  all  circumstances  ?  Many  of  these,  besides  the  tax  paid  on  all  foreign 
goods  thus  consumed,  pay  direct  duties  at  the  Custom  House,  which  go  to 
the  payment  of  the  army  and  to  purchase  the  munitions  of  war.  And  even 
when  the  Government  finds  it  necessary  to  lay  direct  war  taxes,  these  con- 
scientious sects  are  compelled  to  pay  their  proportion,  on  the  ground  that 
the  public  defence  requires  it.  So,  it  is  believed,  the  public  interest  requires 
the  education  of  the  whole  rising  generation  ;  because  it  would  be  unsafe  to 
commit  the  public  liberty,  and  the  perpetuation  of  our  republican  institu- 
tions, to  those  whose  ignorance  of  their  nature  and  value  would  render  them 
careless  of  their  preservation,  or  the  easy  dupes  of  artful  innovators ;  and 
hence  every  citizen  is  required  to  contribute  in  proportion  to  his  means  to 
the  public  purpose  of  universal  education. 

The  Roman  Catholics  complain  that  books  have  been  introduced  into 
the  public  schools  which  are  injurious  to  them  as  a  body.  It  is  allowed, 
however,  that  the  passages  in  these  books  to  which  such  reference  is  made 
are  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  historical ;  and  we  put  it  to  the  candor  of  the 
Common  Council  to  say,  whether  any  history  of  Europe  for  the  last  ten  cen- 
turies could  be  written  which  could  either  omit  to  mention  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  or  mention  it  without  recording  historical  facts  unfavor- 
able to  that  Church  ?  We  assert,  that  if  all  the  historical  facts  in  which  the 
Church  of  Rome  has  taken  a  prominent  part  could  be  taken  from  writers 
of  her  own  communion  only,  the  incidents  might'  be  made  more  objection- 
able to  the  complainants  than  any  book  to  which  they  now  object. 

History  itself,  then,  must  be  falsified  for  their  accommodation  ;  and  yet 
they  complain  that  the  system  of  education  adopted  in  the  public  schools 
does  not  teach  the  sinfulness  of  lying  !  They  complain  that  no  religion  is 
taught  in  these  schools,  and  declare  that  any,  even  the  worst  form  of  Chris- 
tianity, would  be  better  than  none  :  and  yet  they  object  to  the  reading  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  the  only  foundation  of  all  true  religion.  Is 
it  not  plain,  then,  that  they  will  not  be  satisfied  with  any  thing  short  of  the 
total  abandonment  of  public  school  instruction,  or  the  appropriation  of  such 
portion  of  the  public  fund  as  they  may  claim  to  their  own  sectarian  pur- 
poses. 

But  this  is  not  all.  They  have  been  most  complaisantly  offered  the  cen- 
sorship of  the  books  to  be  used  in  the  public  schools.  The  committee  to 
whom  has  been  confided  the  management  of  these  schools  in  this  city  offered 
to  allow  the  Roman  Catholic  bishop  to  expurgate  from  these  books  any 
thing  offensive  to  him. 


K£MON6TRANCE   OF   THE   METHODISTS.  201 

But  the  offer  was  not  accepted ; — perhaps  for  the  same  reason  that  he 
declined  to  decide  on  the  admissibility  of  a  book  of  extracts  from  the  Bible, 
which  had  been  sanctioned  by  certain  bishops  in  Ireland.  An  appeal,  it 
seems,  had  gone  to  the  pope  on  the  subject,  and  nothing  could  be  said  or 
done  in  the  matter  until  His  Holiness  had  decided.  The  Common  Council 
of  New  York,  will  therefore  find  that,  when  they  shall  have  conceded  to  the 
Roman  Catholics  of  this  city  the  selection  of  books  for  the  use  of  the  pub- 
lic schools,  that  these  books  must  undergo  the  censorship  of  a  foreign  po- 
tentate. We  hope  the  time  is  far  distant  when  the  citizens  of  this  country 
will  allow  any  foreign  power  to  dictate  to  them  in  matters  relating  to  either 
general  or  municipal  law. 

We  cannot  conclude  this  memorial  without  noticing  one  other  ground  on 
which  the  Roman  Catholics,  in  their  late  appeal  to  their  fellow-citizen?, 
urged  their  sectarian  claims,  and  excused  their  conscientious  objections  to 
the  public  schools.  Their  creed  is  dear  to  them,  it  seems,  because  some  of 
their  ancestors  have  been  martyrs  to  their  faith.  This  was  an  unfortunate 
allusion.  Did  not  the  Roman  Catholics  know  that  they  addressed  many  of 
their  fellow-citizens  who  could  not  recur  to  the  memories  of  their  own  an- 
cestors without  being  reminded  of  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  the  fires  of  Smithfield,  or  the  cru- 
sade against  the  Waldetises  ?  We  would  willingly  cover  these  scenes  with 
the  mantle  of  charity,  and  hope  that  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens 
will,  in  future,  avoid  whatever  has  a  tendency  to  revive  the  painful  remem- 
brance. 

Your  memorialists  had  hoped  that  the  intolerance  and  exclusiveness 
which  had  characterized  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Europe  had  been 
greatly  softened  under  the  benign  influences  of  our  civil  institutions.  The 
pertinacity  with  which  their  sectarian  interests  are  now  urged  has  dissi- 
pated the  illusion.  We  were  content  with  their  having  excluded  us,  &e 
cathedra,  from  all  claka  to  heaven,  for  we  were  sure  they  did  not  possess  the 
keys,  notwithstanding  their  confident  pretension  ;  nor  did  we  complain  that 
they  would  not  allow  us  any  participation  in  the  benefits  of  purgatory,  for 
it  is  a  place  they  have  made  for  themselves,  and  of  which  they  may  claim 
the  exclusive  property ;  but  we  do  protest  against  any  appropriation  of  the 
public  school  fund  for  their  exclusive  benefit,  or  for  any  other  purposes 
whatever. 

Assured  that  the  Common  Council  will  do  what  it  is  right  to  do  in  the 
premises,  we  are,  gentlemen,  with  great  respect, 

Your  most  obedient  servants, 

N.  BANGS, 
THOMAS  E.  BOND, 
GEORGE  PECK. 

On  the  19th  of  October,  the  remonstrance  of  the  Public 
School  Society,  and  of  the  Methodists,  were  presented  to  the 
Board  of  Aldermen,  and  laid  on  the  table  until  the  report  of  the 


202  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY.     , 

committee  to  whom  the  petition  of  the  Catholics  had  been  re- 
ferred should  be  submitted  to  the  board.  When  the  reports  of 
committees  came  up  in  the  regular  order  of  business,  the  special 
committee  made  a  brief  report,  in  which  they  recommended  the 
folio  wins:  resolution  : 


.- 


Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Aldermen  cheerfully  grant  the  prayer  of  our 
Catholic  fellow-citizens,  to  be  allowed  the  privilege  of  being  heard  in  sup- 
port of  their  petition  to  have  St.  Patrick's  school,  St.  Peter's  school,  St. 
Mary's  school,  St.  Joseph's  school,  St.  James'  school,  St.  Nicholas'  school, 
Transfiguration  Church  school,  and  St.  John's  school,  designated  as  among 
the  schools  entitled  to  participate  in  the  common  school  fund  ;  and  that  the 
President  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  be  requested  to  call  a  special  meeting 
of  the  board  on  Friday  evening  next,  at  4  o'clock  p.  M.,  and  that  he  be 
requested  to  invite  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen  to  hear 
the  discussion,  and  that  the  privilege  of  discussing  the  same  subject,  in  the 
same  manner,  be  also  extended  to  all  other  parties  interested  in  it,  either  by 
counsel  or  otherwise.  , 

The  resolution  was  adopted,  and  the  memorials  and  remon- 
strances were  taken  from  the  table,  and  referred  to  the  com- 
mittee. 

The  meeting  was  not  held  until  Thursday,  the  29th,  when 
the  Common  Council  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  the 
arguments  by  the  petitioners  and  remonstrants,  and  a  protracted 
debate  ensued,  the  report  of  which  was  made  for  the  Freeman's 
Journal.  After  the  organization  of  the  meeting. and  the  read- 
ing of  the  preceding  papers,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  HUGHES 
rose  to  address  the  board  in  behalf  of  the  Catholics,  and  spoke 
as  follows : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen : 

Unaccustomed  as  I  am  to  address  a  body  of  gentlemen  such  as  I  see  here 
before  me,  I  may  not  always  be  correct  in  the  manner  of  my  address ;  I 
hope,  therefore,  that  any  mistakes  of  mine  may  be  imputed  by  this  honor- 
able board  to  my  inexperience.  I  would  also,  on  the  threshold  of  the  sub- 
ject, observe,  that  in  no  part  of  the  discussion  on  this  question,  so  far  as  it 
has  gone,  am  I  conscious  of  having  imputed  to  any  gentleman  who  is 
opposed  to  the  claim  in  which  I  have  so  deep  an  interest,  any  motive  or 
design  of  a  sinister  character.  I  am  sorry,  therefore,  that  the  Public  School 
Society  should  have  been  pleased  to  refer  to  the  language  of  our  document 
as  though  imputation  had  thereby  been  cast  upon  their  motives.  I  am  sure, 
if  they  again  review  our  documents,  they  will  not  find  one  solitary  instance 
of  any  imputation  dishonorable  to  them  personally  as  gentlemen.  We  speak 
of  their  system  apart  from  themselves ;  and  we  speak  of  it  with  that  free- 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP    HUGHES.  203 

doni  which  it  is  the  right  of  American  citizens  to  speak  of  the  public 
actions  and  public  proceedings  of  public  men  ;  but  again  will  I  repeat,  that 
in  no  instance  to  my  knowledge  has  there  been  imputed  to  those  gentlemen 
one  solitary  motive,  one  single  purpose,  unworthy  of  their  high  standing 
and  their  respectable  character.  They  have  alleged,  in  some  of  their  docu- 
ments, that  we  charge  them  with  teaching  infidelity  ;  but  we  have  not  done 
so.  We  charge  it  as  the  result  of  their  system — not  that  they  are  actively 
engaged  in  teaching  infidelity;  and  not  only  do  we  not  say  this,  but  we 
interpose  the  declaration,  that  we  do  not  believe  such  to  be  their  intention, 
but  that  the  system  has  gone  beyond  their  intention.  Yet,  after  this,  they 
ascribe  to  themselves  these  imputations,  and  they  cap  their  salvo  by  saying, 
that  even  the  authors  of  the  address  shrink  from  a  picture  of  their  own 
coloring — a  picture  which  they  not  only  charge  that  we  have  drawn  of 
them,  but  also  of  all  other  classes  and  denominations  of  our  fellow-citizens. 
Now,  I  venture  to  repeat,  that  in  no  instance  have  we  imputed  to  them 
motives  .which  can  reflect  on  them  as  honorable  men.  I  make  these  obser- 
vations in  the  commencement,  simply  to  show  how  much  has  been  written 
of  the  petitioners  on  assumptions  which  have  no  foundation  on  any  thing 
that  has  been  written  or  said  by  us.  I  know  well  the  Public  School  Society 
is  an  institution  highly  popular  in  the  city  of  New  York ;  but  I  should  be 
sorry  to  suppose  that  those  gentlemen  would  permit  themselves  to  interpose 
that  popularity  between  them  and  the  JUSTICE  which  we  contend  for  when 
we  seek  that  to  which  we  believe  we  have  a  legal  right.  At  the  same  time 
it  is  proper  .for  me,  at  the  commencement,  to  clear  away  another  objection 
which  an  attempt  has  been  made,  in  both  the  remonstrances  that  have  been 
read,  to  oppose  to  the  exceedingly  simple  principle  for  which  we  contend. 
The  attempt  has  been  made  (and  you  will  perceive  the  whple  document, 
which  issued  as  a  report  from  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen,  as  well  as 
the  remonstrances  of  the  Public  School  Society  and  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  is  based  on  the  same  false  assumption)  to  assume  false  premises 
in  this  matter ;  which  are,  that  we  want  this  money  for  the  promotion  of 
the  ecclesiastical  interests  of  our  Church.  Now,  if  these  societies  wish  to 
enter  their  remonstrances  against  our  petition,  they  should  first  read  the  lan- 
guage in  which  we  have  urged  our  claim ;  and  if  they  had,  they  would 
have  saved  themselves  the  trouble,  in  my  opinion,  of  reasoning  on  argu- 
ments which  are  but  figments  of  their  own  creation,  and  no  proposition  of 
ours.  Have  not  we  distinctly  stated  not  only  what,  we  want,  but,  to  guard 
them  against  accusing  us  of  what  we  do  not  want,  have  we  not  said  that  we 
do  not  want  the  public  money  to  promote  ecclesiastical  interests  ?— for,  to  this 
money,  for  such  a  purpose,  we  have  no  right.  And,  alsor  have  we  not  fur- 
ther stated,  that,  if  it  can  be  shown  that  we  want  the  money  for  this  pur- 
pose, that  we  will  abandon  our  claim — that,  if  it  can  be  shown  that  we 
want  it  for  sectarian  interests,  we  will  relinquish  it  altogether  ?  We  have 
said,  in  the  first  place  : 

Your  petitioners  will  now  invite  the  attention  of  your  honorable  body  to 
the  objections  and  misrepresentations  that  have  been  urged  by  the  Public 
School  Society  to  granting  the  claim  of  your  petitioners.  It  is  urged  by 


204:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

them  that  it  would  be  appropriating  money  raised  by  general  taxation  to 
the  support  of  the  Catholic  religion.  Your  petitioners  join  issue  with  them, 
and  declare  unhesitatingly  that,  if  this  objection  can  be  established,  the 
claim  shall  be  forthwith  abandoned.  It  is  objected  that,  though  we  are 
taxed  as  citizens,  we  apply  for  the  benefits  of  education  as  "  Catholics." 
Your  petitioners,  to  remove  this  difficulty,  beg  to  be  considered  in  their 
application  in  the  identical  capacity  in  which  they  are  taxed — viz.,  us  citi- 
zens of  the  commonwealth.  It  has  been  contended  by  the  Public  School 
Society,  that  the  law  disqualifies  schools  which  admit  any  profession  of 
religion  from  receiving  any  encouragements  from  the  school  fund.  Your 
petitioners  have  two  solutions  for  this  pretended  difficulty.  First,  your 
petitioners  are  unable  to  discover  any  such  disqualification  in  law,  which 
merely  delegates  to  your  honorable  body  the  authority  and  discretion  of 
determining  what  schools  or  societies  shall  be  entitled  to  its  bounty.  Sec- 
ondly, your  petitioners  are  willing  to  fulfil  the  conditions  of  the  law  so  far 
as  religious  teaching  is  proscribed  during  school  hours.  In  fine,  your  peti- 
tioners, to  remove  all  objections,  are  willing  that  the  material  organization 
of  their  schools,  and  the  disbursements  of  the  funds  allowed  for  them,  shall 
be  conducted  and  made  by  persons  unconnected  with  the  religion  of  your 
petitioners,  even  the  Public  School  Society,  if  it  should  please  your  honor- 
able body  to  appoint  them  for  that  purpose.  The  public  may  then  be 
assured  that  the  money  will  not  be  applied  to  the  support  of  the  Catholic 
religion. 

It  is  deemed  necessary  by  your  petitioners — to  save  the  Public  School 
Society  the  necessity  of  future  misconception — thus  to  state  the  things  which 
are  not  petitioned  for.  . 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  clear  and  simple  language,  you  perceive  both 
the  remonstrances  of  the  School  Society  and  the  Episcopal  Methodists  go 
on  this  false  issue,  that  we  want  this  money  for  sectarian  and  illegal  pur- 
poses !  Our  language  could  not  be  plainer  than  it  was  on  this  point,  and 
yet  there  has  been  uncharitableness  enough  in  these  societies  to  assert  the 
contrary.  I  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  make  this  explanation  at  the  com- 
mencement, to  impress  your  minds,  gentlemen,  with  what  it  is  we  seek  and 
what  it  is  we  seek  not,  because  I  know  a  deal  may  be  done  toward  a  proper 
elucidation  of  this  subject  by  preserving  its  simplicity.  The  remonstrants 
warn  you,  gentlemen,  against  giving  money  for  sectarian  purposes.  We  join 
them  in  that  admonition.  We  contend  that  we  look  in  honesty  and  sim- 
plicity alone  for  the  benefits  of  education ;  and,  as  members  of  the  common- 
wealth, and  as  Catholics,  we  seek  but  that  which  we  believe  to  be  just,  and 
legal,  and  right. 

I  shall  now,  gentlemen,  review  very  briefly  both  the  documents,  because 
they  submit  to  your  honorable  body  the  grounds  on  which  that  claim,  which 
we  believe  to  be  just,  is  opposed.  After  the  introduction  of  that  from  the 
Public  School  Society,  we  find,  in  the  second  paragraph,  the  following  pas- 
sages . 

The  subject  has,  however,  been  so  fully  elucidated  and  ably  argued,  in 
documents  now  among  the  public  records,  that  your  remonstrants  cannot 
hope  to  shed  any  additional  light  upon  it.  They  therefore  beg  leave  to 
refer  your  honorable  body  to  Document  No.  80  of  the  Board  of  Assistant 
Aldermen,  as  containing  the  reasons  on  which  your  remonstrants  would  rely 
in  opposing  the  applications  of  religious  societies  for  a  portion  of  the  school 
fund.  It  is  believed  that  no  decision  of  the  city  government  ever  met  with 
a  more  general  and  cordial  response  in  the  public  mind. 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  205 

Yes,  it  may  well  be  so  believed,  for  the  reason  that  that  whole  document 
went  on  a  false  issue,  and  therefore  it  was  thus  believed.  But  if  I  prove — 
as  I  shall — that  the  premises  had  no  foundation  in  reality,  then  the  argu- 
ments founded  thereon  must  fall  to  the  ground,  for  they  were  but  castles  in 
the  air.  It  proceeds  : 

As  the  Roman  Catholics  very  recently  issued  an  address  to  the  people  of 
this  city  and  State,  urging  at  large  their  reasons  for  a  separate  appropriation 
of  school  money,  to  which  your  remonstrants  have  replied,  they  now  present 
copies  of  said  documents,  which  they  respectfully  submit  to  your  honorable 
body,  as  containing  matter  relevant  to  the  question  under  consideration. 

The  petition  of  the  Roman  Catholics  now  pending  presents,  nevertheless, 
some  points  which  your  remonstrants  feel  called  upon  to  notice. 

By  a  misapprehension  of  the  law  in  relation  to  persons  who  are  conscien- 
tiously opposed  to  bearing  arms,  which  is  applicable  to  persons  of  every 
religious  persuasion,  they  attempt  to  adduce  an  argument  in  favor  of  the 
prayer  of  their  petition,  and  say  that  they  only  claim  the  benefit  of  the 
same  principle  in  regard  to  the  education  of  their  children.  Now,  the  facts 
are,  that  the  law  imposes  a  fine,  or  tax,  as  an  equivalent  for  personal  mili- 
tary services,  and,  in  the  event  of  there  being  no  property  on  which  to  levy, 
subjects  such  persons  to  imprisonment,  and  numbers  are  every  year  actually 
confined  in  the  jails  of  this  State. 

Now  I  conceive  the  illustration  there  referred  to  was  a  strong  one.  The 
parents  and  guardians  of  tender  offspring  have  a  right  connected  with  their 
nature  by  God  himself  in  His  wise  providence,  and  they  should  be  shown  a 
strong  reason  for  transferring  it  to  others.  And  I  adduced  it  as  an  illustra- 
tion, and  as  a  strong  one — why  ?  Because  the  defence  of  the  country  is  a 
thing  connected  with  self-existence  and  preservation ;  and  yet,  so  tender  is 
the  genius  of  this  happy  country  of  the  rights  of  conscience,  it  dispensed 
with  all  those  who  had  religious  scruples  from  a  compliance  with  the  law, 
and  changed  it  into  a  small  fine,  whereby  the  right  was  shown,  and  also  the 
disposition,  to  waive  it. 

With  the  religious  opinions  of  the  denomination  of  Christians  referred 
to,  your  remonstrants  have  nothing  to  do.  In  opposing  the  claims  of  the 
Roman  Catholic,  and  several  other  churches,  to  the  school  money,  they  have 
confined  their  remarks  to  broad  general  grounds  alike  applicable  to  all ;  but 
the  petitioners  have  seen  fit  to  single  out  a  religious  society  by  name,  and 
intimate,  or  indirectly  assert,  not  only  that  their  peculiar  religious  views 
lead  to  insubordination  and  contempt  of  parental  authority,  but  that  the 
trustees  of  the  public  schools  who  are  of  this  denomination,  by  their  num- 
bers, or  the  "  controlling  influence  "  they  exert,  have  introduced  the  "  same 
principle  "  into  the  public  schools,  and  that  their  effects  are  manifested  in 
the  conduct  of  the  Catholic  children  who  have  attended  them. 

Now,  I  am  exceedingly  surprised  that  those  gentlemen  should  go  so  far 
from  the  text  to  draw  reproach  upon  themselves.  "We  said  nothing  to 
authorize  this  language.  "We  simply  stated  the  fact ;  we  mentioned  the  cir- 
cumstance of  the  controlling  influence  of  those  holding  peculiar  sectarian 
views  ;  but  we  did  not  draw  the  conclusion  whether  the  insubordination  of 
the  children  of  our  poor  people  was  the  result  of  the  principles  taught  in 
the  schools,  or  of  a  want  of  domestic  influence.  And  yet  these  gentlemen 
have  gone  on  to  draw  upon  themselves  an  imputation  of  which  we  respect- 
fully disclaim  the  authorship.  They  proceed : 


206  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Your  remonstrants  feel  bound,  therefore,  in  reply,  to  state  that  of  the 
one  hundred  citizens  who  compose  the  Board  of  Trustees,  there  are  only 
twelve  of  the  denomination  thus  traduced, 

Now,  to  this  charge  of  traducing. we  beg  to  demur. 

and  of  these,  six  or  seven  accepted  the  situation  by  solicitation  of  the 

ooard,  for  the  purpose  of  superintending  the  management  of  the  colored 
schools,  to  which  object  they  have  almost  exclusively  confined  themselves. 

Now  I  should  be  one  of  the  last  to  detract  from  the  merits  of  this  de- 
nomination. Some  of  them  I  have  known  personally,  and  others  by  their 
nistory,  and  my  opinion  has  always  been  of  them  that  they  are  among  the 
foremost  in  every  benevolent  act  and  social  virtue,  and  to  lend  their  arm  to 
strengthen  the  weak  and  the  oppressed ;  and  therefore  it  is  no  reproach  to 
them  that  they  take  the  lead  in  this  work  of  benevolence,  for  which  I  give 
them  credit. 

They  go  on  to  say : 

Of  the  motive  that  induced  this  extraordinary  portion  of  the  petition, 
your  remonstrants  will  not  trust  themselves  to  speak, 

It  might  be  recollected,  gentlemen,  if  there  were  a  leaning  that  way,  it 
was  after  the  publication  of  the  "  Reply  "  to  our  "  Address,"  which,  though 
it  has  the  name,  is  no  reply  to  our  arguments.  It  is  not  an  answer ;  but  in 
it  they  take  the  occasion  to  sneer  at  us,  as  I  shall  soon  have  occasion  to 
show ;  yet  I  may  here  observe  that  it  would  have  been  better  if  they  had 
addressed  themselves  to  the  principles  of  eternal  justice  on  which  we  rest. 

Of  so  much  of  it  (they  add)  as  conveys  an  idea,  that  the  trustees  who 
are  of  this  religious  persuasion,  introduce,  or  attempt  to  introduce  into  the 
public  schools,  their  own  peculiar  opinions 

We  never  charged  that  they  did. 

they  can  only  say  that  no  one  of  the  numerous  and  serious  charges 

brought  against  your  remonstrants  by  the  petitioners,  is  more  entirely  desti- 
tute of  foundation  in  fact.  If  a  disposition  existed  in  any  quarter  to  give  a 
sectarian  bias  to  the  minds  of  the  children,  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the 
most  successful  method  would  be  through  the  selection  of  teachers. 

Why  there  was  no  necessity  for  this  vindication  at  all. 

In  one  of  the  documents  now  submitted  to  your  honorable  body,  it  is 
stated,  that  in  appointing  teachers,  no  regard  is  had  by  the  trustees  to  the 
religious  profession  of  the  candidates,  and  that  six  or  seven  of  the  present 
number  are  Roman  Catholics. 

I  have  seen  this  statement  figure  in  almost  every  document  of  that  Soci- 
ety, and  yet  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  "  six  or  seven  of  the  present  num- 
ber who  are  Roman  Catholics ; "  and  I  doubt  if  they  can  be  found,  except 
they  are  such  Roman  Catholics  as  we  see  our  children  become  after  they 
have  been  in  these  public  schools — that  is,  Catholics  who  have  no  feelings  in 
common  with  their  Church — Catholics  who  are  ashamed  of  the  name,  be- 
cause in  the  school-books  and  from  the  teachers  they  hear  of  its  professors 
only  as  "  papists,"  and  of  the  religion  itself  only  as  "  popery."  It  is  such  as 


SPEECH    OF   BISHOP.  HUGHES.  207 

these,  I  fear,  that  pass  as  Catholics.     I  only  know  of  one  who  is  worthy  of 
the  name. 

Prom  an  inquiry  now  made  it  is  found  that  only  two  of  the  teachers  be- 
long to  the  "  Society  of  Friends." 

And  I  don't  suppose  that  better  teachers  could  be  obtained  anywhere, 
when  confined  within  the  limits  prescribed ;  except  they  have  the  privilege 
to  introduce  religious  instruction.  And  without  that  it  matters  but  little 
whether  they  are  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  or  not.  They  continue  : 

It  is  with  regret  that  your  remonstrants  find  themselves  under  the  painful 
necessity  of  saying  that  the  petition  of  the  Catholics  contains  garbled 
extracts  and  detached  portions  of  some  parts  of  their  annual  reports  in  rela- 
tion to  religious  instruction,  and  so  arranged  and  commented  upon,  as  to 
convey  a  meaning  directly  opposite  to  the  one  intended  and  clearly  ex- 
pressed in  the  original  documents. 

Now  I  will  allow  the  reading  of  it,  and  if  there  are  any  garbled  extracts 
there,  I  will  be  the  first  to  correct  it.  But  I  am  surprised  when  we  quote 
the  words  of  their  documents,  that  they  should  urge  this  charge.  Let  the 
documents  be  read.  I  have  no  dread  on  this  subject. 

The  same  means  are  resorted  to  in  quoting  the  language  of  th6  trustees 
when  urging  the  importance  of  using  measures  for  inducing  the  poor  to 
have  their  children  educated.  On  different  occasions  your  remonstrants 
have  suggested  to  the  Common  Council,  the  expediency  of  requiring,  by 
legal  enactment,  the  attendance  at  some  "  public  or  other  daily  school,"  of 
the  numerous  a  vagrant  children  who  roam  about  our  streets  and  wharves, 
begging  and  pilfering,"  and  this  is  tortured  in  the  Catholic  petition  into  a 
desire  of  "  abridging  the  private  liberties  of  their  fellow-citizens,"  and  an 
acknowledgment,  on  the  part  of  the  trustees,  "  that  they  had  not  the  confi- 
dence of  the  poor." 

Yet  I  should  think,  gentlemen,  such  a  reluctance  to  attend  their  schools 
as  to  make  it  necessary  to  apply  for  a  legal  enactment  to  procure  first  the 
money,  and  then  to  compel  an  attendance,  would  show  that  they  did  want 
that  confidence.  I  know  they  have  not  the  confidence  of  our  body.  Yes, 
they  have  obtained  two  enactments  from  the  Common  Council,  depriving 
the  parents,  in  time  of  need — even  when  cold  and  starvation  have  set  in 
upon  them — of  public  relief,  unless  the  children  were  sent  to  these  or  some 
other  schools.  And  I  have  seen  them  urging  ladies  in  their  public  docu- 
ments, to  obtain  their  confidence  by  soothing  words ;  and  I  have  seen  them 
urging  employers  to  make  it  the  condition  of  employment.  Yet,  after  all 
this,  they  pretend  that  they  have  had  the  confidence  of  the  poor.  I  do  not 
say  that  they  have  not  merited  it  according  to  their  views ;  but  I  do  not 
think  they  should  expect  all  mankind  to  submit  to  their  views  of  the  mat- 
ter, to  the  sacrifice  of  their  own. 

They  say : 

The  records  of  the  schools  will  demonstrate  that  the  industrious  and 
respectable  portions  of  the  laboring  classes  repose  entire  confidence  in  the 
public  school  system  and  its  managers. 

Then  that  portion  in  behalf  of  whom  I  stand  here  is  not  to  be  classed 
with  "  the  industrious  and  respectable  !  " 


208  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

They  then  proceed  to  another  point : 

The  subject  of  objectionable  matter  in  the  books  used  in  the  public 
schools,  is  so  fully  discussed  in  the  papers  now  submitted  to  your  honorable 
body,  that  little  more  would  seem  to  be  called  for  under  this  head.  Find- 
ing their  strenuous  and  long-continued  efforts  to  induce  the  Catholic  clergy 
to  unite  in  an  expurgation  of  the  books  unavailing,  the  trustees  commenced 
the  work  without  them,  and  it  is  now  nearly  completed.  If  any  thing  re- 
mains, to  which  the  petitioners  can  take  exception,  no  censure  can,  by  possi- 
bility, attach  to  your  remonstrants ;  and  the  trustees  assert  with  confidence, 
that  if  any  has  escaped  them,  there  is  now  less  matter  objectionable  to  the 
Roman  Catholics,  to  be  found  in  the  books  used  in  the  public  schools,  than 
in  those  of  any  other  seminary  of  learning,  either  public  or  private,  within 
this  State. 

Now  they  could  not  adopt  a  worse  test,  for  I  defy  you  to  find  a  reading- 
book  in  either  public  or  private  seminary,  that  in  respect  to  Catholics  is  not 
full  of  ignorance.  Not  a  book.  For  if  it  were  clear  of  this,  it  would  not 
be  popular  ;  and  if  they  refer  to  this  then,  they  refer  to  a  standard  which 
we  repudiate.  But  it  must  be  remembered  those  people  can  send  their  chil- 
dren to  those  schools  or  keep  them  at  home.  They  are  not  TAXED  for  their 
support.  But  here  we  are.  It  is  the  public  money  which  is  here  used  to 
preserve  the  black  blots  which  have  been  attempted  to  be  fixed  on  the  Cath- 
olic name.  They  say  again  (and  it  is  an  idea  that  will  go  exceedingly  well 
with  the  public  at  large,  for  it  will  show  how  amiable  and  conciliating  are 
these  gentlemen) — that  they  have  submitted  the  books  to  us  as  though  we 
have  nothing  to  do  but  to  mark  out  a  passage,  and  it  will  disappear.  But 
are  we  to  take  the  odium  of  erasing  passages  which  they  hold  to  be  true  ? 
Have  they  the  right  to  make  such  an  offer  ?  And  if  we  spend  the  necessary 
time  in  reviewing  the  books  to  discover  passages  to  be  expurgated,  have 
they  given  us  a  pledge  that  they  will  do  itj  or  that  they  will  not  even  then 
keep  them  in  ?  Have  they  given  us  a  pledge  that  they  will  do  it  as  far  as 
their  denomination  is  concerned  ?  And,  then,  after  all  the  loss  of  time 
which  it  would  require  to  review  these  books,  they  can  either  remove  the 
objectionable  passages,  or  preserve  them,  as  they  see  fit.  An  individual  can- 
not answer  for  a  whole  body.  They  may  make  a  fine  offer  which  may  be 
calculated  to  impose  on  the  public,  but  if  we  put  the  question  if  they  are 
able  and  if  they  are  willing,  I  should  like  to  know  whether  they  can,  and 
will,  pass  a  law  to  show  us  that  they  are  sincere,  and  that  the  object  can  be 
carried  out  ?  That  would  alter  the  case ;  for  we  may  correct  one  passage 
to-day,  and  another  next  week ;  and  then  another  body  may  come  into 
power,  and  we  may  have  to  petition  again  and  again.  Could  they,  then,  do 
it  if  they  would  ?  And  should  they, -if  they  could  ? 

They  add : 

In  conclusion,  your  remonstrants  would  remark,  that  they  have  not 
thought  it  expedient,  on  this  occasion,  to  enter  into  a  detailed  defence  of 
their  conduct  as  regards  all  of  the  charges  preferred  by  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics. Those  charges  are  before  your  honorable  body,  and  the  trustees  will 
cheerfully  submit  to  any  inquiry  that  you  may  see  fit  to  institute  in  relation 
to  them  ;  and  even  if  it  can  be  shown  that  your  remonstrants  are  as  "  emi- 
nently incompetent  to  the  superintendence  of  public  education  "  as  the  peti- 
tion of  the  Roman  Catholics  intimates,  it  would  not,  they  respectfully  sug- 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  209 

gest,  furnish  any  apology  for  breaking  down  one  of  the  most  important  bul- 
warks of  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of  the  American  people. 

This  much,  then,  as  regards  this  document,  which,  it  will  be  perceived, 
goes  on  the  false  assumption  that  we  want  this  money  for  a  sectarian  pur- 
pose, because  it  was  so  referred  to  in  the  report  of  the  committee  of  the 
Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen,  which  denied  our  claim ;  for,  when  I  come  to 
that,  it  will  be  found  that  every  proposition  in  it  goes  on  the  assumption 
that  we  wish  this  money  for  religious  purposes.  If  we  did,  it  would  be  just 
to  deny  it  to  us.  But  I  will  now  take  up  another  document,  and  I  regret 
that  I  cannot  treat  it  with  the  respect  I  would  otherwise  wish  to  do.  The 
document  from  the'  Public  School  Society,  however  it  might  have  been  led 
aside,  and  however  feeble  in  its  reasoning,  contained  nothing,  I  trust  and 
believe,  which  was  intended  to  be  disrespectful  to  us.  It  was  couched  in 
language  at  which  I  cannot  take  offence.  Though  it  was  weak  in  its  prin- 
ciples, its  reasoning  was  decent.  I  cannot  say  as  much  for  this,  which  is 
from 

.  The  undersigned  committee,  appointed  by  the  pastors  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  this  city. 

They  commence  by  observing, 

That  they  have  heard  with  surprise  and  alarm 

They  should  have  seen  our  petition,  instead  of  taking  "  hearsay  "  for 
their  authority. 

that  the  Roman  Catholics  have  renewed  their  application  to  the  Com- 
mon Council  for  an  appropriation  from  the  common  school  fund,  for  the 
support  of  the  schools  under  their  own  direction,  in  which  they  teach,  and 
propose  still  to  teach,  their  own  sectarian  dogmas. 

Where  did  they  find  that?  Where  did  they  find  that  statement?  I 
should  like  to  know,  from  the  gentlemen  who  signed  this  remonstrance, 
where  they  have  their  authority  for  such  an  assertion  ?  We  disclaim  it  in 
the  petition  against  which  they  remonstrate.  It  shows,  then,  how  much 
trust  can  be  placed  in  "  hearsay,"  when  they  should  and  might  have  exam- 
ined the  petition  against  which  they  remonstrate,  in  which  they  can  find  no 
such  thing. 

In  which  they  teach,  and  propose  still  to  teach,  their  own  sectarian  dog- 
mas :  not  only  to  their  own  children,  but  to  such  Protestant  children  as 
they  may  find  means  to  get  into  these  schools. 

I  ask  these  gentlemen  again,  what  authority  they  have  for  such  an  asser- 
tion ?  I  should  like  to  see  the  argument  which  gives  them  their  authority 
to  use  language  and  to  make  a  statement  so  palpably  .false  as  this  is: 

Your  memorialists  had  hoped  that  the  clear,  cogent,  and  unanswerable 
arguments  by  which  the  former  application  for  this  purpose  was  resisted, 
would  have  saved  the  Common  Council  from  further  importunity. 

We  shall  see  whether  the  arguments  were  so  clear,  cogent,  and  unanswer- 
able, by  and  by. 
U 


210  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

It  was  clearly  shown  that  the  Council  could  not  legally  make  any  secta- 
rian appropriation  of  the  public  funds ;  and  it  was  clearly  shown  that  it 
would  be  utterly  destructive  of  the  whole  scheme  of  public  school  instruc- 
tion to  do  so,  even  if  it  could  be  legally  done.  But  it  seems  that  neither 
the  Constitution  of  the  State  nor  the  public  welfare  are  to  be  regarded, 
when  they  stand  in  the  way  of  Roman  Catholic  sectarianism  and  exclusive- 
ness. 

There  is  an  inference  for  you  1 — and  a  very  unfounded  one  it  is,  too. 

It  must  be  manifest  to  the  Common  Council,  that,  if  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic claims  are  granted,  all  the  other  Christian  denominations  will  urge  their 
claims  for  a  similar  appropriation 

And,  I  say,  they  have  the  right  to  do  it.  I  wish  they  would  do  it,  for  I 
believe  it  would  be  better  for  the  future  character  of  the  city,  and  for  its 
fame,  when  this  generation  shall  have  passed  away.  If  they  did  claim  it, 
and  the  claim  was  granted,  then  an  effort  would  be  made  to  raise  good  and 
pious  and  honest  men. 

and  that  the  money  raised  for  education  by  a  general  tax  will  be  solely 

applied  to  the  purposes  of  proselytism,  through  the  medium  of  sectarian 
schools.  But  if  this  were  done,  would  it  be  the  price  of  peace  ?  or  would 
it  not  throw  the  apple  of  discord  into  the  whole  Christian  community  ? 
Should  we  agree  in  the  division  of  the  spoils  ? 

I  am  exceedingly  sorry  that  the  gentlemen  who  drew  up  the  remon- 
strance had  not  more  confidence  in  the  power  of  their  own  religious  princi- 
ple, than  to  suppose  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  contend  violently  for  what 
they  call  the  "  spoils."  We  have  submitted  to  be  deprived  of  them  for 
years,  and  we  have  not  manifested  such  a  disposition ;  and  I  am  surprised 
that  they,  who  understand  so  much  of  the  power  of  religion,  should  attach 
so  much  value  to  the  little  money  which  is  to  be  distributed,  as  to  suppose 
that  it  would  set  Christians — professing  Christians — together  by  the  ears  in 
its  distribution. 

Should  we  agree  in  the  division  of  the  spoils  ?  Would  each  sect  be 
satisfied  with  the  portion  allotted  to  it  ?  We  venture  to  say,  that  the  sturdy 
claimants  who  now  beset  the  Council  would  not  be  satisfied  with  much  less 
than  the  lion's  share ;  and  we  are  sure  that  there  are  other  Protestant  de- 
nominations besides  ourselves  who  would  not  patiently  submit  to  the  exac- 
tion. 

After  what  they  have  said  by  authority  as  the  grounds  of  their  oppo- 
sition, where,  instead,  they  should  have  had  history  for  their  guide,  I  am 
not  surprised  that  they  should  prophesy  in  the  matter.  I,  too,  may  prophe- 
sy, and  I  will  say  that  the  "  sturdy  claimants  "  are  as  respectable  as  they 
are,  and  I  trust  it  will  never  be  attributable  to  us  that  we  claim  more  than 
is  our  common  right ;  and  if  that  should  be  violated  with  respect  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  denomination,  we  shall  be  far  from  the  ranks  of  those 
who  may  be  the  violators. 

But,  when  all  the  Christian  sects  shall  be  satisfied  with  their  individual 
share  of  the  public  fund,  what  is  to  become  of  those  children  whose  parents 
belong  to  none  of  these  sects,  and  who  cannot  conscientiously  allow  them 
4.0  be  educated  in  the  peculiar  dogmas  of  any  one  of  them  ?  The  different 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  211 

committees  who,  on  a  former  occasion,  approached  your  honorable  body, 
have  shown  that,  to  provide  schools  for  these  only,  would  require  little  less 
than  is  now  expended  ;  and  it  requires  little  arithmetic  to  show  that,  when 
the  religious  sects  have  taken  all,  nothing  will  remain  for  those  who  have 
not  yet  been  able  to  decide  which  of  the  Christian  denominations  to  prefer. 
It  must  be  plain  to  every  impartial  observer,  that  the  applicants  are  opposed 
to  the  whole  system  of  public  school  instruction. 

Have  we  said  so  ?  And  on  what  authority  have  these  gentlemen  the 
right  to  say  it,  if  we  have  not  ?  Where  are  their  data  ?  And  yet  they  come 
before  this  honorable  body  and  make  such  assertions,  with  the  sanction  of 
their  whole  Church ! 

And  it  will  be  found  that  the  uncharitable  exclusiveness  of  their  creed 
must  ever  be  opposed  to  all  public  instruction  which  is  not  under  the  direc- 
tion of  their  own  priesthood.  They  may  be  conscientious  in  all  this  ;  but, 
though  it  be  no  new  claim  on  their  part,  we  cannot  yet  allow  them  to  guide 
and  control  the  consciences  of  all  the  rest  of  the  community. 

Why,  it  would  be  a  silly  and  absurd  thing,  on  our  part,  to  look  for  it. 
But  we  never  thought  of  it.  It  is  a  fiction  of  these  gentlemen's  own  crea- 
tion. I  contend,  we  ask  nothing  for  the  community,  but  for  ourselves,  and 
I  trust  it  will  be  granted  if  it  is  right ;  and  if  we  can  be  shown  that  it  is 
not  right,  we  will  abandon  it  cheerfully.  But  their  assertion  is  wholly  des- 
titute of  foundation. 

We  are  sorry  that  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools,  with- 
out note  or  commentary,  is  offensive  to  them ;  but  we  cannot  allow  the  Holy 
Scriptures  to  be  accompanied  with  their  notes  and  commentaries 

Have  we  asked  such  a  thing  ? — or  in  any  way  solicited  it  ? 

and  to  be  put  into  the  hands  of  the  children,  who  may  hereafter  be  the 

rulers  and  legislators  of  our  beloved  country ;  because,  among  other  bad 
things  taught  in  these  commentaries,  is  to  be  found  the  lawfulness  of  mur- 
dering heretics,  and  the  unqualified  submission,  in  all  matters  of  conscience, 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

I  have  a  feeling  of  respect  for  many  of  their  denomination,  but  not  for 
the  head  or  the  heart  of  those  who  drew  this  document  up.  Here  it  states 
an  unqualified  falsehood.  Here  it  puts  forth  a  false  proposition,  and  that 
proposition  has  been  introduced  here  as  a  slander.  I  can  prove  that  it  is 
so.  And,  depending  on  the  confidence  here  reposed  in  me,  I  propose  and 
pledge  myself  to  forfeit  a  thousand  dollars,  to  be  appropriated  in  charities 
us  this  Council  may  direct,  if  those  gentlemen  can  prove  the  truth  of  this 
allegation ;  provided  they  agree  to  the  same  forfeiture,  to  be  appropriated 
in  a  similar  manner,  if  they  fail  to  establish  its  truth.  If  they  can  prove 
that  the  Catholic  Church  sanctions,  or  has  made  it  lawful,  to  murder  here- 
tics, I  will  forfeit  that  sum.  I  feel  indignant  that  we  should  be  met,  when 
we  come  with  a  plain  and  reasonable  and  honest  request  to  submit  to  the 
proper  authorities,  with  slanders  such  as  that,  and  that  in  the  name  of 
religion,  which  is  holy.  I  wish  them  to  hear  what  I  say.  I  know  very  well 
their  books  tell  them  so ;  but  they  should  look  at  the  original,  and  not  at 
secondary  authorities,  when  they  assail  our  reputation  and  our  rights. 


212  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

But  if  the  principle  on  which  this  application  is  based  should  be  admit- 
ted, it  must  be  carried  far  beyond  the  present  purpose.  If  all  are  to  be 
released  from  taxation  when  they  cannot  conscientiously  derive  any  benefit 
from  the  disbursement  of  the  money  collected,  what  will  be  done  for  the 
Society  of  Friends,  and  other  sects  who  are  opposed  to  war  under  all  cir- 
cumstances ? 

With  that  I  have  nothing  to  do,  and  therefore  I  will  pass  on  to  another 
point. 

The  Roman  Catholics  complain  that  books  have  been  introduced  into 
the  public  schools  which  are  injurious  to  them  as  a  body.  It  is  allowed, 
however,  that  the  passages  in  these  books,  to  which  such  reference  is  made, 
are  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  historical ;  and  we  put  it  to  the  candor  of  the 
Common  Council  to  say  whether  any  history  of  Europe,  for  the  last  ten  cen- 
turies, could  be  written  which  could  either  omit  to  mention  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  or  mention  it  without  recording  historical  facts  unfavor- 
able to  that  Church. 

And  this  is  what  the  remonstrants  call  a  strong  issue.  They  assert  that 
no  history  could  be  written  which  could  either  omit  to  mention  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  or  mention  it  without  recording  historical  facts  unfavor- 
able to  the  Catholic  Church.  If  this  be  the  case,  I  ask  you  whether,  as  citi- 
zens entitled  to  the  rights  of  citizens,  we  are  to  be  compelled  to  send  our 
children  to  schools  which  cannot  teach  our  children  history  without  blacken- 
ing us  ?  But  again  they  say : 

We  assert  that,  if  all  the  historical  facts  in  which  the  Church  of  Rome 
has  taken  a  prominent  part,  could  be  taken  from  writers  of  her  own  com- 
munion only,  the  incidents  might  be  made  more  objectionable  to  the  com- 
plainants than  any  book  to  which  they  now  object. 

No  doubt  of  it ;  and  it  only  proves  that  Catholic  historians  have  no 
interest  to  conceal  what  is  the  truth.  But  I  contend  that  there  are  pages  in 
Catholic  history  brighter  than  any  in  the  history  of  Methodism ;  and  that 
there  are  questions  and  passages  enough  for  reading-lessons,  without  select- 
ing such  as  will  lead  the  mind  of  the  Catholic  child  to  be  ashamed  of  his 
ancestors.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  a  respectable  Church,  and  I 
am  willing  to  treat  it  with  becoming  respect ;  but  it  is  a  young  Church ;  it 
is  not  so  old  as  the  Catholic  Church,  and  therefore  has  fewer  crimes ;  but  I 
contend,  again,  it  has  fewer  virtues  to  boast  of.  And,  in  its  career  of  a  hun- 
dred years,  it  has  done  as  little  for  mankind  as  any  other  denomination. 

History  itself,  then,  must  be  falsified  for  their  accommodation  ;  and  yet 
they  complain  that  the  system  of  education  adopted  in  the  public  schools 
does  not  teach  the  sinfulness  of  lying  1 

We  shall  come  to  that  presently. 

They  complain  that  no  religion  is  taught  in  these  schools,  and  declare 
that  any,  even  the  worst  form  of  Christianity,  would  be  better  than  none ; 
and  yet  they  object  to  the  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  the 
only  foundation  of  all  true  religion.  Is  it  not  plain,  then,  that  they  will  not 
be  satisfied  with  any  thing  short  of  the  total  abandonment  of  public  school 
instruction,  or  the  appropriation  of  such  portion  of  the  public  fund  as  they 
may  claim  to  their  own  sectarian  purposes  ? 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  213 

All  the  time  they  go  on  the  false  issue.  They  charge  that  which  we  dis- 
claim, and  they  reason  on  a  charge  of  their  own  invention,  and  which  we 
never  authorized.  Now,  as  I  have  a  word  to  say  about  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
I  may  as  well  say  it  at  this  as  at  any  other  time.  Their  assumption  is,  that, 
because  the  Scriptures  are  read,  sufficient  precaution  is  taken  against  infidel- 
ity. But  I  do  not  agree  with  them  in  that  opinion,  and  I  will  give  my  rea- 
son. What  is  the  reason  that  there  is  such  a  diversity  of  sects,  all  claiming 
the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  centre  from  which  they  draw  their  respective  con- 
tradictory systems  ?— that  book  which  appears  out  of  school,  by  the  use 
made  of  it,  to  be  the  source  of  all  dissension,  when  it  does  not  come  to  the 
minds  of  children  with  such  authority  as  to  fix  on  their  minds  any  definite 
principles.  As  regards  us,  while  the  Protestants  say  theirs  is  the  true  ver- 
sion, we  say  it  is  not  so.  We  treat  the  Scriptures  reverently  ;  but  the  Prot- 
estant version  of  the  Scriptures  is  not  a  complete  copy,  and,  as  it  has  been 
altered  and  changed,  we  do  not  look  upon  it  as  giving  the  whole  writings 
which  were  given  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  We  object  not  to 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  but  to  the  Protestant  version  without  note  or  comment. 
We  think  it  too  much  to  ask  Protestants  to  relinquish  theirs,  and  take  ours, 
for  the  use  of  the  public  schools.  If  we  could  ask  you — if  we  could  pro- 
pose that  you  should  take  our  book — if  we  should  ask  you  to  put  out  the 
Protestant  Scriptures,  and  take  ours,  with  our  note  and  comment,  do  you 
think  Protestants  would  agree  to  it  ?  Do  you  not  think  we  should  be 
arraigned  as  enemies  of  the  word  of  God  ? — for  that  is  one  charge  made, 
when  it  is  sought  to  denounce  us.  When  we  speak  language  of  this 
kind,  instead  of  understanding  us  according  to  our  comprehension  of  the 
subject,  they  charge  that  we  are  enemies  to  the  Holy  Scriptures.  But  to 
object  to  their  version  is  not  to  object  to  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  and  I  am 
prepared  to  show  them  that  no  denomination  has  done  so  much,  in  the  true 
sense,  for  the  Scriptures,  as  the  Catholic  Church. 

The  remonstrants  add : 

But  this  is  not  all.  They  have  been  most  complaisantly  offered  the  cen- 
sorship of  the  books  to  be  used  in  the  public  schools.  The  committee  to 
whom  has  been  confided  the  management  of  these  schools  in  this  city, 
offered  to  allow  the  Roman  Catholic  bishop  to  expurgate  from  these  books 
any  thing  offensive  to  him. 

And  now  they  go  out  of  their  way  to  sneer  at  us,  and  you  will  observe 
the  flippancy  with  which  they  do  it : 

But  the  offer  was  not  accepted ; — perhaps  for  the  same  reason  that  he 
declined  to  decide  on  the  admissibility  of  a  book  of  extracts  from  the  Bible, 
which  had  been  sanctioned  by  certain  Roman  bishops  in  Ireland.  An 
appeal,  it  seems,  had  gone  to  the  pope  on  the  subject,  and  nothing  could  be 
said  or  done  in  the  matter  until  His  Holiness  had  decided.  The  Common 
Council  of  New  York  will  therefore  find  that,  when  they  shall  have  con- 
ceded to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  this  city  the  selection  of  books  for  the  use 
of  the  public  schools,  that  these  books  must  undergo  the  censorship  of  a 
foreign  potentate.  We  hope  the  time  is  far  distant  when  the  citizens 
of  this  country  will  allow  any  forejgn  power  to  dictate  to  them  in  matters 
relating  to  either  general  or  municipal  law. 


214  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Prophets  again — but  not  prophets  of  charity.  I,  sir,  say,  not  prophets 
of  good-will,  for  there  is  something  more  in  their  souls  than  the  public  wel- 
fare. There  is  something  in  their  insinuation  that  is  insulting,  and  a  tone 
which  does  not  show  a  mind  enlightened  and  enlarged,  and  an  appreciation 
of  equal  justice  and  equal  rights.  Just  their  way.  They  hear  that  an  appeal 
has  gone  to  the  pope ;  and  if  we  desired  to  appeal,  also,  we  should  claim 
the  right  to  do  it  without  asking  permission  from  any  one.  Catholics  all 
over  the  world  do  it  when  their  consciences  make  it  a  duty,  but  uot  in  mat- 
ters of  this  kind.  "  These  books  must  undergo  the  censorship  of  a  foreign 
potentate ! "  Now,  we  regard  him  only  as  supreme  in  our  Church,  and 
there's  an  end  of  it. 

"We  cannot  conclude  this  memorial  without  noticing  one  other  ground 
on  which  the  Roman  Catholics,  in  their  late  appeal  to  their  fellow-citizens, 
urged  their  sectarian  claims,  and  excused  their  conscientious  objections  to 
the  public  schools.  Their  creed  is  dear  to  them,  it  seems,  because  some  of 
their  ancestors  have  been  martyrs  to  their  faith.  This  was  an  unfortunate 
allusion. 

Some  !  "  Some  of  their  ancestors  have  been  martyrs  to  their  faith."  I 
speak  of  the  Catholics  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  ;  and  when  you  reflect 
on  the  bigoted  and  unjust  laws  which  Great  Britain  founded  against  all  that 
were  Catholics,  by  which  their  churches  were  wrested  from  them,  and  a 
bribe  was  offered  as  an  inducement  to  the  double  crime  of  murder  and  of 
perjury — when  it  authorized  any  man  to  bring  the  head  of  a  Catholic  to  the 
commissioner,  and,  if  he  would  only  swear  it  was  the  head  of  a  priest,  he 
got  the  same  price  as  for  the  head  of  a  wolf,  no  matter  whose  head  it  was — 
and  when  legislation  of  that  kind  continued  for  centuries,  this,  you  must 
agree  with  me,  was  being  martyrs  indeed.  But  when  have  the  Methodists 
shown  a  sympathy  for  those  contending  for  the  rights  of  conscience  ? 
When  the  dissenters  of  England  claimed  to  be  released  from  the  operation 
of  the  "  Test  and  Corporation  "  act,  by  which  they  were  excluded  from  civil 
office,  did  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  assist  them  ?  Not  a  solitary 
petition  went  from  them  for  the  enlargement  of  their  freedom.  And  is  it  a 
wonder  that  we  look  to  conscience,  and  admire  those  who  had  the  firmness 
to  suffer  for  conscience'  sake  ?  By  the  penal  laws  against  Catholics,  the 
doors  of  Parliament  were  closed  against  us,  if  we  had  a  conscience,  for  it 
required  us  to  take  an  oath  which  we  did  not  believe  to  be  true,  and  there- 
fore we  could  not  swear  it.  There  it  is,  sir ;  it  is  because  we  have  a  con- 
science, because  we  respect  it,  that  we  have  suffered ;  and,  while  virtue  is 
admired  on  earth,  the  fidelity  of  the  people  that  are  found  standing  by  the 
right  of  conscience  will  command  the  admiration  of  the  world.  And  yet, 
we  arc  told,  it  was  an  unfortunate  allusion  ! 

Did  not  the  Roman  Catholics  know  that  they  addressed  many  of  their 
fellow-citizens  who  could  not  recur  to  the  memoirs  of  their  ancestors  with- 
out being  reminded  of  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes 

They  had  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  the  fires  of  Smithfield 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  215 

What  is  that  to  us  ?    Are  we  the  people  that  took  part  in  that  ? 

or  the  crusade  against  the  Waldenses  ?    We  would  willingly  cover  these 

scenes  with  the  mantle  of  charity 

They  had  better  not  make  the  attempt,  for  their  mantle  is  too  narrow. 

and  hope  that  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens  will  in  future  avoid 

whatever  has  a  tendency  to  revive  the  painful  remembrance. 

Let  them  enter  upon  that  chapter,  and  discuss  the  charitableness  of  their 
religion,  and  I  am  prepared  to  prove — I  speak  it  with  confidence  in  the  pres- 
ence of  this  honorable  assembly — that  the  Catholic  religion  is  more  chari- 
table to  those  that  depart  from  her  pale,  than  any  other  that  ever  was  yoked 
in  unholy  alliance  with  civil  power. 

Your  memorialists  had  hoped  that  the  intolerance  and  exclusiveness 
which  had  characterized  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Europe,  had  been 
greatly  softened  under  the  benign  influences  of  our  civil  institutions.  The 
pertinacity  with  which  their  sectarian  interests  are  now  urged  has  dissi- 
pated the  illusion. 

Sectarian  interests  again,  although  we  have  disclaimed  them ! 

We  were  content  with  their  having  excluded  us,  ex  catJiedra,  from  all 
claim  to  heaven,  for  we  were  sure  they  did  not  possess  the  keys,  notwith- 
standing their  confident  pretensions  ; 

Why,  they  need  not  be  uneasy  about  our  excluding  them  from  heaven, 
for  their  opinion  is  that  they  have  no  chance  to  enter  if  they  have  any 
thing  to  do  with  us  ;  and  therefore  our  excluding  them  is  of  no  avail. 

nor  did  we  complain  they  would  not  allow  us  any  participation  in  the 

benefits  of  purgatory 

Pray,  what  has  that  to  do  with  common  school  education  ? 

for  it  is  a  place  they  have  made  for  themselves,  and  of  which  they  may 

claim  the  exclusive  property ; 

Well,  it  is  no  matter  whether  we  believe  in  purgatory  or  not ;  it  ia  no 
matter  for  the  Common  Council  to  decide.  But  if  they  are  not  satisfied 
with  our  purgatory,  and  wish  to  go  farther,  they  may  prove  the  truth  of  the 
proverb,  which  says,  "  They  may  go  farther  and  fare  worse." 

but  we  do  protest  against  any  appropriation  of  the  public  school  fund 

for  their  exclusive  benefit,  or  for  any  other  purposes  whatever.  Assured 
that  the  Common  Council  will  do  what  it  is  right  to  do  in  the  premises,  we 
are,  gentlemen,  with  great  respect,  your  most  obedient  servants, 

N.  BANGS, 
THOMAS  E.  BOND, 
GEORGE  PECK. 

And  now  I  have  gone  through  these  two  remonstrances,  both  of  which, 
it  will  be  seen,  refer  to  the  document  of  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen, 
and  rest  their  opposition  on  the  same  ground.  Of  that  document  I  will 
pass  over  the  introduction;  but  I  may  observe  that  its  authors,  by  what 
influence  I  am  unable  to  say,  have  been  made  to  rest  their  report  upon  an 


216  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

issue  such  as  I  have  already  described,  and  for  which  our  petition  furnishes 
no  basis.    I  will  first  call  your  attention  to  the  following  observations  : 

The  petitioners  who  appeared  also  contended  that  they  contributed,  in 
common  with  all  other  citizens  who  were  taxed  for  the  purpose,  to  the  accu- 
mulation of  the  common  school  fund,  and  that  they  were  therefore  entitled 
to  a  participation  in  its  advantages ;  that  now  they  receive  no  benefit  from 
the  fund,  inasmuch  as  the  members  of  the  Catholic  churches  could  not  con- 
scientiously send  their  children  to  schools  in  which  the  religious  doctrines 
of  their  fathers  were  exposed  to  ridicule  or  censure.  The  truth  and  justice 
of  the  first  branch  of  this  proposition 

That  is,  the  payment  of  taxes. 

cannot  be  questioned.     The  cwrectness  of  the  latter  part  of  the  argument, 

so  far  as  the  same  relates  to  looks  or  exercises  of  any  kind  in  the  public  schools 
reflecting  on  the  Catholic  Church,  WAS  DENIED  by  the  School  Society. 

Now,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  this  denial  of  any  thing  objectionable 
in  the  books  of  the  Public  School  Society  was  made  at  the  period  of  the 
last  application.  I  am  persuaded  those  gentlemen,  if  they  had  known 
there  was  any  thing  objectionable  to  the  Catholics,  would  not  have  denied 
it.  I  am  sure  they  believed  there  was  nothing,  and  from  this  circumstance 
I  think  I  may  fairly  draw  this  inference,  that  they  had  not  paid  that  atten- 
tion to  the  books  which  they  should  have  done,  knowing  the  variety  of 
denominations  contributing  to  this  fund  and  entitled  to  its  benefits;  or, 
knowing  this,  and  the  feelings  and  principles  of  Catholics,  that  they  were 
incompetent  for  the  proper  discharge  of  their  responsible  duties.  It  is  only 
on  one  of  these  two  grounds  that  I  can  account  for  their  denial.  But  since 
that  time  they  have  not  only  admitted  that  the  objection  was  correct,  but 
they  have  expunged  passages  from  the  books  which,  at  the  time  of  this 
denial,  they  said  did  not  exist.  I  shall  pass  on,  now,  to  the  two  questions 
on  which  the  decision  of  the  committee  was  made  to  rest.  The  first  is  : 

Have  the  Common  Council  of  this  city,  under  the  existing  laws  relative 
to  common  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York,  a  legal  right  to  appropriate 
any  portion  of  the  school  fund  to  religious  corporations  ? 

Whether  they  have,  or  not,  one  thing  is  clear  and  certain — that  it  is  not 
as  a  "  religious  corporation  "  that  we  apply  for  it ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that 
this  should  have  struck  the  attention  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  the 
other  gentlemen  who  have  remonstrated.  We  do  not  apply  as  a  religious 
body ;  we  apply  in  the  identical  capacity  in  which  we  are  taxed — as  citizens 
of  the  commonwealth,  without  an  encroachment  on  principle  or  the  viola- 
tion of  any  man's  conscience.  But,  secondly,  they  ask  : 

Would  the  exercise  of  such  power  be  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of 
the  Constitution  and  the  nature  of  our  Government  ? 

Certainly  not.  If  the  Constitution  and  Government  have  determined 
that  no  religious  denomination  shall  receive  any  civil  privilege,  the  exercise 
of  such  power  will  not  be  in  conformity  with  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  nature  of  our  Government.  But  there  is  throughout,  and  in  all 
these  documents,  a  squeamishness,  a  false  delicacy,  a  persuasion  that  every 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  217 

thing  which  excludes  religion  abroad  is  right  and  liberal.  It  would  be 
unnecessary  for  me  to  follow  this  report;  sentence  by  sentence,  if  there  had 
not  been  so  much  reliance  placed  on  it  by  those  who  have  remonstrated ; 
but  as  so  much  consequence  has  been  attached  to  it,  I  will  call  your  atten- 
tion to  some  other  passages.  They  go  on  to  say : 

Private  associations  and  religious  corporations  were  excluded  from  the 
management  of  the  fund  and  the  government  of  the  schools.  Private  inter- 
est, under  this  system,  could  not  appropriate  the  public  treasure  to  private 
purposes,  and  religious  zeal  could  not  divert  it  to  the  purposes  of  prose- 
lytism. 

Why,  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind  intended.  "We  have  been  driven,  by 
the  obligation  of  our  consciences,  and  at  our  expense — which  we  are  poorly 
able  to  bear — to  provide  schools ;  but  they  are  not  convenient,  they  are  not 
well  ventilated,  and  are  not  well  calculated  to  give  that  development  to 
your  young  citizens  which  they  ought  to  have.  Why  argue,  then,  against 
religious  corporations,  and,  in  treating  this  question,  bring  prejudices  into 
view  which  ought  to  have  no  existence  in  reality  ?  They  then  go  on  to  give 
the  history  and  origin  of  the  present  law,  and  of  the  public  school  fund ; 
and  it  seems  that,  for  a  period  of  time — and  a  long  period — the  Legislature 
designated  the  schools  which  might  participate  in  this  bounty.  Each 
religious  denomination  provided  for  the  instruction  of  its  own  poor ;  they 
had  provided  schools,  and  their  exertions  were  honorable  and  laudable. 
The  Legislature  granted  its  aid,  and  the  respective  societies  were  encour- 
aged to  go  on  with  the  good  work ;  and  they  did  go  on  year  after  year,  and 
then  there  was  never  heard  that  disputation  which  appears  now  to  be  so 
much  dreaded.  There  was  not  then  heard  dissension  between  neighbors,  or 
strife  between  societies ;  every  thing  went  on  peaceably — and  why  ?  Be- 
cause the  schools  and  the  citizens  were  not  then  charged  that  religion  was  a 
forbidden  subject.  Nor  should  you  now  make  it  a  forbidden  part  of  educa- 
tion, because  on  religious  principle  alone  can  conscience  find  a  resting-place. 
It  should  be  made  known  that  here  conscience  is  supreme — that  here  all 
men  are  free  to  choose  the  views  which  their  judgments,  with  a  sense  of 
their  responsibility  to  an  eternal  weal  or  woe,  shall  dffer  for  their  adoption. 
It  should  be  taught  that  here  neighbors  have  the  right  to  differ,  and  what- 
ever is  the  right  of  one  must  be  recognized  as  the  right  of  the  other ;  and 
the  distribution  of  this  fund  will  be  better  calculated  to  benefit  the  commu- 
nity than  it  can  be  by  these  public  schools,  where  every  thing  seems  to  be  at 
par  except  religion,  and  that  is  below  par  at  an  immense  discount.  They 
tell  us,  then,  that 

The  law  was  imperative  in  its  character,  and  the  several  religious  socie- 
ties of  the  city  possessed  a  legal  right  to  draw  their  respective  portions  of 
the  fund  from  the  public  treasury,  subject  only  to  the  restriction,  that  the 
money  so  received  should  be  appropriated  to  the  purposes  of  free  and  com- 
mon education. 

But  that  "  right  to  draw  "  has  been  taken  away  ;  yet  there  is  nothing  in 
the  act  by  which  the  right  to  draw  is  taken  away  which  forbids  their  receiv- 
ing it  still,  if,  in  the  judgment  of  this  honorable  body,  the  circumstances 


218  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

of  the  case  entitle  them  to  it.  It  is  not  an  impeachment ;  the  Legislature 
had  no  intention  to  reflect  on  religious  bodies — it  had  no  intention  to  black- 
ball religion  in  the  public  schools ;  and  yet  that  view  has  been  taken  of  it. 
Such  was  not  the  case;  but  because  circumstances  had  arisen — and  what 
were  they  ?  Why,  gross  abuses  had  been  practised  by  one  of  the  religious 
societies,  and 

The  funds  received  by  the  Church  were  applied  to  other  purposes  than 
those  contemplated  by  the  act. 

Under  some  pretext,  the  favor  to  expend  the  school  moneys  had  been 
conferred  on  that  society  in  a  way  that  distinguished  it  from  all  other  Chris- 
tian denominations  and  societies ;  and  the  other,  seeing  this  privilege  con- 
ferred on  one,  and  not  on  the  rest,  ventured  to  remonstrate  with  the  Legis- 
lature ;  they  intimated  that  the  partiality  to  that  society  of  Baptists  was  an 
injustice  to  others,  and  they  remonstrated  against  the  law  conferring  exclu- 
sive privileges,  and  against  no  other  thing  whatever.  And  yet,  by  every 
document,  and  by  this  very  document,  it  seems  to  be  imagined  that  the 
Legislature  did  not  revoke  special  favors  granted  to  that  society,  but  with- 
drew its  aid  from  all  Christian  Churches ;  so  that  all  the  men  who  remon- 
strated against  this  partial  legislation  were  found  to  have  been  themselves 
deprived  of  the  privilege  which  they  had  enjoyed,  and  this  on  the  strength 
of  their  own  remonstrances  for  quite  another  thing.  And  the  discretion 
which  the  Legislature  had  exercised  to  designate  the  schools  which  should 
receive  this  fund,  was  transferred  to  this  honorable  body,  the  Council  of  the 
city  of  New  York.  And  why  was  it  transferred  ?  I  cannot  speak  positive- 
ly, but,  while  it  seems  to  me  that  there  were  abuses  shown  to  exist  by  the 
remonstrants,  of  which  they  made  complaint,  we  may  suppose  the  Legisla- 
ture conceived  it  difficult  for  them  to  take  cognizance  of  the  matter,  not 
being  on  the  spot,  but  that  the  Common  Council,  being  here,  and  being  a 
body  chosen  by  the  people,  in  whi<;h,  consequently,  the  public  would  have 
confidence,  was  the  best  and  most  fitting  body  to  designate,  from  time  to 
time,  the  institutions  or  schools  which  should  be  entitled  to  receive  those 
school  moneys.  This  must  have  been  their  intention,  and  yet  this  has  been 
interpreted  as  repealing  the  law,  in  order  to  deprive  those  denominations  of 
a  legal  right  (for  right  they  had,  and  they  could  come  and  demand  the 
money),  and  not  a  mere  transfer  of  the  discretion  to  give  this  money,  from 
the  Legislature  to  the  Common  Council  of  New  York.  Now,  all  this,  which 
is  so  plain  and  simple,  has  been  construed  by  these  gentlemen  of  the  Public 
School  Society  as — what  ?  As  conferring  a  monopoly  upon  them — as  a  law 
disqualifying  all  religious  denominations  receiving  it.  So  it  has  been  inter- 
preted. But,  if  it  were  so,  we  ask  not  for  the  money  on  the  ground  that  we 
are  a  religious  corporation,  but  of  public  utility,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
an  education  to  a  large  and  destitute  class  which  otherwise  will  not  have 
the  means  to  procure  it.  We  ask  it  to  secure  a  public  advantage  ;  and  if 
the  objections  anywhere  exist  to  which  I  have  directed  your  attention,  they 
do  not  apply  to  our  case.  Gentlemen,  I  think  it  unnecessary  to  detain  you 
any  longer  on  this  subject  as  referred  to  in  this  document,  because,  while  the 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  219 

question  is  composed  of  one  simple  fact,  they  are  arguing  against  dangers 
which  do  not  threaten  them.     But  then  they  go  on  to  say  : 

To  prevent,  in  our  day  and  country,  the  recurrence  of  scenes  so  abhor- 
rent to  every  principle  of  justice,  humanity,  and  right,  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  of  the  several  States,  have  declared,  in  some  form  or 
other,  that  there  should  be  no  establishment  of  religion  by  law ;  that  the 
affairs  of  the  State  should  be  kept  entirely  distinct  from,  and  unconnected 
with,  those  of  the  Church  ;  that  every  human  being  should  worship  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience  ;  that  all  churches  and  reli- 
gions should  be  supported  by  voluntary  contribution,  and  that  no  tax  should 
ever  be  imposed  for  the  benefit  .of  any  denomination  of  religion,  for  any 
cause,  or  under  any  pretence  whatever. 

All  this  is  doctrine  to  which  we  subscribe  most  heartily.  And  while  we 
seek  to  be  relieved  from  the  evils  under  which  we  suffer,  we  do  not  seek 
relief  to  the  detriment  of  any  other  sect.  What !  is  this  country  independ- 
ent of  religion  ?  Is  it  a  country  of  atheism,  or  of  an  established  religion  ? 
Neither  the  one  nor  the  other ;  but  a  country  which  makes  no  law  for  reli- 
gion, but  places  the  right  of  conscience  above  all  other  authority — granting 
equality  to  all,  protection  to  all,  preference  to  none.  And  while  all  these 
documents  have  gone  on  the  presumption  of  preference,  all  we  want  is  that 
we  may  be  entitled  to  protection  and  not  preference.  We  want  that  the 
public  money  shall  not  be  employed  to  sap  religion  in  the  minds  of  our 
children — that  they  may  have  the  advantages  of  education  without  the  in- 
termixture of  religious  views  with  their  common  knowledge,  which  goes  to 
destroy  that  which  we  believe  to  be  the  true  religion.  There  is  another 
feature  connected  with  this  subject — which  is  the  definition  given  of  a  pub- 
lic school,  such  as  should  be  entitled  to  this  money.  "  If  the  school  money," 
say  these  gentlemen — and  I  must  believe  they  are  imposed  on  by  a  statement 
which  is  not  correct.  I  believe  if  they  had  known  the  true  statement,  they 
would  not  have  published  in  their  report  such  a  statement  as  this  : 

If  the  school  money  should  be  divided  among  the  religious  denomina- 
tions generally,  as  some  have  proposed,  there  will  be  nothing  left  for  the 
support  of  schools  of  a  purely  civil  character ;  and  if  there  should  be,  in 
such  a  state  of  things,  any  citizen  who  could  not,  according  to  his  opinions 
of  right  and  wrong,  conscientiously  send  his  child  to  the  school  of  an  exist- 
ing sect,  there  would  be  no  public  school  in  which  he  could  be  educated. 
This  might,  and  probably  would,  be  the  case  with  hundreds  of  our  citizens. 

Now  let  me  for  a  moment  invite  your  attention  to  that  part  of  the  sub- 
ject which  I  have  now  the  honor  to  submit  to  you ;  and  it  is  that  part  on 
which  all  these  documents  go,  that  religious  teaching  would  vitiate  all  claim 
to  a  participation  in  this  public  fund.  A  common  education,  then,  as  under- 
stood by  the  State,  is  a  secular  education ;  and  these  documents  contend 
that  any  religious  teaching,  no  matter  how  slight,  will  vitiate  all  claim  to  a 
participation  in  this  fund.  Now  the  Public  School  Society,  in  their  reports, 
have  from  time  to  time  stated  themselves,  and,  observe,  with  a  consciousness 
that  the  jealous  eye  of  the  community  is  upon  them — they  state,  still  under 
this  restriction,  that  they  have  imparted  religion.  Now  if  this  doctrine  be 
correct,  they  are  no  more  entitled  to  the  common  school  fund  than  others. 


220  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Or  is  the  doctrine  correct,  and  yet  one  must  abide  by  it,  and  not  another  ? 
Again,  these  gentlemen  charge  us  with  accusing  them  of  teaching  infidelity, 
when  taking  this  tax  they  give  that  education,  which,  they  state  to  us  when 
we  apply  for  a  portion  of  this  money,  the  State  contemplates  to  give  the 
scholar — that  is,  an  education  without  religion.  Now  if  the  child  be 
brought  up  without  religion,  what  is  he,  if  not  an  infidel  ?  "  Oh,"  they 
say,  "  we  do  not  teach  it."  Is  it  necessary  to  teach  infidelity  ?  It  does  not 
require  the  active  process.  To  make  an  infidel,  what  is  it  necessary  to  do  ? 
Cage  him  up  in  a  room,  give  him  a  secular  education  from  the  age  of  five 
years  to  twenty-one,  and  I  ask  you  what  he  will  come  out,  if  not  an  infidel  ? 
Whether  he  will  know  any  thing  about  God  ?  And  yet  they  tell  you  that 
religious  teaching  is  a  disqualification.  What  will  a  child  be,  then,  if  you 
give  him  their  education  from  his  youth  up  to  the  age  of  twenty-one  ?  Will 
he  know  any  thing  of  God,  and  of  a  Divine  Redeemer  ?  of  a  Trinity,  of  the 
incarnation  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  redemption  of  the  world  by  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ,  or  of  any  of  those  grand  doctrines  which  are  the  basis  and 
corner-stone  of  our  Christianity  ?  And  because  we  object  to  a  system  of 
teaching  which  leads  to  practical  infidelity,  we  are  accused  of  charging  the 
Public  School  Society  with  Kfeing  infidels.  They  furnish  the  basis  of  the 
charge ;  we  do  not  wish  to  do  so.  Now  I  ask  you  whether  it  was  the  inten- 
tion of  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  or  of  the  people  of  the  State,  that  the 
public  schools  should  be  made  precisely  such  as  the  infidels  want  ?  Permit 
me  to  say,  when  I  use  the  term  infidel,  I  mean  no  disrespect  td  those  that  are 
so.  I  would  not  be  one ;  but  I  respect  their  right  to  be  what  they  please. 
A  few  days  ago,  a  gentleman  who  professes  to  be  one  of  this  class,  and  who 
would  not  allow  his  children  to  be  scholars  where  religion  is  taught  at  all, 
said  he  could  send  them  to  the  public  school,  for  there  the  education  suited 
him.  What,  then,  is  the  consequence  ?  That  while  the  public  education  of 
New  York  is  guarded  in  such  a  manner  as  to  suit  the  infidel,  the  children 
become  so.  And  is  there  any  authority  in  this  board,  or  of  a  legislative 
body  at  Albany,  or  is  there  any  board  in  the  Union,  with  power  by  the  Con- 
stitution to  exclude  religion  or  to  qngraft  it  ?  Neither  the  one  nor  the 
other.  The  infidel  says  truly  that  there  is  no  religion  taught,  and  therefore 
he  can  send  his  children  ;  and  I  should  like  to  know  why  any  member  of  a 
Christian  Church  should  be  forced  to  do  violence  to  his  convictions,  and  not 
be  permitted  to  enjoy  equal  advantages  ?  If  the  infidel  can  send  his  chil- 
dren to  these  schools,  because  no  religion  is  taught  there,  and  who,  therefore, 
has  to  make  no  sacrifices  of  conscience,  why  cannot  the  Christian  enjoy 
equal  advantages  ?  They  say  their  instruction  is  not  sectarianism  ;  but  it  is ; 
and  of  what  kind  ?  The  sectarianism  of  infidelity  in  its  every,  feature. 
But  because  it  is  of  a  negative  kind,  and  they  do  not  admit  the  doctrines 
of  any  particular  denomination — because  they  do  not  profess  to  teach  reli- 
gion, therefore  it  is  suited  for  all  1  As  a  test,  therefore,  of  this  principle, 
give  this  purely  secular  knowledge  to  a  young  man,  keep  him  from  inter- 
course with  the  rest  of  the  world,  give  him  nothing  else,  and  what  sort  of  a 
man  would  he  be  ?  What  would  be  the  state  of  his  mind  ?  A  blank — a 
perfect  blank  as  to  religious  impressions.  But  I  contend  that  it  is  infidelity, 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  221 

and  I  hope  the  public  school  gentlemen  hear  what  I  say.  But  again,  I  do 
not  charge  it  on  their  intention,  and  their  assertion  is  purely  gratuitous 
when  they  say  that  such  an  accusation  is  made  against  them.  Here  is  the 
observation  of  the  report  on  this  subject :  • 

If  religious  instruction  is  communicated,  it  is  FOREIGN  to  the  intentions 
of  the  school  system,  and  should  be  instantly  abandoned.  Religious  instruc- 
tion is  no  part  of  a  common  school  education. 

Such,  then,  is  the' nature  of  that  report  which,  I  take  leave  to  repeat,  has 
been  prepared  by  the  gentlemen  who  drew  it  up  as  a  committee,  under  the 
impression  fixed  on  their  minds  that  Catholics  want  this  money  to  promote 
their  religion,  and  that  if  it  were  granted  to  us,  others  would  want  it  for 
their  respective  religions  also  ;  and,  on  this  assumption  they  decided.  But 
against  this  false  issue  I  protest,  whether  set  forth  in  this  report  or  in  the 
two  remonstrances  before  this  Council — one  from  the  Public  School  Society, 
and  the  other  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  It  is  not  my  business 
to  speak  in  relation  to  the  Public  School  Society  at  large.  Of  its  history  I 
have  taken  pains  to  make  myself  sufficiently  possessed  to  speak ;  and  I  find 
that  in  its  origin,  so  far  from  disclaiming  all  connection  with  religion,  so  far 
from  conceiving  religious  teaching  disadvantageous,  it  was  originally  incor- 
porated for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  wants  of  the  destitute  portion  of 
the  population,  and  their  petition  for  a  charter  set  forth 

The  benefits  which  would  result  to  society  from  the  education  of  such 
children,  by  implanting  in  their  minds  the  principles  of  KELIGION  and 
morality. 

At  this  time  every  denomination  taught  its  own,  and  received  an  equal 
portion  of  the  fund  from  the  public  authorities  to  aid  them  in  their  good 
work,  so  that  their  children  were  provided  for,  and  this  Society  came  to 
gather  in  the  neglected  and  the  outcast — they  came  as  gleaners,  after  the 
reapers  had  gone  through  the  field,  and  a  most  benevolent  purpose  theirs 
was  ;  and  their  object,  I  repeat,  when  they  applied  to  the  Legislature,  was  set 
forth  to  be  (for  they  did  not  conceal  the  advantages  of  a  religious  education), 
to  produce  benefits  to  society  by  the  implanting  in  the  minds  of  such  chil- 
dren the  principles  of  religion  and  morality.  There  were  children  belonging 
to  no  denomination ;  and  this  Society,  seeing  the  benefits  which  would  result 
to  society  from  the  education  of  such  children  by  implanting  in  their  minds 
the  principles  of  religion  and  morality,  undertook  this  benevolent  work,  and 
covered  themselves  and  the  name  of  their  Society  with  glory  by  that  under- 
taking. But  it  is  strange  that  what  then  was  so  advantageous  to  the  com- 
munity— the  implanting  in  the  minds  of  children  the  principles  of  religion 
and  morality — should  have  ceased  to  be  so  now  ;  and  that  they  or  their  suc- 
cessors should  seek  to  make  that  very  thing  a  disqualification,  and  to  turn  it 
against  all  denominations  of  Christians,  and  claim  themselves  to  monopolize 
the  fund  and  the  teaching  on  the  principle  that  no  religion  shall  be  im- 
parted. Now  has  the  Legislature  seen  fit  to  alter  the  charter,  so  as  to  make 
religious  teaching  a  disqualification  of  all  other  sects  ? 


222  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Was  it  for  that  purpose  that  this  Society,  step  by  step,  obtained  enlarged 
privileges,  by  which  not  only  the  neglected  children  of  the  community,  but 
those  of  others,  came  under  their  care — that  they  obtained  grants  from  the 
public  treasury  and  the  exchequer  of  the  city,  to  an  amount  of  many  thou- 
sands of  dollars,  until  the  Society  claims  to  be  the  true  and  only  Society, 
though  existing  as  a  private  corporation,  electing  its  own  body,  fixing  a  tax 
for  the  privilege  of  membership,  sometimes  $10,  at  others  $20,  $25,  and 
$50,  any  of  which  sums  is  too  much  for  a  poor  man  to  pay  ;  and  out  of  this 
organized  body  electing  the  trustees  to  carry  on  the  work  ? 

I  mention  this,  not  to  blame  them — for  they  believe  they  are  doing  good 
— but  to  show  that  even  with  men  who  are  honorable  in  every-day  life,  how 
much  watchfulness  and  vigilance,  how  much  tact  and  talent,  is  used  to  grasp 
more  and  more,  till  they  absorb  all,  and  completely  deprive  all  others  of  any 
participation  in  the  advantages  of  controlling  this  fund. 

It  is  not  my  intention,  as  it  is  not  my  peculiar  province,  to  enter  into  the 
legal  part  of  the  argument ;  but  I  have  to  regret  that  the  gentleman  who 
did  intend  to  treat  it,  and  to  whose  department  it  belonged,  has  been  unfor- 
tunately prevented  by  the  bursting  of  a  small  blood-vessel.  But,  though 
my  experience  has  not  qualified  me  to  enter  into  legal  matters,  yet,  as  a 
citizen,  I  might  have  the  right  to  express  my  opinion  on  the  monopoly 
which  this  Society  claims ;  and  that  opinion  is  contrary  to  the  monopoly, 
and  not  only  contrary  to  their  monopoly  simply  regarded  as  a  monopoly, 
Imt  because  I  believe  that  a  monopoly  of  this  description  should  be  regard- 
ed with  double  jealousy.  Why  ?  Because  this  monopoly  is  of  greater 
weight  than  in  ordinary  cases ;  of  great  weight  pecuniarily — for,  last  year, 
the  fund  amounted  to  $115,000 — because  the  distribution  of  that  money 
gives  to  them  a  patronage  which,  considering  the  weakness  of  human 
nature,  is  in  danger  of  being  used  disadvantageous^ — because  it  gives  to 
them  privileges  of  infinitely  higher  importance  than  any  that  can  be  esti- 
mated by  dollars  and  cents — the  privilege  of  stamping  their  peculiar  charac- 
ter on  the  minds  of  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  our  children. .  They 
ought  to  be  men,  to  discharge  the  trust  of  such  a  monopoly,  as  pure  as 
angels,  and  almost  imbued  with  wisdom  from  above  ;  such  men  they  should 
be,  when  they  would  venture  to  come  and  stand  by  the  mother's  side,  and 
say,  in  effect,  "  Give  me  the  darling  which  you  have  nourished  at  your  breast 
— give  it  to  me,  a  stranger,  and  I  will  direct  its  mind.  True,  you  are  its 
parent,  but  you  are  not  fit  to  guide  its  youthful  progress,  and  to  implant 
true  principles  in  its  mind ;  therefore  give  it  to  me,  and  give  me  also  the 
means  wherewith  to  instruct  it."  That  is  the  position  of  that  Society  ;  and 
they  ought  to  be  almost  more  than  men  for  this — as  doubtless  they  are  hon- 
orable men  in  their  proper  places ;  but  of  that  we  should  have  the  most 
satisfactory  evidence,  that  we  may  be  well  assured  that  they  are  fitted  to 
discharge  their  duties.  It  is  this  consideration  that  brought  me  here,  as  the 
first  pastor  of  a  body  of  people  large  and  numerous  as  they  are  known  to 
be ;  but,  poor  as  many  of  them  are,  and  exposed  to  many  hardships,  they 
have  children  with  immortal  souls,  whose  condition  is  involved  in  this  ques- 
tion ;  and  if  it  is  an  impropriety  in  the  clerical  character,  I  would  rather 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  223 

undergo  the  reproach,  than  neglect  to  advocate  their  rights,  as  far  as  I  have 
the  power,  with  my  feeble  ability. 

The  Catholics  of  the  city  of  New  York  may  be  estimated  as  one  fifth  of 
the  population  ;  and  when  you  take  account  of  the  class  of  children  usually 
attending  the  public  schools,  and  consider  how  many  there  are  in  this  city 
who  are  in  affluent  circumstances,  which  enable  them  to  give  an  education 
to  their  children,  who  do  not  therefore  participate  in  the  teaching  of  the 
public  schools ;  and  when  you  consider  the  numbers  not  attending  any 
school  at  all — I  say,  of  those  people  who,  by  their  poverty,  are  the  objects 
most  usually  composing  the  number  that  require  the  assistance  of  the  com- 
mon school  fund,  Catholics  are  one  third,  if  not  more.  And  when  I  see  this 
one  third  excluded — respecting,  as  I  do,  their  welfare  in  this  life,  as  well  as 
their  welfare  in  a  brighter  world — then  it  is  that  I  come  forward  thus  pub- 
licly, and  stand  here  to  plead  for  them.  I  conceive  we  have  our  rights  in 
question,  and  therefore,  most  respectfully,  I  demand  them  from  this  honor- 
able board. 

I  am  not  surprised  that  there  should  be  remonstrances  against  our  claim ; 
but  I  did  hope,  in  an  age  as  enlightened  as  this  is,  and  among  gentlemen  of 
known  liberality  of  feeling,  that  their  opposition  would  not  have  been  char- 
acterized as  this  has  been.  However,  it  is  not  to  me  a  matter  of  surprise  ; 
for  I  believe  if  some  of  those  gentlemen,  who  consider  themselves  now  as 
eminent  Christians,  had  lived  at  the  period  when  Lazarus  lay  languishing  at 
the  gate  of  the  rich  man,  petitioning  for  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  the  table, 
they  would  have  sent  their  remonstrance  against  his  petition. 

When  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  sent  its  petition  for  a  portion  of 
this  fund,  some  eight  years  ago,  then  it  was  not  unconstitutional !  Yet,  did 
the  Catholics  send  in  their  remonstrance  against  it  ?  When  their  theologi- 
cal seminaries  obtained  (and  they  still  receive)  the  bounty  of  the  State,  did, 
or  do,  the  Catholics  complain  ?  Has  there  been  a  single  instance  of  illiber- 
ality  on  the  part  of  Catholics,  or  a  want  of  disposition  to  grant  rights  as 
universal  as  the  nature  of  man  may  require  ?  And  I  have  been  astonished 
only  at  this,  that  good  men,  with  good  intentions,  should  prefer  to  cling  to 
a  system,  and  to  the  money  raised  for  its  support  by  the  public  liberality — 
that  they  would  sooner  see  tens  of  thousands  of  poor  children  contending 
with  ignorance,  and  the  companions  of  vice,  than  concede  one  iota  of  their 
monopoly  in  order  that  others  may  enjoy  their  rights.  I  say  this  because  I 
am  authorized  to  say  it. 

And  what  am  I  to  infer,  but  that  they  prefer  the  means  to  the  end  ?  The 
end  designed  is,  to  convey  knowledge  to  the  minds  of  our  children ;  the 
means,  is  the  public  fund  ;  and,  by  refusing  to  cause  the  slightest  variation 
in  their  system,  they  cling  to  the  means,  while  they  leave  thousands  of  chil- 
dren without  the  benefit  which  the  State  intended  to  confer.  They  may 
pursue  that  course,  but  the  experience  of  the  past  should  have  taught  them 
that,  while  they  maintain  their  present  character,  a  large  portion  of  their 
fellow-citizens  have  not — cannot  have — confidence  in  them. 

We  have  not  had  confidence  in  them  for  years  past ;  and  that  we  have 
endeavored  to  supply  an  education  to  our  children  ourselves,  is  sufficient 


224  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

proof  that  we  shall  endeavor  to  supply  it  for  years  to  come,  rather  than  suf- 
fer our  children  to  be  taught  under  a  system  which  makes  them  ashamed  of 
the  religion  their  fathers  profess. 

But  they  have  said,  that,  if  a  portion  of  this  fund  is  given  to  Catholics, 
all  other  sects  will  want  it.  Then  let  them  have  it.  But  I  do  not  see  that 
that  is  probable ;  and  my  reason  is  this :  They  have  sent  in  remonstrances 
against  the  claim  of  the  Catholics,  as  you  will  see  by  a  reference  to  Docu- 
ment No.  80,  all  of  which  go  to  prove  that  they  are  satisfied  with  the  pres- 
ent public  school  system.  And  if  they  are  satisfied,  and  their  children 
derive  benefit  from  it,  let  them  continue  to  frequent  the  schools  as  they  do 
now.  The  schools  are  no  benefit  to  Catholics  now  ;  we  have  no  confidence 
in  them ;  there  is  no  harmony  of  feeling  between  them  and  us.  We  have  no 
confidence  that  those  civil  and  religious  rights  that  belong  to  us  will  be 
enjoyed  while  the  Public  School  Society  retains  its  present  monopoly.  We 
do  not  receive  benefit  from  those  schools ;  do  not,  then,  take  from  Catholics 
their  portion  of  the  fund,  by  taxation,  and  hand  it  over  to  those  who  do  not 
give  them  an  equivalent  in  return.  Let  those  who  can,  receive  the  advan- 
tages of  these  schools ;  but,  as  Catholics  cannot,  do  not  tie  them  to  a  system 
which  is  intended  for  the  advantage  of  a  class  of  society  of  which  they 
form  one  third,  but  from  which  system  they  can  receive  no  benefit. 

There  are  many  other  topics  connected  with  this  subject  to  which  I 
might  advert ;  but  I  must  apologize  for  the  length  of  time  that  I  have  tres- 
passed on  your  patience.  I  feel,  unaccustomed  as  I  am  to  address  such  a 
body,  and  hurried  as  was  my  preparation,  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  pre- 
sent the  subject  before  you  in  that  clear  and  lucid  manner  that  would  make 
it  interesting ;  but  it  was  not  with  that  view  that  I  claimed  your  attention 
in  relation  to  it ;  it  was  with  far  higher  motives ;  and  I  now,  with  confi- 
dence, submit  it  to  your  judgment. 

THEODOBE  SEDGWICK,  Esq.  (with  whom  was  Mr.  Ketclmm), 
as  counsel  for  the  Public  School  Society,  then  addressed  the 
board,  and  said : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  I  appear  here,  with  my  learned  friend  and  associate, 
Mr.  Ketchum,  on  behalf  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society ;  and 
I  desire  in  the  outset,  for  those  whom  I  represent,  as  well  as  for  myself,  to 
reciprocate  all  that  the  reverend  gentleman  has  said  of  the  motives  of  the 
parties  for  whom  we  respectively  appear.  The  trustees  are  animated  by  no 
feeling  but  a  desire  to  promote  what  they  conceive  will  be  for  the  true  inter- 
ests and  welfare  of  the  city ;  in  which  they  are  as  deeply  interested  as  any 
men  can  be.  They  have  no  other  interest  than  to  maintain  that  which,  in 
their  judgment,  is  right  in  itself,  and  will  be  beneficial  to  the  whole  body. 
Impelled  by  these  motives  themselves,  they  are  willing  to  believe  that  those 
who  are  opposed  to  them  are  animated  by  the  same  feeling.  It  is  most  espe- 
cially desirable  that,  in  a  case  like  this,  the  petitioners  should  be  hoard,  as 
they  are  being  heard,  in  the  most  solemn  manner  the  forms  of  the  city  gov- 
ernment will  permit.  We  have  no  doubt  they  will  be  fairly  heard  ;  we  are 


SPEECH   OF   THEODORE   SEDGWICK.  225 

convinced  that  the  decision  to  which  you  may  come,  -whether  for  or  against 
them,  will  be  righteously  pronounced.  The  trustees,  therefore,  are  most 
anxious  that  the  case  should  be  fully  examined.  What,  sir,  is  the  precise 
question  before  us  ?  The  petition,  if  I  understand  it,  asks  your  honorable 
body  for  a  civil  ordinance — for  an  ordinance  in  regard  to  the  application  of 
money.  I  shall  therefore  waive  all  reply  to  that  portion  of  the  reverend 
gentleman's  opening  remarks  which  relates  to  the  trustees  themselves  and 
the  Methodist  congregation.  That  part  of  his  argument  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  merits  of  the  case ;  however  pointed  and  piquant  it  may  have 
been,  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  point  which  you  have  to  decide.  Tin- 
trustees  here  sink  into  nothing ;  the  petitioners  also  disappear  from  our 
view ;  and  the  real  question  remains,  How  is  the  intellectual  condition  of 
our  children  to  be  best  promoted  ?  On  that  question  two  great  bodies  are 
at  issue,  and  it  is  especially  consonant  with  our  form  of  government,  that 
both  should  be  fairly  heard  ;  it  is  in  consonance  with  that  principle  of  our 
government,  which  bases  it  on  harmony  and  compromise,  with  that  respect 
which  is  due  even  to  the  opinions  of  the  minority.  The  question  is  now 
being  heard,  as  it  only  best  can  be  heard ;  and  all  will  rest  content,  no 
doubt,  with  the  decision,  whatever  that  decision  may  be. 

If  I  understand  this  application  correctly,  it  is  an  application  to  alter,  to 
modify,  or,  at  any  rate,  to  affect  the  common  school  system  of  this  State. 
Not  only  of  the  city,  sir,  for  it  has  a  more  extensive  bearing  ;  it  is  to  affect 
the  whole  system  of  the  State  of  New  York ;  and  your  honorable  body  can- 
not come  to  a  proper  decision  of  this  matter,  unless  you  bring  your  minds 
to  the  consideration  of  the  origin  of  our  system  of  education,  its  establish- 
ment, development,  and  extent.  This  system,  sir,  which  you  are  this  night 
called  upon,  in  my  humble  judgment,  not  merely  to  modify,  but  to  over- 
throw, had  its  foundation  laid  as  far  back  as  the  year  1795.  On  the  9th  of 
April,  1795,  an  act  was  passed  '•'•for  the  encouragement  of  public  schools  ;  "  and 
it  is  well  worth  while  to  know  what  was  the  opinion  of  the  Legislature 
which  framed  this  act  in  regard  to  the  kind  of  education  to  be  communi- 
cated in  the  schools  which  were  to  receive  its  bounty.  That  act  appropri- 
ated $20,000  annually  for  the  support  of  those  schools  in  the  different  coun- 
ties of  the  State,  in  which  the  children  should  be  "  instructed  in  the  English 
language,  or  be  taught  English  grammar,  arithmetic,  mathematics,  and  such 
other  branches  of  knowledge  as  are  most  useful  and  necessary  to  complete  a 
good  English  education." 

Such  was  the  whole  extent  and  aim  of  the  system  as  it  was  originally 
founded.  It  was,  to  give  a  purely  secular  education.  This  act  was  the 
germ  of  our  present  system ;  but  the  question  was  not  fully  understood,  nor 
its  importance  sufficiently  appreciated  ;  there  was  not  sufficient  genial  heat 
in  the  body  politic  to  develop  it ;  it  was  not  long  acted  under,  and  soon 
became  obsolete. 

In  1801,  another  act  was  passed,  '•'•for  the  encouragement  of  literature :,'' 
by  which  four  lotteries  were  established,  to  aid  in  the  accomplishment  of 
the  object — a  pure  object,  deriving  its  support  from  a  most  impure  source  : 

15 


226  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

for  the  proceeds  of  these  lotteries  were  to  be  applied  to  the  support  of  the 
common  school  in  such  way  as  the  Legislature  might  direct. 

In  1805,  the  first  step  was  taken  to  establish  the  system  on  a  firm,  per- 
manent foundation,  and  then  (2d  April)  the  proceeds  of  the  first  500,000 
acres  of  the  public  lands  which  should  be  sold  were  set  apart,  to  be  invest- 
ed as  a  permanent  fund  for  the  support  of  common  schools  for  the  education 
of  the  children  of  New  York.  This  fund  was  afterward  increased,  during 
the  years  1808,  1810,  and  1811,  by  the  receipt  of  the  surplus  fees  of  the 
Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  by  the  proceeds  of  certain  stock  in  the  Mer- 
chants' Bank  in  this  city,  and  the  sums  then  flowing  from  lotteries,  lands, 
fees,  and  banks,  were  invested,  'from  time  to  time,  by  the  Comptroller,  for 
the  same  object.  In  1811,  the  fund  was  found  to  be  of  a  considerable 
amount,  and  commissioners  were  appointed  to  report  to  the  Legislature,  at 
the  next  session,  how  this  fund  could  be  best  appropriated,  and  also  to  pre- 
pare a  system  for  the  organization  and  establishment  of  common  schools. 
They  accordingly  reported,  and,  in  1812  (10th  June),  the  first  general  act 
was  passed,  which  laid  the  foundation,  broad  and  deep,  of  the  present 
system. 

That  act  directed,  in  general  terms,  that,  as  soon  as  the  revenue  from  the 
school  fund  should  amount  to  $50,000,  it  should  be  appropriated  among  the 
different  counties  of  the  State ;  commissioners  and  inspectors  were  to  be 
elected  by  the  towns,  to  expend  the  amount  awarded  to  them  ;  and  trustees 
of  the  school  districts  were  also  chosen  to  carry  out  the  scheme. 

But  in  the  first  acj;  a  provision  was  inserted — and  it  is  important  in 
regard  to  the  whole  common  school  system  to  bear  it  in  mind — that  the 
towns  and  counties  were  not  compelled  to  contribute  to  the  expense  of  edu- 
cation at  all.  Such  only  as  voluntarily  accepted  the  system,  and  taxed 
themselves  to  a  similar  amount,  were  permitted  to  receive  any  portion  of 
•the  fund.  But  if  they  chose  to  disregard  the  matter  altogether,  they  were 
at  liberty  so  to  do.  The  next  year  this  error— for  so  it  seems  the  Legisla- 
ture deemed  it— was  corrected.  The  towns  and  counties  were  compelled  to 
adopt  the  system,  and  the  supervisors  were  directed  to  tax  the  towns  to  the 
amount  of  the  proportion  allotted  to  them  from  the  school  fund.  They  did 
then  what  they  had  not  before  dared  to  do — they  taxed  the  people  directly 
for  the  purposes  of  education.  That  act  was  passed  in  1814.  The  system 
thus  established  was,  as  your  honors  well  know,  incorporated  in  the  Revised 
Statutes,  which,  in  1830,  were  made  the  code  of  our  State ;  and  that  beau- 
tiful fabric  still  remains  as  it  was  then  fashioned — so  simple,  and  yet  so 
beautiful,  I  should  be  loath  to  see  a  hand  laid  upon  it. 

The  functions  of  the  original  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  have 
been  merged  in  the  Secretary  of  State,  but  in  other  respects  no  alteration 
has  been  made.  The  annual  revenue  of  the  fund  is  divided  among  the 
counties,  who  arc  compelled  to  raise,  by  taxation,  a  sum  equal  to  their 
respective  shares ;  commissioners  were  elected,  and  by  them  the  money  is 
apportioned  among  the  towns,  and  these  again  are  subdivided  into  districts, 
and  trustees  elected  to  take  charge  of  the  school-houses,  and  to  have  the 
immediate  supervision  of  the  schools. 


SPEECH   OF   THEODORE   SEDGWICK.  227 

These  trustees,  at  stated  periods  (once  a  year),  make  their  report  to  the 
commissioners,  the  commissioners  to  the  county  clerks,  and  they  to  the 
superintendent,  now  Secretary  of  State  ;  and  thus  is  one  harmonious  system 
established  throughout  the  State.  In  the  last  report,  of  1840,  it  is  stated 
that  but  one  town  in  the  State  has  not  reported  during  the  last  year.  At 
the  establishment  of  the  system,  there  was  great  diversity  of  opinion  on  the 
subject — there  was  great  languor  and  indifference  among  the  people,  and  it 
was  long  before  the  towns  generally  came  to  take  an  interest  in  it ;  it  was 
long  before  the  trustees  made  regular  reports  of  the  matters  under  their 
charge ;  but,  as  the  last  report  of  the  superintendent  shows,  there  has  been 
a  great  progress  of  opinion ;  every  town,  except  one,  has  made  its  report 
during  the  last  year,  showing  the  condition  of  its  schools.  In  the  year 
1795,  $20,000  were  appropriated  to  the  common  school  system  ;  in  1845,  it 
is  calculated,  by  the  report  of  the  superintendent,  that  the  capital  of  the 
common  school  fund  will  amount  to  five  millions  of  dollars.  These  facts 
alone,  then,  show  the  certain  progress  made,  not  only  in  the  means  for  the 
accomplishment  of  the  object  of  the  system,  but  in  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  the  people  themselves..  Five  millions  of  dollars,  then,  will  be  the  capi- 
tal, and  two  millions  will  be  annually  expended  for  the  education  of  the 
citizens  of  the  State  of  New  York !  10,766  districts  have  reported,  and 
557,229  children  are  actually  under  instruction  in  these  schools !  Now,  I 
suppose,  having  reference  to  the  magnitude  of  the  State,  and  to  its  popula- 
tion and  resources,  it  may  most  safely  be  affirmed,  there  is  no  such  system 
for  the  education  of  the  poorer  classes  of  any  country  in  the  universe — no 
system  of  this  grandeur,  by  which  the  people  take  care  that  the  people  shall 
be  educated — made  competent  to  discharge  those  duties,  without  which  the 
form  and  fabric  of  our  Government  are  a  mockery.  This  is  the  general  sys- 
tem throughout  the  State.  Now  let  us  examine  more  particularly  those  fea- 
tures which  relate  to  this  city,  with  which,  at  this  time,  we  are  more  imme- 
diately concerned.  In  1813,  the  first  act  to  which  I  have  alluded  extended 
its  provisions  to  this  city ;  and  it  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  the  Legisla- 
ture then  drew  a  line  between  the  population  of  this  city  and  of  the  coun- 
try, and  required  the  city  to  levy  a  tax  for  this  object,  before  it  required  the 
country  population  to  do  so.  In  1814,  as  I  have  already  said,  the  system 
was  applied  to  the  entire  State,  and  all  counties  were  required  to  raise,  by 
taxation,  an  amount  equal  to  their  portion  of  the  fund.  By  that  act,  cer- 
tain schools  were  specified  as  the  recipients  of  this  common  school  fund, 
and  such  other  incorporated  religious  societies  as  then  supported  charity 
schools.  In  1824,  this  act  was  repealed,  and  the  Common  Council  was 
authorized,  once  in  three  years,  to  designate  the  institutions  and  schools 
which  should  be  entitled  to  receive  the  school  moneys.  After  the  passage 
of  this  act,  a  petition  from  a  great  portion  of  the  property-owners  of  this 
city  was  presented  to  the  Legislature,  praying  leave  to  raise,  by  taxation  on 
this  city  and  county,  a  further  sum  besides  that  already  required  of  them, 
for  the  same  purpose  of  educating  the  destitute  poor.  I  claim  no  peculiar 
merit  for  them  in  so  doing,  but  they  are  at  least  entitled  to  the  credit,  such 
as  it  is,  of  comprehending  their  own  interest.  They  saw  that  the  education 


228  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

of  the  poor  was  essential  to  their  own  welfare.  Perhaps  this  is  the  only 
instance  on  record  of  citizens  soliciting  the  favor  of  being  taxed.  It  was 
granted,  and  the  Corporation  was  then  authorized  to  impose  a  special  tax 
on  this  city  for  the  support  of  schools.  And  what  has  since  been  the  devel- 
opment of  this  system  in  this  city  ?  In  the  year  1838,  $34,000  were  received 
from  the  school  fund ;  $34,000,  or  an  equal  amount  to  that  received,  were 
raised  under  the  compulsory  clause  of  the  school  system  acts,  and  $73,000  in 
addition  were  raised  by  this  voluntary  taxation ;  so  that  the  annual  revenue 
of  the  fund  in  controversy  exceeds  $140,000 — no  trifling  sum,  to  be  distrib- 
uted by  this  municipal  body.  Now,  if  you  please,  what  is  the  tendency  of 
this  system  ? — its  practical  effect — its  mode  of  tuition — the  nature  of  its 
instruction  ?  In  the  first  place,  there  is  no  law  on  the  subject.  The  rever- 
end gentleman  has  said  that,  if  the  prayer  were  granted,  they  would  con- 
form to  the  provisions  of  the  law  ;  he  was  willing  that  the  body  which  he 
represents  should  apply  the  fund  as  the  law  directs.  But  the  law  makes  no 
provision  in  the  matter.  If  the  Koran  was  taught  in  a  common  school,  the 
law  would  not  interfere — the  law  would  not  shut  the  school ;  it  must  be  got 
at  in  some  other  way.  This,  the  very  essence  of  the  matter,  was  left,  and 
doubtless  intentionally  left,  to  the  people  of  the  State  and  to  this  honorable 
body.  Throughout  the  State,  the  people  elect  their  officers  for  the  manage- 
ment of  these  schools ;  here  it  is  done  through  this  body,  who  are  elected 
by  the  people.  You,  then,  who  are  the  representatives  of  the  people,  decide; 
to  whom  this  fund  shall  be  distributed.  Now,  at  the  outset  the  question 
may  arise — and  a  great  portion  of  the  remarks  of  the  reverend  gentleman 
compel  a  notice  of  it — whether  the  education  of  the  people  is  a  proper  sub- 
ject of  governmental  concern.  If  I  understand  the  argument  of  the  rever- 
end gentleman,  it  tends  to  the  negative  of  this  proposition.  When  he  says 
the  trustees  of  our  public  schools  "  take  the  children  from  their  mother, 
deprive  the  parents  of  tlwir  offspring"  I  understand  him  to  say — and  it  is  not 
the  first  time,  by  any  means,  that  this  question  has  been  mooted — that  the 
State  has  no  right  to  interfere ;  that  the  matter  should  be  left  to  the  parent ; 
that  the  State  should  not  interpose  between  the  father  and  his  child.  If 
that  argument  is  sound,  then  the  whole  system  should  be  abolished  ;  if  the 
State  ought  not  to  interfere  at  all,  taxation  for  this  object  must  be  done 
away  with,  and  no  further  sums  should  be  levied,  and  the  school  fund, 
guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  should  go  back  into  the  general  coffers. 
But,  right  or  wrong,  such  is  not  the  understanding  of  the  people  of  this 
State.  They  have  said  that  there  is  a  portion  of  every  population  that  does 
not  sufficiently  appreciate  the  advantages  of  education  voluntarily  to  secure 
them ;  they  know,  or  think  that  they  know,  by  experience,  that  such 
parents,  unless  compelled,  will  not  properly  attend  to  the  interests  of  the 
child,  and  therefore  the  people  of  the  State  say,  "  We  will  interfere ;  no 
man  shall  come  up  to  his  majority,  and  claim  the  right  of  voting,  without 
that  education  which  shall  prepare  him,  at  least  in  part,  to  exercise  that 
right.  He  shall  have  at  least  a  portion  of  that  instruction,  without  which 
he  is  a  firebrand  in  the  midst  of  a  magazine."  This  matter,  therefore,  no 
longer  admits  of  argument.  The  question  to  be  argued  here  is,  not  whether 


SPEECH   OF   THEODOEE   SEDGWICK.  229 

^ 

the  father  and  the  mother  are  the  best  judges  of  the  interests  of  the  child 
in  this  point  of  view.  If  so,  we  are  cast  on  the  sea  of  abstract  discussion. 
We  must  assume  something — we  must  take  something  for  granted.  The 
postulate  in  this  case  is,  "  the  State  requires  its  children  to  have  some  kind 
of  education."  What  kind,  then,  shall  that  be  ?  Is  the  present  system  the 
best,  or  shall  we  have  something  new,  and  repudiate  that  which  the  expe- 
rience of  thirty  years  has  sanctioned  and  approved  ?  There  are  three  kinds 
of  education  which  the  State  might  give.  There  is  the  purely  secular  edu- 
cation, such  as  the  first  act,  to  which  I  have  referred,  contemplates — such  as 
the  master  gives  to  an  apprentice.  This  secular  education  may  be  better  or 
worse,  more  or  less  extensive.  The  child  may  be  taught  to  read  and  write, 
and  may  be  given  what  is  called  by  the  State  "  a  purely  English  education." 
There  is  another  kind  of  instruction  the  infant  may  be  imbued  with — those 
fundamental  principles  of  morals  about  which  there  is  no  dispute,  at  least 
not  in  this  country,  nor  in  any  part  of  Christendom — about  which  the  body 
which  the  reverend  gentleman  represents  and  we  Protestants  all  equally 
agree ;  as  to  the  moral  code  of  Christianity,  there  is  no  material  difference 
of  opiniofi  among  us.  But,  beyond  that,  there  is  still  another  branch  of 
instruction  which  is  properly  called  religious,  and  it  is  because  those  two 
phrases — "  religious  "  and  "  moral " — have  been  used  occasionally  without 
an  accurate  apprehension  of  their  signification,  that  the  documents  of  the 
trustees  have  been  misconstrued.  But  when  the  term  "  moral "  education 
is  used,  it  only  means  that  education  which  instructs  the  children  in  those 
fundamental  tenets  of  duty  which  are  the  basis  of  all  religion ;  it  does  not 
mean  that  sectarian  or  dogmatic  teaching  which  constitutes  what  is  more 
properly  termed  a  "  religious  "  education.  The  common  schools  have  meant 
from  the  beginning  to  teach  the  children  the  great  moral  precepts,  "  Thou 
shalt  not  steal,  thou  shalt  not  lie,"  and  others ;  but  they  have  riot  intended 
to  teach  either  Episcopalianism  or  Methodism,  Catholicism  or  Unitarianism, 
for  from  that  controversial  leaning  they  have  intended — and  if  I  understand 
the  system,  the  Legislature  intended — that  the  schools  should  keep  aloof. 
It  never  can  be  imparted  without  involving  the  parents  and  the  children  in 
bitter  disputes  endless  in  their  nature,  whose  inevitable  effect  would  be  to 
exasperate  the  minds  of  the  parents  toward  each  other,  and  be  either  use- 
less, or  positively  injurious  to  the  children.  A  religious  education,  properly ' 
so  called,  no  man  can  undervalue.  If  a  moral  education  is  given,  the  other 
invaluable  instruction  must  be  superadded ;  but  the  State  does  not  intend 
to  give  it.  The  State  intends  to  give  a  "  secular  "  and  moral,  but  not  a 
religious  education ;  the  State  does  not  intend  to  give  a  sectarian  education, 
and  that  is  precisely  what,  if  I  apprehend  correctly,  the  reverend  gentleman 
does  intend  to  give.  Such  as  I  have  described  is  the  character  of  the  in- 
struction in  this  State  ;  and  that  of  the  city  is  in  harmony  with  it.  It  is  a 
system,  I  repeat,  by  which  it  is  intended  to  confer  a  secular  and  moral  edu- 
cation. It  has  been  thought  that,  for  the  purposes  of  moral  teaching,  the 
Bible  contains  that  in  which  all  sects  can  agree — from  which  no  sect  can 
dissent.  Now,  what  is  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  ?  I  suppose  it  is  hardly 
necessary,  in  this  age  and  in  this  country,  to  deny  any  feeling  of  hostility  to 


230  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

/ 

Catholics.  It'  there  is  one  feeling  that  has  spread  more  than  another 
throughout  this  country,  it  is  one  of  religious  toleration — it  is,  that  this 
country  was  designed  and  was  provided  as  an  asylum  for  the  oppressed  of 
other  countries.  It  has  been  so  most  fortunately  for  the  Catholics  of  Ireland 
and  the  poor  peasant  of  the  Rhine.  There  is  no  feeling  of  hostility  to  the 
Catholic  as  such ;  still  less  to  the  foreigner  as  such.  There  was  a  time 
when  Catholicism  and  Christianity  went  hand  in  hand — when  their  fellow- 
ship was  broken  by  no  jar  nor  schism — when  all  were  Catholics.  One  of 
the  best  men  who  has  ever  adorned  this  country,  was  Bishop  Chevm.'s,  of 
Boston,  one  of  the  few  who  achieved  a  widespread  reputation  by  mere  acts 
of  private  benevolence.  And  while  we  can  turn  to  such  men  as  adorning 
the  Catholic  Church,  it  cannot  be  that  there  is  any  hostility  to  them  as  a 
sect ;  if  there  be,  most  assuredly  I  am  not  its  mouthpiece ;  and  while  I 
repudiate  all  feeling  of  hostility  to  the  petitioners,  this  I  will  further  say,  I 
would  not  for  a  moment  lend  my  feeble  aid  to  the  public  school  system,  if  it 
were  actuated  or  marked  by  intolerance  or  hostility  to  Catholics — if  it  did 
not  maintain  a  perfect  impartiality  among  all  sects.  I  conceive  that  this  is 
not  a  subject  to  argue  as  counsel,  from  a  brief.  Unless  I  were  satisfied  that 
the  compliance  with  this  petition  would  be  dangerous  to  the  whole  system, 
as  a  lawyer  I  would  not  say  a  syllable  in  the  matter.  I  would  never,  on 
such  a  subject,  argue  against  my  deliberate  conviction  as  a  counsel,  for  hire. 
The  professional  man  must  here  be  merged  in  the  citizen,  and  it  is  only  as 
such  that  I  desire  to  be  heard. 

If  this  matter,  however,  is  properly  considered,  there  can  be  no  pretence 
for  making  it  hinge  on  Catholicism,  or  for  awakening  the  violence  of  reli- 
gious schisms.  Although  a  portion  of  the  Catholics,  at  this  moment,  are 
the  most  prominent  petitioners  of  the  most  numerous  body  which  demand  a 
change  of  the  system,  yet,  in  point  of  fact,  they  are  not  more  affected  by  it 
than  others.  The  other  denominations  say,  "  "We  are  satisfied  with  the  pres- 
ent order  of  things,  and  with  the  education  conferred  ;  but,  if  you  give  a 
portion  of  these  funds  to  one  sect,  to  be  administered  by  their  hands,  we 
shall  claim  our  share  also."  So  long  as  you  give  a  secular  education  com- 
bined with  moral  instruction  alone,  and  steer  entirely  clear  of  all  doctrinal 
or  sectarian  principles,  all  are  satisfied ;  but  the  moment  an  apprehension 
exists  that  a  part  of  this  great  fund  goes  to  increase  the  numbers  and  the 
power  of  one  particular  sect,  that  moment  the  others  will  eagerly  strive  to 
check  what  they  believe  a  pernicious  influence,  and  to  check  it  in  the  same 
way.  At  present  these  sects  tacitly  consent  to  the  system  pursued  by  the 
trustees,  because  the  common  school  is  now  literally  a  "  common  scJwol"  a 
neutral  institution  ;  but  give  a  portion  of  this  fund  to  promote  the  interests 
of  that  sect,  and  others  will  that  instant  press  in,  demanding  their  equal 
share.  Those  demands  you  will  not  be  able  to  resist.  I  am  not  speaking 
of  any  speculative  matter.  You  have,  sir,  petitions  couched  in  these  very 
terms ;  and  if  you  answer  the  Catholic  in  the  affirmative,  you  cannot  give  a 
negative  to  the  other  claimants.  Consider,  then,  for  a  moment,  the  effect  of 
this.  After  all  the  sects  have  divided  the  fund  among  themselves,  what  is 
to  become  of  the  children  of  that  large  class  who  arc  of  no  sect,  or,  at  least, 


SPEECH   OF  THEODORE   6EDGWICK.  231 

who  wish  no  sectarian  education  to  be  given  ?  Are  they  to  be  left  utterly 
destitute  ?  The  conclusion  is  irresistible,  that  this  is  a  direct  attempt  to 
subvert  the  whole  common  school  system.  The  grounds  taken  by  the  peti- 
tioners are  twofold.  If  I  understand  them  correctly,  they  are  totally  at 
variance  and  incompatible  with  each  other.  One  is,  that  the  dogmas  of 
religion,  or  religion  properly  so  called,  is  not  taught  in  these  schools,  but 
that  what  the  reverend  gentleman  calls  the  sectarianism  of  infidelity  is 
propagated  in  them.  Another  objection  to  the  system  is,  that  the  children 
are  made  Protestants :  in  other  words,  that  religion  is  taught  to  them.  I 
leave  it  to  the  reverend  gentleman  to  reconcile  these  propositions  for  the 
purposes  of  his  argument ;  for  the  purposes  of  mine,  it  is  sufficient  that 
neither  of  them  is  tenable.  One  is  false  in  point  of  reasoning,  and  the  other 
in  point  of  fact. 

And  now  we  approach  the  citadel,  the  centre  of  the  discussion.  Now, 
as  to  this  matter,  the  petitioners  ask  your  honors  to  pass  a  civil  ordinance. 
The  first  question  that  suggests  itself  is,  Save  your  honors  the  power  to  make 
the  appropriation  asked  for  ?  The  committee  of  the  Board  of  Assistants 
have  already  intimated  their  opinion  that  no  such  power  rests  here — that 
this  application,  if  made  at  all,  should  be  presented  to  the  Legislature. 
And  the  Board  of  Assistants  have  intimated  the  further  opinion,  that  the 
Legislature  has  already  passed  upon  this  very  question.  That  the  Board  of 
Assistants  are  right,  there  is,  I  venture  to  affirm,  no  doubt.  The  act  of 
1813,  by  which  the  Legislature  undertook  to  direct  how  the  school  fund 
should  be  applied  in  this  city,  apportioned  it  among  the  Trustees  of  the 
Free-School  Society — now  the  Public  School  Society — the  Orphan  Asylum 
Society,  the  Economical  School,  the  African  Free  School,  and  such  incoi^po- 
rated  religious  societies  as  now  support,  or  thereafter  shall  establish,  charity 
schools,  or  may  apply  for  the  same.  That  act,  beyond  any  question,  gavo- 
ttes body  power  to  make  the  appropriation  now  asked  for.  The  churches 
acted  under  it,  and  claimed  their  share  of  the  school  fund.  On  the  8th  of 
February,  1822,  an  act  was  passed  for  the  relief  of  the  Bethel  Baptist 
Church  of  the  city  of  New  York.  That  congregation  went  begging  to 
Albany,  as  other  congregations  will  go  if  this  wretched  system  shall  be 
introduced,  and  asked  leave  to  apply  that  part  of  their  share  which  was  not 
wanted  for  teachers,  to  the  erection  of  school-houses.  The  act  was  passed, 
and  its  natural  consequences  ensued.  The  teachers  were  underpaid,  and 
false  receipts  were  used  in  order  to  facilitate  and  conceal  the  increase  of  the 
property  of  the  corporation.  Here  a  gross  fraud  was  perpetrated.  That 
fraud  was  discovered,  and  it  led  to  a  change  in  the  system.  The  nineteenth 
annual  report  of  the  School  Society  contains  all  the  documents  and  proofs 
on  the  subject.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose  that  the  fact  of  the 
deception  was  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Common  Council  of  the 
city,  and  of  the  Legislature.  The  Common  Council  took  the  matter  up,  and 
addressed  a  memorial,  signed  by  Mr.  Paulding,  then  Mayor,  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, for  the  repeal  of  the  act  under  which  the  fund  was  appropriated  to 
religious  societies  in  the  city.  They  say  : 

The  question  for  the  determination  of  the  Legislature,  at  this  time,  is 


232  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

presumed  to  be,  whether  the  Free-School  Society  shall  be  suffered  to  con- 
tinue its  operations  and  have  the  principal  management  of  gratuitous. edu- 
cation in  the  city  of  New  York,  or  whether  the  religious  societies  shall  take 
it  out  of  its  hands,  and  the  poor  be  educated  in  sectarian  schools. 

If  religious  societies  are  to  be  the  only  participators  of  the  portion  of 
the  school  fund  for  the  city  of  New  Tork,  a  spirit  of  rivalry  will,  it  is 
thought,  be  excited  between  different  sects,  which  will  go  to  disturb  the 
harmony  of  society,  and  which  will  early  infuse  strong  prejudices  in  the 
minds  of  children  taught  in  the  different  schools.  Moreover,  your  memo- 
rialists would  suggest  to  your  honorable  body,  whether  the  school  fund  of 
the  State  is  not  purely  of  a  civil  character,  designed  for  a  civil  purpose ; 
and  whether,  therefore,  the  entrusting  of  it  to  religious  or  ecclesiastical 
bodies  is  not  a  violation  of  an  elementary  principle  in  the  politics  of  the 
State  and  country. — Nineteenth  Report  of  Free-School  Society. 

Upon  that  memorial  a  committee  of  the  Assembly  reported  a  bill  to 
repeal  the  act  in  question.  That  report  contains  the  following  passage  : 

There  is,  however,  one  general  principle  connected  with  this  subject,  of 
no  ordinary  magnitude,  to  which  the  committee  would  beg  leave  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  House. 

It  appears  that  the  city  of  New  York  is  the  only  part  of  the  State  where 
the  school  fund  is  at  all  subject  to  the  control  of  religious  societies.  This 
fund  is  considered  by  your  committee  purely  of  a  civil  character,  and  there- 
fore it  never  ought,  in  their  opinion,  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  any  corpora- 
tion or  set  of  men,  who  are  not  directly  amenable  to  the  constituted  civil 
authorities  of  the  government,  and  bound  to  report  their  proceedings  to  the 
public.  Your  committee  forbear,  in  this  place,  to  enter  fully  into  this  branch 
of  the  subject,  but  they  respectfully  submit  whether  it  is  not  a  violation  of 
a  fundamental  principle  of  our  legislation,  to  allow  funds  of  the  State,  raised 
by  a  tax  on  the  citizens,  designed  for  civil  purposes,  to  be  subject  to  the 
control  of  any  religious  corporation. — Nineteenth  Annual  Report  of  Fre^- 
School  Society,  p.  51. 

Upon  that  memorial  and  report,  both  holding  this  language,  the  act  was 
passed,  under  which  your  honors  are  now  called  upon  to  grant  the  claim  of 
the  petitioners,  on  whose  behalf  the  reverend  gentleman  has  just  addressed 
you.  On  the  19th  of  November,  1824,  this  law  was  enacted,  entitled  "  An 
act  relating  to  Common  Schools  in  the  City  of  New  York,"  by  which  it  was 
provided  that 

The  institutions  or  sclwols  which  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  the  school 
moneys,  shall,  from  time  to  time,  and  at  least  once  in  three  years,  be  desig- 
nated by  the  Corporation  of  this  city  in  Common  Council  convened. 

Now  I  ask  your  honor,  since  statutes  were  first  formed,  was  ever  a  church 
designated  in  legal  language  as  an  "  institution  "  or  a  "  school  ?  "  That  act, 
then,  coupled  with  that  memorial  and  report  on  which  it  was  based,  compels 
the  conviction  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Legislature — if  my  mind  is 
not  clouded  by  the  views  I  have  taken  on  the  subject — it  is  as  clear  as  the 
sun  at  noon-day,  that  the  Legislature  intended  that  this  fund  should  be 
divided  amongst  "  institutions  and  schools,"  and  to  be  appropriated  to  the 
purposes  of  education — of  civil,  secular  education,  not  of  religious,  sectarian 
instruction.  We  arc  now,  then,  after  the  lapse  of  only  fifteen  years,  arguing 
before  this  honorable  body  the  very  question  which  was  argued  and  decided 
against  these  petitioners,  and  that  not  abstruse  or  complicated,  but  one  of 


SPEECH    OF   THEODOKE   SEDGWICK.  233 

the  simplest  in  the  very  primer  book  of  liberty.  The  only  question  which 
can  by  possibility  be  raised  on  this  branch  of  the  case  is  the  change  in  the 
phraseology  adopted  in  the  Eevised  Statutes,  vol.  i.  p.  483  (3d.  ed.),  where, 
instead  of  the  words  "  institutions  or  schools,"  the  words-  "  societies  or 
schools  "  are  substituted.  That,  certainly,  is  not  the  language  of  the  act  of 
1824 — it  is  not  as  clear  language  as  that  used  in  the  original  act,  but  it  is 
very  apparent  that  the  revisors  changed  the  language  without  intending  to 
changing  the  purport  of  the  provision.  Your  honors  are  well  aware  that 
where  any  change  of  our  statute  law  was  considered  necessary  by  the  re- 
visors,  where  an  old  enactment  was  altered,  or  a  new  provision  was  intro- 
duced, it  is  uniformly  accompanied  by  a  note  to  show  the  reason  for  the 
alteration.  But  there  is  no  note  nor  comment  whatever  on  this  passage. 
Your  honors  are  equally  well  aware  that  the  revisors  did,  for  the  simplifica- 
tion, and,  as  they  no  doubt  considered  the  improvement,  of  the  law,  some- 
tunes  change  the  phraseology  of  our  statutes,  to  make  it  more  elegant  or 
precise ;  that  is  the  reason  why  they  here  have  substituted  the  word  "  socie- 
ties "  for  "  institutions."  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  they  could  de- 
liberately revert  to  the  exploded  enactment,  which  existed  prior  to  1824, 
without  note  or  comment,  explanation  or  reason,  to  show  why  they  had  re- 
established a  system  once  pronounced  pernicious.  As  a  matter  of  law, 
therefore,  I  affirm  without  hesitation  this  question  has  been  passed  upon  by 
the  Legislature,  and  that  the  sovereign  power  has  removed  from  this  honor- 
able body  the  right  or  authority  to  apportion  this  fund  among  religious 
societies.  If  we  are  right  in  this  part  of  the  discussion,  we  might  stop  here. 
If  this  ground  is  well  taken,  the  petition  must  unquestionably  be  rejected. 
Your  honors  cannot  act  for  want  of  jurisdiction.  But  suppose  us  to  be 
wrong — put  out  of  view  the  act  of  1824,  and  consider  the  question  as  it 
presents  itself  on  general  principles,  as  if  we  were  to  argue  it  before  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Legislature.  Have  your  honors  acted  on  this  subject  already  ? 
The  present  disposition  of  the  school  fund  is  among  the  Public  School  Soci- 
ety, the  Mechanics'  Society,  the  Orphan  Asylum,  the  Harlem  School,  the 
Manhattanville  School,  the  Yorkville  School,  the  Catholic  Benevolent  Soci- 
ety, the  New  York  Institution  for  the  Blind,  the  Half  Orphan  Asylum,  the 
Association  for  the  Benefit  of  Colored  Orphans  in  New  York.  Of  these  the 
most  prominent  is  the  Public  School  Society,  the  utility  and  benefits  of 
which  it  is  impossible  to  extol  too  highly,  but  whose  power  the  reverend 
gentleman  most  egregiously  exaggerated.  What  are  its  powers  ?  In  1805, 
this  Society  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  under  the  name  of  "  The 
Society  for  Establishing  a  Free  School  in  the  City  of  New  York,  for  the 
education  of  such  poor  children  as  do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  provided  for, 
by  any  religious  society."  In  relation  to  the  original  petition  on  which  the 
charter  was  granted,  on  which  the  reverend  gentleman  has  commented,  it  is 
sufficient  to  observe,  that  at  that  time  no  school  fund  existed,  and  the  peti- 
tioners might  ask  leave  to  give  religious  education,  or  any  other  species  of 
education ;  whether  wise  or  not,  that  petition  has  no  connection  with  the 
application  of  the  common  school  fund.  In  1808,  the  power  of  that  Society 
was  extended  to  all  children  who  were  proper  objects  of  gratuitous  educa- 


234  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

tion,  and  the  name  was  changed  to  "The  Free  School  Society  of  New 
York."  On  the  8th  of  January,  1826,  it  was  altered  to  "  The  Public  School 
Society,"  by  which  name  it  is  still  known.  The  yearly  income  of  this 
"  magnificent  incorporation,"  so  "  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people,''- 
is  limited  by  its  charter  to  $10,000  per  annum.  This  Society  has  been 
called  by  the  reverend  gentleman,  a  "  monopoly."  I  did  not  expect  to 
receive  to-night  a  lesson  on  the  evils  of  monopolies. 

That  subject  we  pretty  thoroughly  discussed  some  years  since,  as  you, 
Mr.  President,  no  doubt  well  recollect.  That  discussion  was  carried  on  here 
by  one  of  the  most  upright  and  boldest  spirits  that  ever  inhabited  a  mortal 
frame.  It  is  foreign  to  this  subject,  but  I  shall  never  forego  any  opportunity 
of  commemorating,  with  niy  faint  praise,  the  name  of  William  Leggett. 
But  this  Society,  sir,  is  not  one  of  those  huge  political  engines  which  we 
were  then  taught  to  dread— a  Society  incorporated  under  a  general  statute, 
the  privileges  of  which  are  open  to  all ;  the  only  object  of  which  is  to  sup- 
ply education  to  the  poor;  the  annual  income  of  which  is  limited  to  $10,000, 
is  not,  I  need  not  assure  your  honors,  such  a  "  dangerous  monopoly "  as 
should  exclude  it  from  popular  favor.  It  is  just  such  a  monopoly — just 
such  a  monster,  if  the  reverend  gentleman  likes  the  phrase  better — as  any 
one  of  the  churches  which  he  represents.  Some  better  ground  of  objection 
must  be  found  than  that  this  incorporation  is  a  "  monopoly."  The  argu- 
ment of  the  reverend  gentleman  has  certainly  the  merit  of  flexibility,  but  it 
stretches  too  far :  he  sets  out  with  the  proposition  that  this  Society  incul- 
cates sectarianism,  but  when  he  found  that  would  be  turned  against  him,  he 
goes  on  the  other  track,  and  charges  them  with  infidelity.  Not  quite  satis- 
fied with  either  of  these,  he  starts  the  certainly  novel  accusation  that  it  is  a 
monopoly,  and  finally  he  insists  that  the  Society  has  not  the  confidence  of 
the  people.  As  to  this  matter,  like  most  others,  facts  speak  louder  than 
words.  A  statement  has  been  recently  prepared  in  relation  to  the  children 
taught  in  these  schools,  which  shows  the  nature  of  their  effects  on  the  popu^ 
lation  of  this  city.  The  report  not  only  gives  the  number  of  the  children 
taught,  but  the  occupation  of  the  parents  has  been  carefully  set  down,  and  a 
single  glance  at  it  will  show  what  class  of  society  is  most  interested  in  the 
support  of  this  "  dangerous  monopoly."  Of  16,000  children,  no  less  than 
1,488,  or  about  one  tenth,  are  the  children  of  laborers ;  1,461,  or  nearly 
another  tenth,  are  the  children  of  widows ;  945  shoemakers ;  502  cabinet- 
makers ;  416  masons ;  579  tailors ;  493  blacksmiths ;  while  of  clergymen 
there  are  but  13  ;  of  doctors  44  ;  lawyers  25  ;  and  the  gentlemen  figure  in  the 
list  to  the  amount  of  26.  This  is  the  proportion  in  which  the  children  of 
the  different  classes  enjoy  the  benefits  of  education  from  the  Public  School 
Society.  The  reverend  gentleman's  assertion  that  the  Society  has  not  the 
confidence  of  the  public,  is  somewhat  answered  by  this  statement.  But  if  it 
were  otherwise,  should  it  be  thought  strange,  and  would  it  be  singular  if 
the  same  eloquent  voice  which  we  have  heard  this  night,  is  constantly  raised 
to  deter  one  large  and  important  class  of  the  people  from  entering  those 
common  schools,  arousing  the  prejudices  of  the  poorer  part  of  our  popula- 
tion as  to  the  motives  of  the  Society  and  the  character  of  its  instruction  ? 


SPEECH   OF   THEODORE   SEDGWICK.  235 

But  it  is  not  true.  In  point  of  fact  they  have  the  confidence  of  the  people 
to  a  most  remarkable  extent. 

This  institution  has  organized  98  schools ;  expends  annually  about 
$130,000,  and  is,  as' I  have  said,  the  principal  agent  of  the  common  school 
education  in  our  city.  This  institution  has,  in  its  instruction,  most  sedu- 
lously confined  itself  to  a  secular  and  moral  education,  and  most  scrupu- 
lously eschewed  every  thing  of  a  sectarian  tendency.  It  is  against  this  insti- 
tution that  these  petitions  are  most  especially  aimed. 

To  come  back  to  the  other  recipients  of  the  school  fund.  The  Harlem, 
Hamilton,  Manhattanville,  and  Yorkville  schools,  as  well  as  the  African  and 
Mechanics'  Society,  are,  I  believe,  proper  free  schools,  some  of  them  devoted 
to  particular  classes  of  society,  but  all  confining  themselves  to  secular  moral 
education — steering  clear  of  sectarianism  in  every  shape.  The  other  institu- 
tions do,  in  some  shape  or  other,  convey  religious  instruction,  and,  as  such, 
are  exceptions  to  the  general  rule. 

A  report  was  not  long  since  (I  think  in  1833)  made  by  the  Board  of 
Assistants  against  the  claims  of  these  latter  establishments,  on  the  ground — 
the  same  we  now  urge — that  this  fund  is  intended  for  the  purposes  of  secu- 
lar education,  and  that  those  institutions,  such  as  the  Orphan  Asylum,  no 
matter  how  excellent  they  may  be,  no  matter  how  much  good  they  may 
effect,  do  not  come  within  the  pale  of  those  educational  establishments  to 
which  it  was  intended  that  this  fund  should  be  devoted.  Unfortunately, 
the  views  of  the  report  did  not  prevail.  Your  honors  have  already  gone 
beyond  the  intention  of  the  Legislature  and  the  Constitution,  and  have 
already  erroneously  granted  aid  to  institutions  which  do  not  strictly  come 
within  the  original  design  of  the  common  school  system.  But  is  this  to  be 
established  as  a  precedent  ?  I  think  not.  The  grants  to  these  institutions, 
of  small  amount  and  little  consequence,  will  hardly  serve  as  a  pretext  for 
breaking  up  the  system  altogether.  The  application  now  before  you  is,  that 
your  honors  will  be  pleased  to  designate,  as  among  the  schools  entitled  to 
participate  in  the  common  school  fund,  St.  Patrick's  school,  St.  Peter's 
school,  St.  Mary's  school,  St.  Joseph's  school,  St.  James'  school,  St.  Nicho- 
las' school,  Transfiguration  Church  school,  and  St.  John's  school. 

Now,  if  your  honors  please,  what  is  the  ground  of  this  petition  ?  First, 
that  the  Catholics  who,  as  represented  by  the  reverend  gentleman,  pay  taxes 
equally  with  all  other  citizens,  cannot  enjoy  the  benefits  of  the  schools,  be- 
cause their  consciences  will  not  permit  them  to  send  their  children  there.  I 
am  by  no  means  disposed  to  underrate  the  force  of  this  objection.  If  I 
oppose  this  application,  it  is  with  no  desirer  to  achieve  a  paltry  triumph  over 
the  petitioners,  or  the  reverend  gentleman  himself.  Our  object  is  that  which 
actuates  him  :  it  is  the  wish,  that  the  children  of  the  poor  be  educated — to 
give  them  that  which  the  petitioners  say  they  are  striving  to  obtain.  If 
there  is  any  thing  in  our  system  .which,  rightly  considered,  prevents  their 
enjoyment  of  its  advantages,  the  system  is  in  that  respect  wrong.  If  a  large 
body  of  our  citizens  cannot  (in  fact  and  for  good  reasons)  participate  in  the 
advantages  of  our  public  free  education,  that  education  is  on  a  wrong  foot- 
ing— is  radically  wrong.  But  the  question  is,  after  all,  one  of  fact.  Is  the 


236  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

ground  on  which  they  prevent  their  children  from  going  to  these  schools 
•well  taken  ?  What,  then,  is  the  reason  which  they  assign  ?  As  I  have  said, 
the  objections  resolve  themselves  into  two  ;  and  these  two  are  totally  incom- 
patible and  inconsistent  with  each  other.  One  branch  of  the  objection  is, 
that  the  instruction  is  purely  secular.  This  has  been  urged  not  only  in  the 
argument  of  the  reverend  gentleman,  but  the  same  view  of  the  subject  is 
presented  in  the  documents  presented  to  this  board.  It  is  there  stated,  in 
various  forms,  that  religion  is  excluded — that  religion  is  not  taught — that 
the  instruction  is  purely  secular,  and  that  the  children  grow  up  infidels  in 
consequence.  That  is  alleged  to  be  the  tendency  of  the  schools.  Such  is 
the  first  objection.  Now,  what  is  the  other,  or  the  other  head  of  this  same 
objection  ?  That  the  Bible  is  used  by  the  pupil  "  without  note  or  comment" 
— that  the  schools  are  totally  Protestant  in  their  bearing,  and  tend  to  under- 
mine the  Catholic  faith.  One  of  these  positions  is,  I  suppose,  with  great 
respect,  untenable  :  a  child  cannot  well  grow  up  a  Protestant  and  an  infidel 
at  the  same  time.  On  which  does  the  gentleman  rely  for  the  great  responsi- 
bility, he  assumes  in'dissuading  his  parishioners  from  availing  themselves  of 
these  schools — the  Bible  without  "note  or  comment"?  Is  this  the  objec- 
tion ?  Whose  "  notes  "  or  "  comments"  I  pray,  does  be  intend  to  introduce 
into  our  common  schools  ?  Is  it  possible  that  the  Bible  cannot,  in  this  day 
and  generation,  be  trusted  in  the  hands  of  our  American  children  ?  If  the 
whole  Bible  cannot  be  used,  cannot  such  extracts  from  it  be  compiled  as 
will  satisfy  all  parties  ?  This  has  been  the  course  actually  adopted  by  the 
trustees.  They  habitually  use  a  volume  composed  of  selections  from  the 
Bible.  Cannot  these  selections  be  made  so  as  to  satisfy  all  sects  ?  The  real 
tendency  of  the  reverend  gentleman's  reasoning  in  this  matter  cannot  be 
appreciated,  without  recollecting  the  difference  between  the  Catholic  and 
Protestant  Bible.  I  do  not  intend  to  draw  any  parallel  between  the  texts 
of  the  translation  which  we  use,  and  that  of  the  Douay  or  the  Catholic 
Bible.  All  our  early  associations  are  so  interwoven  with  our  own  version, 
that  it  would  be  no  easy  matter  to  give  the  Catholic  translation  a  fair  and 
impartial  judgment,  as  far  as  the  richness,  beauty,  and  force  of 'style  is  con- 
cerned ;  but  on  one  point  surely  we  of  the  Protestant  faith  cannot  claim  any 
superiority.  In  the  moral  teaching  of  the  two  versions  there  is  no  consider- 
able difference  ;  in  the  doctrinal  points  there  are,  it  is  true,  some  important 
discrepancies.  Where  the  word  repent  is  used  in  our  edition,  in  the  Catho- 
lic it  is,  do  penance.  For  the  words  daily  bread,  in  the  Catholic  edition,  are 
substituted,  supcrsiibstantial  bread.  But  the  great  moral  precepts  (I  speak 
now  of  the  teaching  of  our  Saviour)  are  the  same.  How  can  it  be  other- 
wise ?  We  are  all  Christians ;  either  Bible  is  the  code  of  Christ ;  but,  as 
the  reverend  gentleman  has  said,  it  is  the  "notes  and  comments"  which  dis- 
tinguish the  Catholic  from  the  Protestant  edition  ;  it  is  to  the  edition  with- 
out note  or  comment  that  the  objection  exists.  This  objection  is  a  funda- 
mental one  in  principle.  The  Catholic  Bible  is  filled  with  marginal  notes 
which  inculcate  dogmas  proving,  or  seeking  to  prove,  doctrinal  points — 
transubstantiation,  for  instance,  or  the  necessity  of  the  fasts  and  penance. 
Now,  for  the  purposes  of  this  argument,  the  truth  of  these  doctrines  is  not 


SPEECH   OF   TIIEODOKE   SEDGWICK.  237 

of  the  slightest  importance.  I  do  not  care  whether  Protestant  or  Catholic 
be  right.  The  question  is  not  one  of  sectarian  dogmas,  but  of  education. 
The  difference  is  not  as  to  the  justice  or  correctness  of  the  "  notes  and  com- 
ments," but  as  to  the  propriety  of  using  any — whether  our  children  shall  be 
taught  to  love  their  neighbors,  and  not  to  lie  and  not  to  steal,  or  whether 
their  young  minds  shall  be  occupied  with  the  pros  and  cons  of  transubstan- 
tiation,  penance,  and  fasts.  Mankind  has  never  disagreed  as  to  the  propri- 
ety of  robbing,  or  cheating,  or  bearing  false  witness ;  but  about  these  dog- 
mas, these  doctrines,  the  race  has  been  cutting  each  other's  throats  for  the 
last  ten  centuries.  For  the  last  four  centuries  these  doctrines  have  dyed 
Europe  with  blood.  It  is  these  recollections,  these  reminiscences,  which 
have  dictated  our  legislation  on  this  subject.  It  is  these  prodigious  evils 
that  American  statesmen  have  striven  to  avoid.  This  is  the  evil  which  the 
trustees  believe  they  see  in  the  application  now  made,  and  in  behalf  of  both 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  they  implore  you  to  reject  this-  petition.  They 
have  confined  themselves,  in  the  instruction  given  in  these  schools,  to  that 
which  they  believe  is  in  conformity  with  the  intentions  of  the  State — a  secu- 
lar education — reading  and  writing,  and  the  rules  of  arithmetic,  with  such 
instruction  on  the  precepts  of  the  Bible  as  they  did  suppose  all  persons  call- 
ing themselves  Christians  could  agree  iff.  If  this  is  wrong,  the  trustees  are 
wrong  altogether,  and  something  else  must  be  substituted.  If  a  moral  edu- 
cation is  not  of  itself  sufficient — if  it  is  not  the  only  proper  education  for 
our  free  schools,  something  else  must  be  substituted.  The  religious,  the 
doctrinal,  the  sectarian  education,  they  have  hitherto  left  to  the  fireside,  to 
the  parents,  to  the  Sunday  school.  They  do  not  pretend  to  give  it ;  they  do 
not  pretend,  by  the  use  of  the  Bible,  to  teach  more  than  that  moral  code 
which  every  class  of  Christians,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant,  they  con- 
ceived would  unite  to  give.  In  these  matters  it  is  worth  while  to  look  at 
the  experience  of  other  countries.  The  same  controversy  that  has  arisen 
here,  has  arisen  also  in  Ireland ;  but  there,  in  a  country  torn  by  religious 
schisms — and  I  state  a  fact  well  known  to  the  reverend  gentleman — both 
Protestants  and  Catholics  have  united  in  a  selection  of  extracts  to  be  used, 
some  from  our  version,  some  from  the  Douay  Bible.  I  do  not  say  that  this 
could  be  adopted  here  ;  but  I  do  say,  there  is  some  neutral  ground  on  which 
both  parties  can  meet.  I  do  not  pretend  that  the  scheme  of  the  trustees  is 
wholly  unexceptionable ;  but  I  do  say,  that  vastly  greater  defects  must  be 
discovered  in  it  than  have  yet  been  pointed  out,  to  justify  its  abandonment ; 
and.  that  with  all  its  imperfections  on  its  head,  it  is  a  thousandfold  better 
than  what  is  now  proposed  as  its  substitute.  As  to  the  other  branch  of  this 
double-headed  objection,  that  the  books  used  in  the  schools  are  hostile  to 
Catholics,  and  promote  the  Protestant  interest :  if  they  are  so,  they  ought 
to  be  expurgated;  and  if  they  cannot  be  satisfactorily  expurgated,  the 
books  themselves  ought  to  be  abandoned,  and  their  places  supplied  by  oth- 
ers. The  trustees  have  viewed  this  matter  in  the  same  light;  they  have 
done  all  in  their  power  to  remove  the  Catholic  objection,  so  far  as  it  exists. 
I  regret  that  the  books  are  not  here,  that  I  might  convince  your  honors  how 
far  they  have  gone  to  meet  what  they  considered  the  well-founded  remon- 


238  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

strances  of  the  Catholics.  They  have  expurgated  whole  passages  of  text 
from  some  books,  and,  in  other  instances,  have  pasted  two  leaves  together, 
so  as  to  annihilate  completely  the  objectionable  passages,  until  a  new  edition 
can  be  procured.  This  has  been  done,  too,  notwithstanding  the  refusal  of 
the  Catholic  authorities  to  give  the  least  aid ;  and  surely  it  is  not  fair,  when 
this  has  been  done,  to  insist  that  these  gentlemen  were  blamable  for  not 
discovering  these  passages  sooner.,  I  repeat,  it  is  not  common  fairness. 

They  have  offered  to  make  the  books  unobjectionable  to  Catholics ;  they 
have  asked  the  gentlemen  who  now  complain,  to  lay  their  fingers  on  those 
passages  which  are  objectionable,  and  they  have  promised  that  they  should 
be  struck  out.  But  all  cooperation  and  assistance  has  been  refused.  . 

There  is  one  other  branch  of  the  question,  as  regards  the  conduct  of  the 
School  Society,  of  no  little  importance.  The  schools,  during  the  week,  are 
under  the  control  of  the  School  Society,  but  on  Sundays  they  have  been 
used  as  Sunday  schools  by  such  religious  societies  as  would  pay  for  the  fuel 
and  take  charge  of  the  building.  This  privilege  has  been  tendered  to  the 
Catholics.  They  have  been  told,  "  If  you  will  avail  yourselves,  during  the 
week-days,  of  the  public  schools,  you  may  have  the  use  of  the  buildings  on 
Sundays,  to  give  such  religious  education  as  you  see  fit,  and  you  may  use 
the  Douay  Bible  cr  the  Missal."  Nothing,  surely,  can  be  fairer  or  more 
impartial  than  to  place  all  the  sects  on  an  equality  during  the  week,  and,  on 
Sundays,  to  use  them  as  they  choose  for  religious  purposes.  There  is  but 
one  other  branch  of  the  reverend  gentleman's  remarks  to  which  it  will  be 
necessary  to  refer ;  that  is,  as  to  the  character  of  the  schools  for  which  a 
yharc  of  the  fund  is  now  demanded.  The  reverend  gentleman  insists  that 
tii'.-y  will  not  be  sectarian  schools.  But  this  must  be  so;  they  can  be  nothing 
else,  from  the  nature  of  the  case.  The  schools  are  attached  to  their  church- 
es ;  they  are  within  the  sound  of  the  chant,  almost  within  reach  of  the 
altar ;  and  if  sectarian  schools  are  not  to  be  established,  what  is  the  object 
of  their  establishment  at  all  ?  If  the  objection  to  the  existing  schools  is, 
that  they  convey  no  religious  instruction,  and  these  schools  are  intended  to 
obviate  such  objections,  what  kind  of  'education,  I  beg,  will  be  given  ? 
What,  to  be  sure,  but  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic  faith  ?  The  very  ground 
— the  whole  foundation — of  their  petition  is,  that  the  schools  ought  to  con- 
vey religious  education ;  and  do  they  not,  in  the  schools  which  they  mean 
to  establish,  intend  to  convey  religious  instruction  ?  And  you  need  not  be 
told  by  me  that  it  will  be  a  Catholic  education — a  purely  Catholic,  a  secta- 
rian education.  If  you,  gentlemen,  are  prepared  to  lend  your  funds  and 
your  authority  to  such  a  scheme,  you  have  only  to  say  the  word.  The  trus- 
tees of  the  public  schools,  and  the  gentlemen  who  compose  the  Public 
School  Society,  hope  the  result  of  this  application  will  be  such  as  will  bring 
the  children  into  the  schools.  Their  object  is,  that  the  children  shall  be 
educated.  If  there  is  any  thing  in  the  objection  made  as  to  the  character 
of  the  schools  or  the  lessons  taught  therein,  let  a  committee  be  appointed 
by  your  honors,  from  you  own  body,  to  investigate  the  subject.  If  any  well- 
founded  cause  of  complaint  exists,  it  will  doubtless  be  removed.  But  until 
it  is  established  by  better  proof  than  we  have  here,  that  these  schools  are 


SPEECH   OF   HIKAM   KETCHUM.  239 

objectionable,  and,  by  better  argument  than  we  have  this  night  heard,  that 
the  public  funds  should  be  devoted  to  feed  the  fires  of  religious  fanaticism, 
surely  your  honors  will  not  abandon  these  long-established  and  excellent 
institutions. 

HIRAM  KETcnru,  Esq.,  spoke  as  follows  : 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  :  This  is  an  application  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church,  or  of  the  schools  under  the  direction  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  to  be  permitted  to  participate  in  the  school  fund.  I  desire  to  say, 
this  is  not  a  controversy  of  Catholics  with  Methodists,  or  of  the  Catholics 
with  the  Society  of  Friends ;  the  question  here  is,  whether  the  petitioners 
can,  upon  principles  of  public  policy,  be  permitted  to  participate  in  the 
school  fund.  I  may  say,  in  advance,  that  I  don't  oppose  the  petition  on 
behalf  of  the  Public  School  Society  because  the  petitioners  are  Catholics. 
"Within  the  last  eighteen  years  it  has  been  my  duty,  on  behalf  of  the  School 
Society,  to  oppose  many  petitions  for  participation  in  this  fund.  Petitions 
have  come  from  Episcopalian  schools ;  and  those  schools  have  been  repre- 
sented by  a  gentleman  who  is  now  one  of  the  highest  dignitaries  in  that 
Church  in  this  State,  and  also  by  able  counsel.  Petitions  have  come  from 
the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  and  they  have  been  advocated  with  great  abil- 
ity. Petitions  have  come  from  the  Methodist  Church,  and  have  likewise 
been  advocated  with  great  ability  ;  and  from  the  Baptist  Church,  and  they 
have  been  advocated  with  equal  ability ;  and  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  time  and  again  ;  and  the  prayers  of  these  petitioners,  when  united 
as  when  separate,  have,  upon  what  were  deemed  sound  public  principles, 
been  rejected  by  your  predecessors.  Now  the  petition  comes  from  one  soci- 
ety alone,  and  the  question  is,  whether  the  same  principle  which  excluded 
the  Episcopalians,  which  excluded  the  Methodists,  which  excluded  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church,  which  excluded  the  Baptists,  shall  not  now,  as  it 
has  heretofore  done,  exclude  the  Roman  Catholics  also. 

Mr.  President,  I  regret  that  some  things  have  been  said  on  behalf  of 
these  petitioners  that  have  been  said.  I  regret  that  an  attempt  should  have 
been  made  here  to  enlist  prejudices  against  the  Public  School  Society,  be- 
cause it 'is  a  corporation.  The  public  schools  of  this  city  are  managed  upon 
the  same  principles  on  which  the  common  schools  throughout  the  State  are 
conducted  ;  and  if  the  public  schools  are  wrong,  the  principles  of  the  com- 
mon schools  throughout  the  whole  State  are  equally  erroneous ;  and  it  seems 
to  me  that  the  question  is  not,  whether  the  public  schools  are  managed  by  a 
corporation  or  not,  but  whether,  upon  principles  which  have  heretofore  been 
discussed,  there  can  be  conceded  to  Catholics,  or  any  other  religious  denomi- 
nation, that  which  is  now  sought.  If  they  be  so  fortunate  as  to  prove  that 
the  public  schools  are  on  a  wrong  basis,  still  they  have  not  gained  their 
point — still  they  have  not  shown  that  Catholics,  or  any  other  religions 
denomination,  are  entitled  to  the  fund.  I  may  be  permitted  also  to  say,  I 
regret  that  popular  appeals  have  been  made  on  this  subject.  I  do  not  object 
to  the  trustees  of  that  association  coming  here  to  petition  ;  but  when  I  read 
accounts  of  popular  appeals  being  made  by  a  high  dignitary  of  that  Church 


240  THE  PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

to  the  people,  to  enlist  the  popular  prejudice  on  this  subject,  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  say  that,  at  least,  the  course  is  a  novel  one.  When  I  read  accounts 
of  the  first  pastor  of  that  Church — when  I  read  of  a  mitred  gentleman  being 
received  by  the  people  with  "  cheers" — when  I  read  that  he  addressed  them, 
and  was  "  cheered  "  on,  as  we  are  accustomed  to  be  in  our  public  meetings, 
I  must  say  there  is  something  novel  in  the  proceeding.  The  gentlemen  com- 
posing this  body,  I  conceive,  are  capable  of  reasoning  on  this  subject ;  and 
it  is  hardly  necessary  that  a  mitred  gentleman  should  descend  into  the  arena, 
and  appeal  to  the  popular  prejudice  or  passion  to  influence  the  judgment  of 
this  board.  I  am  sure,  sir,  if  I — and  I  speak  it  with  all  respect — if  I,  or 
any  other  man,  had  been  passing  St.  James',  at  the  times  these  meetings 
were  held,  we  should  have  supposed  that  they  were  political  meetings,  and 
that  possession  of  the  hall  was  taken  by  either  the  "  Whigs  "  or  the  "  Demo- 
crats." It  seems  to  me  not  becoming ;  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  not  treating 
the  question  in  a  proper  manner,  .to  make  these  popular  appeals,  and  then 
to  come  here  en  masse  to  ask  your  honors  to  grant  the  prayer  of  this  peti- 
tion, at  the  same  time  telling  you  that  the  Catholics  are  one  fifth  of  our 
population.  I  care  not  how  numerous  they  are.  I  know  the  Catholics, 
when  joined  by  others  on  a  former  day,  had  their  petition  rejected  ;  and  I 
trust,  when  they  come  here  alone,  attended  by  the  populace  which  they  have 
excited,  they  will  have  no  more  nor  any  less  conceded  to  them  than  is  right, 
on  sound  principles  of  public  policy. 

There  are  two  principles,  or  propositions,  about  which  we  shall  not  dis- 
agree. The  first  is,  that  the  Legislature  has  power  to  direct  that  a  public 
fund  shall  be  provided  for  the  education  of  every  child  in  the  State.  There 
is  no  contradiction  here  of  any  sound  principle.  It  is  no  violation  of  any 
sound  public  principle  in  the  Legislature  to  enact  that  out  of  the  public 
money  raised  by  tax  on  all  our  citizens,  every  child  in  the  State  may  be  per- 
mitted to  receive  the  rudiments  of  an  education.  There  is  one  other  princi- 
ple which  is  equally  in  accordance  with  the  well-established  public  policy 
in  this  State,  namely,  that  not  one  cent,  raised  by  public  taxation,  can  go  to 
support  a  religious  institution — can  go  in  payment  for  an  education  purely 
religious  in  its  character.  Now  let  us  inquire,  for  a  moment,  the  reasons  on 
which  these  propositions  rest.  Why  is  it  that  the  State  can  tax  all  the  peo- 
ple for  the  education  of  our  children  ?  Because  it  is  admitted  that  intelli- 
gence is  necessary  to  enable  every  citizen  to  discharge  his  duty  to  the  com- 
munity— because  our  institutions  rest  upon  the  intelligence  and  virtue  of 
the  people ;  therefore  it  is  right  that  the  State  should  furnish  that  intelli- 
gence to  every  member ;  and  it  is  no  answer  for  any  man,  who  is  called  to 
pay  a  tax  for  that  legitimate  purpose,  to  say,  "  I  send  my  children  to  schools 
where  I  pay -for  their  education.  I  do  not  wish  to  avail  myself  of  the  pub- 
lic fund.  My  children  are  educated  at  this  or  that  classical  school.  I  don't 
wish  to  participate,  and  therefore  I  won't  pay  the  tax."  This  is  an  answer 
that  the  State  would  not  admit  for  a  moment.  And  it  mi^ht  be  that  the 
State  adopted  some  system  of  education  which  might  not  suit  all — the  Lan- 
casterian,  for  instance,  as  in  this  city.  Now,  some  may  say,  "  I  dislike  the 
Lancastrian  system  ;  I  think  it  is  calculated  to  impart  a  superficial  educa- 


SPEECH     OF    HIRAM    K  ETC  HUM.  241 

tion.  I  dislike  it.  I  have  a  deep-rooted  objection  to  that  system."  But 
will  the  State  permit  him  to  say,  "  I  will  withhold  my  tax.  1  cannot  pay 
my  tax,  because  I  have  an  objection  to  the  system  which  prevents  my  chil- 
dren participating  in  the  fund  ;  and  therefore  I  ask  the  privilege  of  retain- 
ing my  portion  of  the  tax  "  ?  Would  the  State  listen  to  such  a  plea  ?  What, 
then,  is  the  conclusion  ?  Why,  the  State,  having  the  right  to  educate  the 
children,  and  having  the  right  to  tax  the  people  for  that  purpose,  must 
necessarily  adopt  some  general  system — it  must  follow  some  general  rule ; 
and  whatever  my  scruples  may  be,  whatever  may  be  the  scruples  of  any 
other  individual  here,  or  throughout  the  community,  and  however  oppres- 
sive it  may  be  to  me,  or  to  others,  who  cannot  avail  themselves  of  the  sys- 
tem, they  must  submit.  The  great  end  which  the  State  has  in  view — to 
impart  intelligence  to  every  citizen — must  be  accomplished,  and  on  some- 
principle  adopted  and  established  by  the  State  itself.  Well,  what  is  the 
next  principle  and  reason  ?  We  see  that  no  tax  can  be  laid  for  the  support 
of  religion.  Why  ?  Religion  is  the  foundation  of  sound  morals.  That,  no 
man  will  deny ;  we  do  not  live  in  an  age  when  any  man  denies  it.  Sound 
morals  are  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  community ;  why,  therefore, 
shall  not  the  city  be  taxed  for  that  which  is  essential  to  her  preservation  ? 
Why  shall  she  not  be  taxed  for  laying  the  foundation  on  which  sound  mor- 
als and  sound  political  institutions  rest  ?  I  will  tell  you  why.  We  are 
divided  into  different  sects,  and,  if  we  were  taxed  for  the  support  of  reli- 
gion, it  would  happen — it  could  not  be  prevented — that  a  man  would  b:- 
taxed  for  the  support  of  a  religion  in  which  he  did  not  believe,  and  which 
he  regarded  as  injurious.  I  should  be  taxed  to  support  the  Jewish  religion  : 
Dr.  Brownlee  would  be  taxed  to  support  the  Catholic  religion,  and  the  rev- 
erend gentleman  who  has  addressed  you  here  to-night  would  be  taxed  to 
support  Dr.  Brownlee's  religion.  And  would  they  pay  the  tax  ?  No ;  for 
it  would  be  a  violation  of  conscience.  And  you  would  then  see  the  time 
arrive,  if  an  attempt  were  made  to  collect  such  a  tax,  when  men  would 
march  to  the  stake,  as  in  years  gone  by.  Right  or  wrong,  you  would  see 
many  Protestants  go  to  the  stake,  before  they  would  let  a  single  dollar  of 
their  money  go  to  teach  the  right  reverend  gentleman's  religion.  So,  on  the 
other  hand,  you  would  see  thousands  of  Catholics  suffer  martyrdom,  before 
they  would  contribute  to  a  fund  whereby  they  might,  by  chance,  be  contrib- 
uting to  the  teaching  of  heresy.  This  is  the  reason  why  we  cannot  have  a 
general  tax  for  the  support  of  religion.  But  again,  we  believe  that  religion 
is  essential  to  sound  morals.  There  is  no  gentleman  here  who  will  deny  that 
the  Christian  religion  is  the  great  conservative  principle  of  the  community. 
And  how  is  that  best  promoted  and  advanced  ?  By  being  let  alone ;  by 
giving  every  denomination  a  fair  chance ;  by  leaving  religion  to  voluntary 
support.  It  is  best  for  religion  itself  that  it  should  be  let  alone  to  extend 
its  own  boundaries.  Now,  then,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  me  it  is  most  manifest 
that  this  community  is  bound  to  furnish  the  rudiments  of  a  common  educa- 
tion. The  State  is  bound  to  do  this,  and  to  do  it  by  some  public  system — 
by  some  ordinance,  or  by  some  law ;  the  State  is  bound  to  make  provision 
for  furnishing  this  education.  I  do  not  say — I  will  not  pretend  to  say — that 
16 


242  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  State  has  a  right  to  take  the  children  from  the  arms  of  their  mothers.  I 
do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  State  has  a  right  to  force  education  on  any 
body.  That  is  not  the  principle.  But  I  mean  to  say  that  the  State  ought 
to  furnish  a  system  which  shall  be  open  and  acceptable  to  all.  It  ought  to 
furnish  bread,  and  say,  Come  and  eat.  I  do  not  mean  to  inflict  pains  and 
penalties ;  I  should  think  they  would  be  hardly  necessary.  Let  us  go  forth 
with  persuasion.  I  am  fqr  using  no  force  but  the  force  of  strong  argument. 
Well,  now,  sir,  if  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to  furnish  an  education  for  the 
poor,  and  for  all  the  children  in  the  community,  or  for  all  that  will  avail 
themselves  qf  it,  the  State  must  establish  some  system  ;  and  there  is  a  sys- 
tem established  in  the  city  of  New  York  upon  what  we  supposed  to  be  pub- 
lic principles — common  schools  in  the  common  acceptation  of  that  term. 

Mr.  Chairman,  the  idea  that  we  are  bound  in  our  common  schools  to 
teach  religion  is  a  perfectly  novel  idea  to  an  American  mind.  Who  ever 
went  to  a  common  school  to  be  taught  religion  ?  I  am  in  the  midst  of 
Americans  who  have  received  their  education  in  the  common  schools  of  this 
country,  and  I  ask  who  ever  went  to  a  common  school  to  receive  religious 
instruction  '{  I  venture  to  say  that  the  idea  is  perfectly  novel.  But  do  we 
mean  to  say  that  because  no  religion  is  taught  in  these  schools,  that  they  are 
irreligious?  Far  otherwise.  Now  the  reverend  gentleman  has  said — with 
all  his  professions  of  kindness  he  has  said,  that  religion  is  below  par  in  the 
public  schools ;  at  an  immense  discount.  Now,  is  it  so  ?  He  argues  inge- 
niously, that  if  they  are  not  taught  the  doctrines  of  some  known  sect,  there 
is  no  religion.  '  Why,  sir,  we  have  been  taught  sound  morals  in  all  our 
schools.  I  do  not  know  any  school  in  which  they  have  not  been  taught.  I 
i  to  not  know  a  mechanics'  shop  where  the  young  American  or  Irishman  goes 
to  be  instructed  in  the  trade  of  a  cabinet-maker  or  blacksmith,  where  he  is 
not  bound  to  be  of  sound  morals.  This  obligation  prevails  everywhere — it 
is  a  thing  which  every  body  acknowledges.  We  are  bound  to  teach  it. 
"  Thou  shalt  not  lie ;  thou  shalt  not  steal ;  thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness," 
are  precepts  which  we  teach  in  our  schools.  Who  ever  heard  to  the  con- 
trary ?  And  if  we  are  bound  to  teach  them,  we  are  at  liberty  to  teach  those 
general  religious  truths  which  give  them  sanction.  I  should  like  to  know 
where  there  is  a  school  in  which  the  master  is  not  at  liberty  to  say,  God's 
eye  sees  all  you  do  ;  and  if  you  steal,  or  lie,  the  retribution  of  eternal  judg- 
ment will  follow  you.  This  is  not  teaching  religion.  This  is  morality,  and 
an  invoking  of  the  common  sanctions  of  tiiat  morality.  Sir,  it  has  been 
uaid  of  these  schools  that  they  do  not  teach  this.  Why,  if  the  gentlemen 
had  visited  the  schools — and  I  am  afraid  they  have  not — they  would  have 
aeon,  if  their  eyes  had  been  properly  directed,  mottoes  of  this  kind  :  "  God 
sees  and  knows  all  our  thoughts,  words,  and  actions."  "God  sees  all  we 
do ;  He  hears  all  we  say ;  He  knows  all  we  do."  "  Son,  reverence  thy 
parent."  And  yet,  gentlemen,  we  don't  teach  religion  ;  we  don't  teach  pur- 
gatory ;  we  don't  teach  baptism  or  no  baptism ;  we  don't  teach  any  thing 
that  is  disputed  among  Christians.  We  have  no  right  to  do  so :  but  we 
have  the  right  to  declare  moral  truths,  and  this  community  gives  us  that 
right — not  the  law,  but,  as  my  friend  says,  public  sentiment. 


SPEECH   OF   HIRAM    KETCHUM.  243 

And  is  there  no  common  principle  in  which  all  agree  ?  Is  there  not  a 
principle  to  which  all  religious  men  refer  ?  And  have  not  we  the  right, 
thus  far,  to  teach  the  sanctions  of  morality  in  these  schools  ?  And  because 
we  teach  the  principles  which  every  body  acknowledges,  and  no  man  dis- 
putes— which  give  offence  to  nobody,  and  ought  not — are  we  to  be  told  that 
these  are  religious  schools  ?  Why,  in  our  common  schools  we  have  all  been 
taught  the  common  truths  of  religion,  and  yet  no  one  ever  went  there  to  re- 
ceive religious  education. 

Mr.  Chairman,  while  in  these  common,  established  schools,  we  give  the 
rudiments  of  an  ordinary  education — while  we  teach  there  to  write  and 
cypher,  and  read  the  newspaper,  and  discharge  the  duties  of  citizens — while 
this  is  done,  there  is  another  department  in  which  religion  is  taught.  We 
all  know  it — we  all  feel  it ;  and  while  the  Legislature  can  go  to  any  extent 
to  advance  man  in  one  department,  that  of  common  elementary  learning, 
there  is  another,  which  is  left  to  religion,  where  the  pastor  takes  the  chil- 
dren, where  the  Christian  parent  takes  the  children,  where  the  benevolent 
Christian  takes  the  children  to  his  Sunday-school,  or  elsewhere,  and  brings 
them  under  the  influence  of  religion.  This  department  is  supplied  by  vol- 
untary contribution,  and  not  one  dollar  can  be  paid  by  public  tax.  Now  I 
do  maintain,  sir,  that  I  speak  of  a  line  so  clear,  so  broad,  that  every  man 
who  hears  me,  who  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  receive  an  education  in  this 
country,  will  understand  it ;  a  broad,  clear,  and  distinct  line  between  secular 
and  religious  education.  One  is  received  under  the  influence  of  a  religious 
teacher ;  that  religious  teacher  gets  his  pay  by  the  voluntary  contribution  of 
willing  hearts  ;  he  dares  not  get  it  anywhere  else ;  he  does  not  want  to  get 
it  in  any  other  way.  The  other  can  draw  on  the  State  for  any  amount  that 
the  people,  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  may  determine. 

We  thus  undertake  in  these  public  schools  to  furnish  this  secular  educa- 
tion, embracing,  as  it  does,  not  solely  and  exclusively  the  common  rudiments 
of  learning,  but  also  a  knowledge  of  good  morals,  and  those  common  sanc- 
tions of  religion  which  are  acknowledged  by  every  body..  We  have  estab- 
lished such  a  system,  and  the  question  is,  whether  that  system  shall  be  de- 
stroyed and  a  new  one  established.  That  is  the  question.  This  system  is 
known  and  understood ;  it  has  spread  its  schools  all  over  our  city ;  it  is 
under  one  government ;  children  removing  from  one  ward  to  another  find  in 
each  the  same  schools,  are  accommodated  with  the  same  books,  meet  with, 
and  are  instructed  under  the  same  uniform  system.  Now  shall  it  be  con- 
tinued or  not  ?  Mr.  Chairman,  if  the  prayer  of  this  petition  be  granted,  it 
must  be  abandoned.  I  can  show  you  this  in  a  few  minutes.  Does  the  rever- 
end gentleman  suppose  that  he  alone  would  be  permitted  to  take  this  fund  ? 
Does  he  imagine  that  the  various  Protestant  denominations  will  stand  by. 
and  look  on,  and  see  him  draw  ten,  twelve,  or  fourteen  dollars  a  child,  for 
its  education,  and  the  making  it — for  it  would  be  so ;  that  would  be  the 
result  after  all — not  only  a  fair  scholar,  but  a  good  Catholic  ?  Does  he  sup- 
pose he  is  going  to  have  that  business  to  himself,  and  that  other  reverend 
gentlemen  are  going  to  stand  by,  and  build  up  no  schools  ?  It  will  not  be 
as  in  former  years,  as  the  reverend  gentleman  conjectures ;  for  then  the 


•J44  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

bounty  of  the  State  was  small,  then  only  two  dollars  a  head,  or  something 
of  that  sort,  could  be  drawn,  and  the  Lancasterian  system  was  not  intro- 
duced ;  then  there  was  no  inducement  offered  to  the  religious  bodies ;  but 
with  this  large  bounty  the  Presbyterians,  the  Episcopalians,  the  Baptists, 
and  our  friends,  the  Methodists,  who  are,  it  seems,  such  naughty  people, 
will  have  their  schools ;  and  they  will  have  them  well  filled,  too ;  and  not 
only  filled  with  the  children  of  their  own  disciples,  but  they  will  have  an 
inducement  to  bring  in  others,  because  the  more  they  draw  in,  the  more 
money  they  will  draw,  and  the  consequence  will  be  that  the  system  of  pub- 
lic schools  will  be  broken  up.  Now,  the  consideration  which  I  wish  to 
bring  to  your  mind  is,  whether  the  new  system  will  be  as  good  or  better 
than  the  old.  It  is  the  common-sense  way  of  acting,  not  to  desert  that 
which  has  done  well,  that  which  has  done  good  service,  unless  we  see  that 
we  are  going  to  improve  by  the  change.  What  is  the  charge  brought 
against  this  system  of  public  school  instruction  ?  What  is  the  charge  ? 
What  is  the  objection  ?  What  is  the  system  established  for  ?  It  is  to  fur- 
nish a  good,  common,  ordinary  literary  education — a  good  literary  and  sci- 
entific education — to  instruct  our  children  in  the  rudiments  of  literature  and 
science.  Now  there  is  no  charge — and  I  want  this  body  to  look  at  this  paper 
in  reference  to  that — there  is  no  charge  against  the  School  Society  that  it 
has  not  performed  that  duty — that  it  has  not  given  what  it  was  bound  to 
give — the  rudiments  of  a  good  literary  education — that  it  has  not  enabled 
the  children  to  read,  and  write,  and  cypher,  and  furnished  them  with  the 
elements  of  geography,  so  as  to  fit  them  to  go  forth,  and  discharge  their 
duties  as  intelligent  citizens.  There  is  no  charge  against  the  Society  that  it 
has  not  performed  this.  What,  then,  is  it  ?  Why,  it  is  this :  that  the 
Catholics,  from  conscientious  scruples,  cannot  come  in  and  participate  in  the 
advantages  of  the  system.  Their  consciences  forbid  them  to  have  their  chil- 
dren educated  in  these  schools.  Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  there  is  no  man,  I 
apprehend,  that  can  have  a  higher  respect  for  the  rights  of  conscience,  than 
he  who  now  addresses  you ;  but  let  us  examine  this  matter,  and  with  all 
respect  for  those  whose  claim  we  now  discuss,  I  fairly  and  candidly  ask,  Can 
a  Roman  Catholic  have  conscientious  scruples  against  my  learning  his  son  to 
read,  to  write,  to  cypher,  and  the  common  elements  of  geography  ?  Can  it 
be  ?  Is  it  possible  ?  Take  a  fair  intelligent  Protestant,  and  is  it  possible 
that  any  Roman  Catholic  could  object  to  that  man  instructing  his  children 
to  read,  write,  and  cypher  ?  Why,  no  ;  you  might  just  as  well  say  he  has 
conscientious  scruples  against  such  a  man  learning  his  son  "  the  art,  trade, 
and  mystery "  of  cabinet-making  in  a  Protestant  shop.  You  may  just  as 
well  say  that  he  has  conscientious  scruples  against  placing  his  son  in  the 
office  of  a  Protestant  lawyer  to  study  law.  Why,  is  it  so  in  fact  ?  Go  into 
your  fashionable  schools,  and  I  ask  you  if  there  arc  not  there  as  many  Cath- 
olics, as  of  other  sects  ?  I  think  I  have  in  my  eye  those,  among  the  peti- 
tioners themselves,  who  send  their  children  to  Madame  this  or  that,  who  is 
a  Protestant ;  and  there  are  many  Protestants  here  who  send  their  children 
to  the  schools  of  Catholics ;  and  in  doing  this,  they  consider  themselves  as 
compromising  nothing,  for  there  is  no  religion  taught  there.  These  con- 


SPEECH   OF  HIRAM    KETCHUM.  245 

siderations,  which  so  press  on  the  minds  of  these  conscientious  petitioners 
for  the  hardship  endured  by  the  parents  who  send  their  children  to  public 
schools  now,  are  not  appreciated  in  their  own  case  when  they  send  their 
sons  to  Columbia  College,  or  to  the  schools  of  Protestant  Mrs.  Smith,  or 
some  other  lady.  Well,  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  there  be  no  conscientious 
scruples  at  all  against  employing  Protestants  to  teach  their  children  to  read 
and  write  and  cypher,  on  what  can  their  conscientious  scruples  rest?  It 
has  been  said  (but  I  will  not  read  the  passage,  because  the  commonly  under- 
stood meaning  of  it  has  been  disavowed)  that  the  children  that  go  to  these 
schools  do  not  reverence  their  parents,  and  that  they  feel  a  contempt  for 
them,  as  though  a  special  influence  had  been  used  by  which  they  were  led  to 
do  this.  Now  I  supposed,  until  it  was  disclaimed  so  explicitly,  that  this 
had  an  application  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  But  the 
reverend  gentleman  has  disavowed  it ;  and  he  ought  to  do  so,  for  I  can  tell 
that  gentleman  that  the  Friends  never,  perhaps  in  a  single  instance,  sent  or 
permitted  children  of  theirs  to  go  to  these  schools.  They  educate  their  own 
poor,  and  they  ask  the  State  for  no  participation.  They  do  not  send  their 
children  there,  and  I  venture  to  affirm  that,  of  the  numerous  children  that 
go  to  those  schools,  not  one  attends  the  public  ordinances  of  religion  ac- 
cording to  the  mode  established  by  the  Society  of  Friends.  And  I  will  go 
farther  and  say,  of  those  who  are  educated  there,  none  are  converted  to 
their  faith.  Whatever  may  be  intended  here  or  elsewhere,  it  may  be  assert- 
ed, with  perfect  confidence,  that  those  individuals  make  no  proselytes  ;  and 
also  it  may  be  said,  that  they  have  kept  their  people  from  being  teachers, 
fearing  such  accusations  as  are  made  against  them  by  the  reverend  gentle- 
man. 

And,  Mr.  President,  if  it  is  alleged — and  I  understand  it  now  to  be  dis- 
claimed— that  the  course  of  education  begets  irreverence  to  parents,  I  can 
only  say  they  who  affirm  it  speak  of  that  which  they  do  not  understand. 

If  they  had  gone  to  these  schools,  they  would  have  seen  what  care  is 
taken,  what  sound  moral  principles  are  inculcated,  and  they  would  then 
never  have  made  this  charge.  But  it  is  now  disclaimed,  and  it  is  not  for 
that  reason,  then,  that  they  have  conscientious  scruples.  But  what  else  is 
there  ?  It  is  affirmed  that  some  of  these  books  contain  passages  reflecting 
on  Catholics.  Now  I  submit  to  the  candor  of  the  gentleman,  and  of  every 
one  that  hears  me — because  the  books,  containing  numerous  extracts  from 
numerous  authors,  collected  together  for  the  use  of  these  schools,  contain  a 
few  passages  which  I  may  conceive  reflect  on  me,  or  on  my  religion,  or  on 
my  politics ;  is  that  a  good  reason  why  I  should  have  conscientious  scruples 
and  objections  against  the  entire  system  ?  Let  us  see  where  it  would  lead. 
Here  is  the  Catholic,  in  turning  over  perhaps  a  thousand  pages,  finds  some 
fifty  lines  that  reflect  on  his  religion.  I  venture  to  say  the  Calvinists,  on 
turning  over  those  pages,  would  find  something  reflecting  on  them.  I  have 
not  made  the  experiment,  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  would  be  the  result. 
Then  comes  the  high  churchman,  and  if  he  does  not  find  something  there 
bearing  on  his  peculiarities,  I  am  mistaken.  Then  there  are  the  Methodists, 
and  if  they  do  not  find  something  there  bearing  on  what  people  call  their 


246  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

fanaticism,  it  is  extraordinary.  Then  there  is  the  politician,  aud  there  may 
be  something  extracted  from  Jefferson  used  in  these  schools,  and  to  this  a 
certain  class  of  politicians  may  say,  I  cannot  have  my  children  taught  Jeffer- 
sonianism.  Well,  then,  there  is  my  particular,  worthy  friend,  Daniel  Web- 
ster, -who  may  have  contributed  something  to  the  pages  of  these  books,  aud 
a  Democrat,  who  takes  up  the  books,  may  say,  I  cannot  go  Webster  any 
how ;  1  must  have  that  expurgated.  Now  if  all  men  must  go  on  iu  this 
way,  and  conscientiously  object  to  the  system  because  in  the  reading-lessons 
they  find  some  passages  against  their  religious  or  political  opinions,  the 
whole  of  the  books  will  be  expunged.  I  do  not  mean  to  reflect  on  the  con- 
scientious scruples  of  any  man,  but  I  ask  if  we  are  not  bound  to  take  hold 
of  this  system  in  a  fair  and  candid  manner.  We  must  have  a  public  system  ; 
and  it  is  impossible  to  have  a  public  system  to  which  some  man  may  not 
have  scruples  and  objections.  Well,  sir,  but  what  next  ?  Why,  the  Bible. 
I  believe  a  chapter  from  the  Bible,  the  Protestant  translation,  without  note 
or  comment,  is  read  in  some  of  these  schools  at  their  opening  every  day. 
Shall  we  give  up  this  Bible,  Mr.  President  ?  It  would  be  a  very  hard  thing. 
I  have  no  authority  to  say  how  far  the  trustees  can  go,  or  will  go,  in  a  spirit 
of  compromise,  with  an  earnest  desire  to  get  in  these  children,  but  I  am 
here  to  say  that  it  will  be  a  great  sacrifice  to  give  up  the  Bible — to  give  up 
that  translated  Bible — containing,  as  we  believe,  and  as  I  doubt  not,  a  great 
part  of  Christendom  believes,  not  only  a  fair  translation,  but  a  vast  fund  of 
pure  English.  It  will  be  hard  to  give  up  that  Bible,  sir.  It  has  furnished 
consolation  in  life,  and  hope  in  death,  to  many.  The  institutions  of  liberty 
and  the  altars  of  piety  have  sprung  up  in  the  path  of  that  translated  Bible  ; 
and  wherever  that  translated  Bible  has  gone,  popular  institutions  have  risen. 
All  those  glorious  principles,  which  here  in  this  country  are  so  conspicuous, 
have  come  from  that  Bible ;  and  wherever  that  translated  Bible  has  been 
kept  from  the  hands  of  the  laity,  there  has  been  darkness  and  despotism. 

We,  sir,  have  a  Declaration  of  Independence  of  which  we  are  proud, 
because  it  contains  those  great  principles  of  liberty  which  are  found  in  the 
Bible.  Yes,  sir,  there  lies  beyond  that  Declaration  of  Independence  a  book 
whose  principles  are  a  declaration  of  independence  to  man ;  and  wherever 
that  book  is  read,  man  finds  out  his  rights,  and  is  willing  to  assert  them. 

Mr.  President  and  gentlemen  of  the  board,  it  is  in  your  hands.  It  is  at 
present  in  the  hands  of  these  trustees,  but  it  is  a  very  delicate  trust.  We 
are  called  upon  to  give  up  that  Bible.  I  am  not  the  man  to  say  that  it  can 
lx)  done,  and  I  believe,  if  this  is  necessary  to  a  compromise,  we  shall  have  to 
say,  "  No  compromise."  We  cannot  give  up  that  Bible  from  our  own  hands, 
and  the  hands  of  the  children  of  this  republic.  Mr.  Chairman,  we  must  go 
a  little  farther.  Suppose  we  did  now  give  up  the  Bible,  and  make  a  com- 
mon selection  from  the  two  translations — the  Catholic  and  our  own ;  sup- 
pose we  made  a  common  selection  about  which  we  all  agree.  Why,  gentle- 
men, such  a  compromise  was  made  across  the  water ;  that  compromise  was 
agreed  to  by  a  majority  of  the  Irish  Catholic  bishops,  but  the  minority 
appealed  to  the  pope.  Now  the  gentleman  is  mistaken  if  he  supposes  I  am 
capable  of  appealing  to  any  prejudices  improperly,  but  he  has  not  denied 


SPEECH   OF   HIRAM   KETCHUM.  247 

this  fact ;  and  I  expected  it  would  have  been  denied,  or  somehow  explained, 
how  such  an  appeal  was  made  from  that  country.  Sir,  such  an  appeal  might 
be  made  in  this  country ;  and  if  so,  in  all  candor  I  ask,  whether  it  does  not 
belong  to  a  foreign  potentate  to  say  whether  the  Bible  shall  be  read  in  our 
common  schools  ?  I  ask  if  they  can  escape  from  that  position  ?  I  want  an 
answer  to  that  question.  And  if  there  be  a  foreign  power,  spiritual  or  other- 
wise, to  say  that  the  Bible  shall  not  be  read,  I  ask  if  that  power  may  not 
say  that  the  Constitution  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence  shall  not  be 
read  ?  I  mean  no  reflection.  This  matter  has  come  out  in  evidence  here, 
and  I  draw  from  it  what  may  be  supposed  to  be  legitimate  conclusions. 
The  gentlemen  opposite  may  smile,  but  I  ask  if  they  can  escape  from  these 
conclusions  ?  I  know  there  are  many  of  the  Catholic  laity  who  are  Ameri- 
cans by  birth,  and  many  by  adoption,  who  would  settle  that  question  very 
soon.  Though  the  mitre  may  be  placed  by  a  foreign  power  on  the  head  of 
him  that  wears  it,  I  know  there  is  a  feeling  in  the  American  bosom — bo  it 
CathoKc  or  Protestant — that  will  not  allow  a  foreign  potentate,  either  direct- 
ly or  indirectly,  to  interfere.  Now,  Mr.  President,  I  have  got  through  all  1 
propose  to  say  on  this  subject,  and  again  I  put  it  to  you,  Shall  we  not  have 
the  privilege  to  learn  our  little  fellow-citizens  to  read  and  write  and  cipher, 
and  to  teach  them  the  common  elements  of  geography  and  history  ?  Shall 
we  be  prevented  by  a  conscientious  scruple  ?  Mr.  Chairman,  I  feel  a  strong 
desire  that  both  Protestants  and  Catholics  should  be  brought  into  the  same 
schools,  and  I  see  in  such  a  circumstance,  great  and  wholesome  and  bene- 
ficial political  results.  "When  a  stranger  comes  here  from  a  foreign  land, 
where  he  has  been  oppressed,  I  am  willing  to  grant  him  an  asylum,  and  to 
say  that  he  shall  have  all  the  benefits  of  this  land,  and  of  our  Constitution  ; 
and  that  if  he  has  been  oppressed,  that  he  has  come  to  a  country  where  he 
shall  be  oppressed  no  more.  All  I  ask  is,  that  he  shall  give  America  his 
heart.  If  he  comes  with  an  Irish  heart,  let  it  become  an  American  heart ; 
let  him  stand  by  America,  and  by  her  children,  enjoying  the  same  rights  as 
they  enjoy,  and  growing  up  with  them,  amalgamate  with  them,  and  inter- 
changing the  same  kind  and  benevolent  feelings  together.  That  is  what  I 
want.  I  want  to  see  the  country  from  which  he  came  second  in  his  regard 
to  the  land  of  his  adoption,  to  the  land  of  his  children ;  and  I  want  those 
children  so  brought  up,  that,  when  they  become  men,  they  shall  have  pure 
American  feelings.  I  hope,  sir,  they  will  not  be  taught  that  we  entertain 
the  same  feeling  here  that  Orangemen  and  Protestants  entertain  in  Ireland. 
We  are  not  unfriendly  to  them  ;  our  children  are  not  their  enemies ;  let  us, 
then,  grow  up  and  amalgamate  together.  I  dislike  any  system  that  would 
cast  off  from  American  ground  these  children  of  foreign  countries ;  and  I 
ask  the  gentlemen  if  they  cannot  come  in  and  place  their  children  side  by 
side  with  ours,  and  let  them  feel  that  in  the  schools  there  are  no  partialities, 
and  that  out  of  them  they  may  go  to  their  own  Church  and  bow  before  theii 
own  altar  ?  But  for  civil  purposes,  let  all  be  brought  up  together. 

Mr.  Chairman,  there  is  another  very  plausible  argument  presented  here. 
They  tell  you,  in  their  memorial,  that  they  will  engage  to  give  as  good  an 
ordinary  secular  education  as  the  public  schools  can  give  for  the  same 


24S  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

money.  They  propose  to  allow  their  schools  to  be  visited  by  the  public 
authorities,  or  by  the  trustees  themselves,  and  to  place  them  under  some 
general  supervision.  Now,  there  are  two  ways  of  insuring  the  fidelity  of 
trustees,  in  directing  the  object  of  a  public  trust  toward  the  end  designed ; 
one  is,  by  supervision,  and  the  other  is,  by  so  creating  the  trust  as  to  insure, 
by  its  organization,  the  requisite  fidelity.  The  latter  I  prefer.  Here  is  a 
religious  society  whose  paramount  purpose  is  religious  instruction ;  if  to 
that  be  superadded  a  literary  education,  it  will  be  subordinate  to  the  other, 
as  it  ought ;  its  constant  tendency  will  be,  to  neglect  the  literary  education 
for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  other,  and  therefore  the  object  of  the 
Legislature  will  most  likely  be  neglected. 

But  here  is  the  Public  School  Society,  created  for  one  single  purpose,  and 
that  is,  education.  For  that  it  is  organized,  and  to  that  end  all  its  opera- 
tions tend.  But  if -it  had  two  objects  in  view,  the  paramount  one  would  be 
that  which  would  receive  its  chief  attention  ;  the  other  and  subordinate  one 
would  receive  less.  If  you  entrust  this  business  of  education  to  a  religious 
society,  religion  will  be  paramount,  and  literature  will  be  subordinate.  Let 
that  subordinate  one  be  paid  for  by  the  State,  and  it  would  be  in  their  case 
if  they  had  no  other  object.  But,  gentlemen,  the  question  is,  Will  you 
desert  the  Public  School  Society,  and  take  up  this  new  society  ?  It  has 
been  said  that  the  Public  School  Society  is  a  monopoly.  In  the  country, 
the  trustees  are  chosen  by  the  people  ;  but  in  this  city,  owing  to  its  peculiar 
organization,  the  matter  is  left  to  the  superintendence  of  benevolent  individ- 
uals, who  are  voluntary  agents.  They  receive  no  compensation  for  their 
services,  and  experience  has  shown  that  the  duties  have  been  better  dis- 
charged by  that  system  than  by  any  other.  You  may  go  to  the  schools  in 
the  State  and  examine  the  most  favorable  ones ;  then  visit  the  schools  in 
this  city,  and  the  education  in  our  schools  will  be  found  superior  to  that  in 
the  common  schools  elsewhere. 

This  Society  is  called  a  corporation ;  but  it  is  a  corporation  which  is 
bound  by  law  to  report  all  its  proceedings  every  year  to  this  Council,  and,  at 
stated  times,  to  the  Legislature.  It  is  a  corporation  of  which  the  members 
of  this  board  are  ex-officio  members.  It  is  a  corporation  which  has  control 
of  a  great  fund,  and  it  has  for  its  end  the  good  of  the  State  ;  but  it  is  will- 
ing that  its  real  estate  shall  be  transferred  to  this  Corporation  whenever  the 
public  good  requires  it,  and  to  this  end  an  offer  has  long  since  been  made, 
and  is  now  repeated.  But  if  we  are  to  have  this  common  school  system  of 
education,  I  ask,  if  it  is  not  better  to  have  it  under  the  supervision  of  men 
of  business  and  of  high  character,  who  are  willing  to  devote  their  leisure  to 
its  interests  ?  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  another  subject.  This  fund  is 
a  large  one ;  $73,000  is  from  the  State  and  compulsory  taxation.  In  the 
country,  as  explained  by  my  associate,  a  certain  sum  is  granted  by  the  State, 
on  condition  that  an  equal  sum  is  added  to  the  school  fund,  by  a  tax  laid 
on  the  people  themselves  who  receive  it.  But,  independent  of  that,  our 
citizens  came  and  asked  to  be  taxed  something  more,  and  that  amount  is 
more  than  the  other  two.  But  it  must  be  recollected,  when  this  request  to 
be  permitted  to  tax  themselves  still  farther  was  made,  it  was  settled  and 


SPEECH    OF   HIRAM    KETCIITJM.  249 

determined  that  the  churches  should  be  excluded.  When  that  was  settled, 
and  the  schools  were  mainly  under  the  supervision  of  the  Common  School 
Society,  that  Society  got  up  petitions  for  this  additional  taxation ;  and 
because  confidence  was  placed  in  that  Society,  the  taxation  was  not  opposed. 
Now,  if  we  revert  back  to  the  common  school  system,  this  must  come  back 
too ;  for  I  affirm,  that  the  chief  consideration  which  induced  the  petitioners 
— and  they  were  men  of  great  property  among  them — to  sign  the  petition 
asking  to  be  taxed  for  the  purposes  of  education,  was,  that  the  School  Soci- 
ety was  to  have  the  superintendence.  The  sum  of  $73,000  was  thus  raised, 
because  confidence  was  reposed  in  the  School  Society,  as  antagonistic  of 
those  church  societies. 

Now,  perhaps,  the  gentleman  may  ask,  if  the  system  is  to  be  changed, 
that  we  should  resort  to  the  same  course  as  is  pursued  in  the  country,  where 
the  people  elect  their  own  commissioners  and  trustees.  But  if  we  do,  the 
schools  must  be  governed  on  the  same  principles  as  these,  and  the  only  dif- 
ference will  be  in  the  managers.  And  if  it  is  to  come  to  that,  I  am  sure 
these  trustees  will  be  very  willing ;  for  it  is  to  them  a  source  of*  great  vexa- 
tion to  be  compelled  to  carry  on  this  controversy  for  such  a  period. 

They  are  very  unwilling  to  come  here  to  meet  their  fellow-citizens  in  a 
somewhat  hostile  manner.  They  have  nothing  to  gain,  for  the  Society  is 
no  benefit  to  them;  and  they  give  days  and  weeks  of  their  time,  without 
recompense,  to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  their  trust.  They  have  noth- 
ing to  gain,  but  they  have  arduous  duties  to  discharge.  Nor  have  they  any 
thing  to  conceal.  They  report  every  thing  to  this  Common  Council,  and 
therefore  the  public  know  all  they  do  ;  and  if  they  are  not  found  faithful  to 
the  trust — if,  in  the  solemn  judgment  of  this  corporation,  they  do  not  answer 
the  end  proposed,  elect  others  in  their  place  ;  and  if  the  prayer  of  this  peti- 
tion be  granted,  it  will  be  equivalent  to  their  arraignment.  I  know  not  that 
I  can  add  any  thing  more  to  my  argument.  It  has  been  my  fortune,  during 
the  last  eighteen  years,  from  time  to  time  to  argue  this  question  before  other 
boards,  who  came  to  a  unanimous  decision  ;  and  at  the  very  time  when  the 
question  was  referred  to  the  Legislature,  the  petitioners  were  supported  by  a 
reverend  gentleman  of  the  highest  respectability  of  that  day,  and  by  lay 
gentlemen  of  great  talent.  We  had  the  discussion  here  until  eleven  and 
twelve  o'clock  at  night,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  Common  Council — men 
of  great  respectability — denied  the  prayer  of  the  petition,  and  the  public 
sustained  them  in  their  decision.  Our  Roman  Catholic  friends  come  now 
with  the  same  principle  that  was  decided  then,  and  I  hope,  sir,  the  prayer 
of  the  petitioners  will  not  be  granted. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  BOND  then  appeared  as  the  representative  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  but  he  gave  way  to  the  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  HUGHES,  who  desired  to  make  a  brief  reply  to  the 
two  legal  gentlemen  who  had  addressed  the  board.  He  said  : 

I  have  a  few  remarks  that  I  wish  to  make,  partly  in  reference  to  myself 
and  partly  to  my  principles,  and  the  views  submitted  with  regard  to  those 


250  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

principles ;  but  the  debate  has  taken  a  range  too  wide  and  too  legal  for  me 
to  pretend  to  follow  it  throughout.  I  am  not  accustomed  to  the  niceties  of 
legislation,  or  the  manner  of  interpreting  statutes  or  acts  of  the  Legislature; 
but,  to  sum  up  the  whole  of  the  two  eloquent  addresses  made  by  the  gentle- 
men who  have  just  spoken,  they  amount  to  this :  that  either  the  consciences 
of  Catholics  must  be  crushed,  and  their  objections  resisted,  or  the  Public 
School  System  must  be  destroyed.  That  is  the  pith  of  both  their  observa- 
tions. They  argue  that  there  must  be  either  one  or  the  other  of  these  two 
results,  and  those  gentlemen  are  inclined  to  the  course  of  compelling  con- 
science to  give  way,  they  being  the  judge  of  our  consciences,  which  they 
wish  to  overrule  ;  so  that  the  Public  School  Society — and  I  do  not  desire  to 
detract  from  it  as  far  as  good  intentions  are  concerned — shall  continue  to 
dispose  of  the  public  school  fund,  notwithstanding  our  objections  and  the 
reasoning  on  which  they  are  based.  The  gentleman  who  last  spoke  appeared 
to  imagine  that  I  wished  the  exclusion  of  the  Protestant  Bible,  and  that,  for 
the  benefit  of  Catholics,  I  laid  myself  open  to  the  charge  of  enmity  to  the 
Word  of  God ;  but  I  desired  nothing  of  the  sort.  I  would  leave  the  Protes- 
tant Bible  for  those  that  reverence  it ;  but,  for  myself,  it  has  not  my  confi- 
dence. Another  objection  "which  he  made  was  of  a  personal  character  to 
myself;  but  while  that  gentleman  started  with  the  beautiful  rule  of  charity 
to  others,  and  with  a  lecture  on  the  propriety  of  retaining  our  station  in  life, 
and  the  impropriety  of  the  public  appeals  of  which  he  was  pleased  to 
speak,  I  regret  that  his  practice  was  not  in  accordance  with  his  precept ;  and 
that,  while  he  was  lecturing  me  on  the  subject,  he  himself  should  have  gone 
beyond  any  thing  which  proper  discussion  called  for.  If  I  attended  those 
meetings,  it  was  because  I  felt  the  evil  of  the  present  system  as  regards  us — 
not  its  evil  as  regards  others ;  and  we  must  be  permitted  to  be  the  judge  of 
our  own  duties,  and  to  see  for  ourselves,  while  we  accord  to  others  the  same 
right  for  themselves.  I  beg  to  disclaim  any  intention  to  overrule  this  com- 
munity, or  to  bring  any  thing  from  Rome,  except  to  those  who  believe  in  its 
spiritual  authority.  Consequently,  all  those  remarks  of  that  gentleman  have 
been  out  of  place ;  and  for  the  rest  I  conceive  the  true  point  has  not  been 
touched.  Not  one  of  our  objections  or  scruples  of  conscience  has  he  under- 
taken to  analyze,  nor  the  grounds  on  which  they  exist.  When  I  gave  those 
reasons  for  our  objections,  I  thought  some  argument  would  have  been  urged 
fairly  against  them,  but  the  only  end  the  gentleman  appears  to  have  in  view, 
is  the  preservation  of  the  School  Society,  and  to  maintain  that  they  have  a 
patent  right*  to  the  office.  That  I  know  is  his  object ;  but  I  did  not  expect 
to  hear  any  man  construing  the  law  as  that  its  advantages  cannot  reach  us 
unless  we  lay  down  and  sacrifice  our  consciences  at  the  threshold.  I  have 
spoken  for  myself,  and  I  have  disclaimed  all  high-handed  objects ;  but  the 
gentleman  insists,  notwithstanding  the  pledge  which  we  have  given,  that,  in 
spite  of  all,  we  shall  teach  our  religion.  I  disclaim  such  intentions,  and  I 
do. not  think  it  fair  in  that  gentleman  to  impute  intentions  which  we  dis- 
claim. The  gentleman  has  drawn  a  beautiful  picture  of  society,  if  all  could 
live  in  harmony  (I  would  it  could  be  reduced  to  practice),  whether  born  in 
foreign  parts  or  in  this  country.  But  if  all  could  be  brought  up  together — 


SPEECH    OF   RT.    KEV.    BISHOP   HUGHES.  251 

if  all  could  associate  in  such  a  state  without  prejudice  to  the  public  welfare, 
while  the  Protestants  use  such  books  as  those  to  which  we  object,  it  could 
only  be  by  the  Catholic  concealing  his  religion  ;  for,  if  he  owns  it,  he  will 
be  called  a  "  papist."  The  gentleman  says  that  one  of  the  books  to  which 
we  object  is  not  a  text-book  used  in  the  schools ;  but,  if  not,  it  is  one  of  the 
books  placed  in  the  library — to  which  I  do  not  say  we  contribute  more  than 
others,  but  it  is  supported  at  the  public  expense,  to  which  Catholics  con- 
tribute as  well  as  others.  I  will  read  you  one  passage,  and  leave  you  to 
judge  for  yourselves  what  will  be  its  effects  on  the  minds  of  our  children. 
The  work  is  entitled  "  The  Irish  Heart,"  and  the  author,  at  p.  24,  is  describ- 
ing an  Irish  Catholic,  and  he  says  :  "  As  for  Phelim  Maghee,  he  was  of  no 
particular  religion." 

And  how  the  gentlemen  describe  the  public  schools,  but  as  schools  of 
religion  and  no  religion.  They  say  they  give  religious  instruction ;  but 
again  they  say,  it  is  not  religion,  for  it  does  not  vitiate  their  claim. 

As  for  old  Phelim  Maghee,  he.  was  of  no  particular  religion. 

When  Pbelim  had  laid  up  a  good  stock  of  sins,  he  now  and  then  went 
over  to  Killarney,  of  a  Sabbath  morning,  and  got  "relaaf  by  confining  them 
out  o'  the  way,"  as  he  used  to  express  it,  and  sealed  up  his  soul  with  a 
icnfer. 

That  is  the  term  they  apply  to  our  doctrine  of  transubstantiation ;  and 
they  want  us  to  associate  and  to  enjoy  every  thing  in  harmony,  when  they 
assail  our  religious  right. 

and  returned  quite  invigorated  for  the  perpetration  of  new  offences. 

Now,  suppose  Catholic  children  hear  this  in  the  company  of  their  Prot- 
estant associates  !  They  will  be  subject  to  the  ridicule  of  their  companions, 
and  the  consequence  will  be,  that  their  domestic  and  religious  attachments 
will  become  weakened ;  they  will  become  ashamed  of  their  religion,  and 
they  will  grow  up  Nothingarians. 

But  again,  on  p.  120,  when  speaking  of  intemperance,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing : 

It  is  more  probable,  however,  a  part  of  the  papal  system. 

And  this,  notwithstanding  all  that  Father  Matthew  has  done. 

For  when  drunkenness  shall  have  been  done  away,  and,  with  it,  that  just 
relative  proportion  of  all  indolence,  ignorance,  crime,  misery,  and  supersti- 
tion, of  which  it  is  the  putative  parent,  then  truly  a  much  smaller  portion 
of  mankind  may  be  expected  to  follow  the  dark  lantern  of  the  Romish 
religion. 

That  religion  is  most  likely  to  find  professors  among  the  frivolous  and 
the  wicked,  which,  by  a  species  of  ecclesiastical  legerdemain,  can  persuade 
the  sinner  that  he  is  going  to  heaven,  .when  he  is  going  directly  to  hell.  By 
a  refined  and  complicated  system  of  Jesuitry  and  prelatical  juggling,  the 
papal  see  has  obtained  its  present  extensive  influence  through  the  world. 

And,  unless,  we  send  our  children  to  imbibe  these  lessons,  we  are  going 
to  overturn  the  system  !  But  is  that  the  true  conclusion  to  which  the  gen- 
tleman should  come  from  our  petition  ?  Is  that  reasoning  from  facts  and 
the  evidence  before  their  eyes  ?  I  have  promised  not  to  detain  the  board, 


252  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

and  therefore  I  would  merely  say,  if  I  have  attended  those  meetings,  it  was 
not  with  the  views  the  gentleman  has  imputed  to  me,  nor  to  distinguish 
myself,  as  has  been  insinuated.  I  have  taken  good  care  to  banish  politics 
from  those  meetings  ;  and  if  I  have  mentioned  the  number  of  Catholics,  or 
of  their  children,  it  was  to  show  how  far  this  system  falls  short  of  the  end 
which  the  Legislature  had  in  view.  I  disclaim  utterly  and  entirely  the 
intention  imputed  to  me  by  the  gentleman.  But  I  will  no  longer  detain  the 
board. 

Mr.  MOTT,  one  of  the  Public  School  Trustees,  with  the  per- 
mission of  the  board,  explained  the  manner  in  which  the  book 
which  the  right  reverend  prelate  had  last  alluded  to  had  found 
its  way  into  the  schools.  It  was  one  of  a  series  of  tales  pub- 
lished by  the  Temperance  Society  ;  and  when  a  committee  was 
appointed  for  filling  the  library,  their  attention  was  called  to  the 
first  number  of  the  series.  They  read  two  or  three  of  them 
which  had  come  from  the  press,  and,  as  they  appeared  to  be 
adapted  to  the  reading  of  children,  the  committee  admitted 
them,  and  by  some  mistake  it  was  supposed  that  all  the  other 
volumes  of  the  same  series,  and  under  the  same  title,  were 
ordered  too,  and  they  were  sent  in  as  they  issued  from  the  press 
after  that  period,  and  in  this  way  the  book  in  question  had  crept 
in.  But  this  being  discovered  by  a  Catholic  trustee,  it  was  with- 
drawn, and  of  this  the  gentlemen  were  fully  apprised,  and  there- 
fore lie  asked  if  it  was  generous  or  just  to  quote  that  book,  under 
these  circumstances,  to  strengthen  the  cause  of  the  Catholics. 

The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  HUGHES  assured  the  gentleman  that 
he,  until  that  moment,  had  not  heard  of  the  books  having  been 
withdrawn. 

The  Rev*.  Dr.  BOND  then  again  rose  to  address  the  board,  as 
the  representative  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ;  but  as 
at  was  now  10  o'clock,  it  was  proposed  by  one  of  the  aldermen 
to  take  a  recess  until  Friday  afternoon,  at  4  o'clock,  which  was 
agreed  to,  and  the  board  adjourned. 

SECOND   DAT. 

The  board  reassembled  at  4  o'clock  on  Friday,  the  30th  of 
October,  by  adjournment  from  the  previous  day,  but  some  time 
elapsed  before  the  debate  could  be  resumed,  in  consequence  of 
the  difficulty  which  the  gentlemen  who  took  part  in  the  proceed- 
ings, found  in  gaining  an  entrance  to  the  Council  Chamber, 


SPEECH    OF    KEY.    DB.    BOND.  253 

through  the  greatly  increased  crowd  of  persons  who  were  anx- 
ious and  struggling  to  be  present.  After  the  room  had  been 
tilled  to  overflowing,  many  hundreds  were  still  excluded  who 
desired  admission  ;  but  the  room  was  filled  to  its  utmost  capaci- 
ty, even  to  standing  room  in  the  windows,  and  those  still  crowd- 
ing round  the  entrance-door  were  obliged  to  endure  the  disap- 
pointment. DAVID  GRAHAM,  Esq.,  Alderman  of  the  Fifteenth 
Ward,  presided  on  this  occasion  as  the  locum  tenens  of  the  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  Alderman  Purdy,  who,  however,  was  present,  seated 
with  the  aldermen.  There  were  also  present  many  distin- 
guished and  reverend  gentlemen  of  various  denominations  of 
this  city,  besides  those  who  took  part  in  the  discussion.  Dr. 
Brownlee  was  seated  near  Dr.  Bond  during  that  gentleman's 
speech,  but  he  did  not  attempt  to  address  the  board. 

The  Kev.  Dr.  Pise,  and  other  reverend  gentlemen  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  were  seated  with  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
Hughes  and  the  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Power,  and  many  preachers  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  were  in  the  vicinity  of  the  ora- 
tor by  whom  they  were  represented. 

When  all  the  gentlemen  were  seated,  the  President  called 
upon  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bond,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  to 
proceed  with  the  debate  on  behalf  of  the  remonstrants  of  that 
body. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  BOND  spoke  as  follows  : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  COMMON  COUNCIL  :  It  may  be 
necessary  here,  in  the  outset,  that  I  should,  on  the  part  of  those  that  I  rep- 
resent, disclaim  all  hostility  to  our  fellow-citizens  who  have  made  their 
claim  to  this  Council.  To  them  we  have  no  hostility — nay,  we  have  no 
prejudice  against  them  as  a  body  ;  and  of  any  hostility  that  may  be  found 
in  the  memorial  which  we  have  presented  to  this  body,  the  address  of  the 
right  reverend  gentleman  who  opened  this  discussion  last  night  will  furnish 
us  with  a  thorough  explanation  ;  for,  when  he  adverted  to  that  part  of  his 
memorial  which  related  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  he  wished  it  to  be  ex- 
pressly understood  that  he  spoke  of  their  creed,  apart  from  themselves. 
Now,  this  is  the  explanation  we  wish  to  make  of  our  memorial  which  we 
have  presented  to  this  Council.  We  speak  of  the  creed  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  apart  from  the  Roman  Catholics  themselves.  We  are  bound, 
not  only  by  the  obligations  of  social  life,  but  by  our  common  Christianity, 
to  extend  to  them  all  the  benevolence  which  we  think  ought  to  be  exercised 
toward  any  other  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens.  It  may  be  asked  why  we 
adverted  to  their  creed  at  all.  Because  it  was  wholly  unavoidable.  We 
could  not  do  otherwise,  because  it  was  on  its  peculiarities  that  they  rested 


254  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

their  claim  to  a  portion  of  this  fund ;  it  was  on  their  peculiar  creed  that 
tftey  rested  their  scruples  against  sending  their  children  to  the  public 
schools.  We  could,  therefore,  no  otherwise  resist  their  claim  but  by  advert- 
ing to  those  peculiarities.  And  it  is  complained  that  we  adverted  to  them 
with  too  little  respect.  Now,  sir,  we  must  be  allowed  to  say,  that  whatever 
there  is  of  disrespect  to  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens  in  this  memorial, 
they  must  allow  something  for  the  provocation.  Sir,  we  had  esteemed  the 
public  schools  a  common  benefit,  and  we  had  made  sacrifices  to  the  system. 
.  We,  too,  should  have  been  glad  if  we  could  have  educated  our  children  in 
our  own  way,  and  in  our  sectarian  tenets,  or  prejudices,  if  you  will ;  but 
when  we  found  the  Legislature  providing  an  education  that  should  be  uni- 
versal, we  brought  all  our  sectarian  feelings,  and  placed  them  on  the  altar 
of  the  public  welfare.  And  when  we  found  the  public  schools,  which  we 
esteemed  so  great  a  good,  'about  to  be  destroyed  by  the  sectarian  prejudices 
of  another  denomination,  we  were  alarmed,  and  we  stated  in  our  memorial 
that  we  were  alarmed.  And  was  there  no  cause  for  alarm  ?  Why,  the  pub- 
lic gatherings  which  were  so  feelingly  alluded  to  last  night  were  cause  of 
alarm.  Was  there  not  cause  for  alarm,  when,  at  a  time  of  general  excite- 
ment and  political  strife,  there  were  these  gatherings  of  the  Catholics  ? 
And  was  there  not  cause  to  fear  that  their  object  was  to  wrest  from  the 
Common  Council  by  intimidation,  what  they  had  failed  to  obtain  by  reason 
and  argument  ?  Such  were  our  fears ;  but  really,  sir,  the  complaint  of  want 
of  respect  in  our  memorial  is  wholly  out  of  place.  Why,  the  gentleman 
reminds  me  of  a  man  who,  while  deliberately  skinning  a  living  eel,  cursed 
the  "varmint"  because  it  would  not  hold  still.  Why,  sir,  this  skinning  is 
it  serious  matter.  I  hope,  however,  that  we  shall  be  allowed  the  apology 
which  the  right  reverend  gentleman  made  for  himself  and  for  those  asso- 
ciated with  him,  when  speaking  of  the  Society  of  Friends  and  their 
creed 

The  Eight  Rev.  Bishop  HUGHES  interposed,  and  said  he  had 
not  spoken  of  the  creed  of  either  the  Society  of  Friends  or  of 
the  Methodists.  He  did  not  suppose  this  body  was  sitting  in 
judgment  on  creeds. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  BOND  continued : 

I  admit  that,  when  the  reverend  gentleman  spoke  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  he  did  not  speak  of  them  by  name.  Well,  but  the  right  reverend 
gentleman  says — and  he  contends  it  has  an  important  bearing  on  this  mat- 
ter— that  we  have  made  a  false  issue ;  that  we  charge  that  the  applicants 
require  a  portion  of  this  public  money  for  sectarian  purposes ;  and  this,  lie 
says,  ia  "a  false  issue."  If  this  be  true,  it  will  have  an  important  bearing 
on  the  question.  But  we  affirm  that  it  is  not  a  false  issue :  it  is  the  true 
issue  ;  there  can  be  no  other  issue.  It  will  be  remembered,  sir,  that  we  have 
only  now  to  justify  what  we  have  alleged  in  our  memorial.  We  are  not 
going  into  the  merits  of  the  legal  part  of  the  question,  for  we  are  not  of  the 
legal  profession ;  and,  after  what  we  have  heard  from  the  legal  gentlemen  in 


SPEECH   OF   REV.    DE.'    BOND.  255 

this  discussion,  it  cannot  be  expected.  But  we  do  affirm  that  the  issue  we, 
in  common  with  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  plead— that  this 
money  is  applied  for  for  sectarian  purposes — is  the  true  issue.  How  do  we 
prove  it  ?  •  It  has  been  one  leading  objection  to  the  public  schools,  that  no 
religion  is  taught  in  them.  Well,  it  is  also  alleged  that  no  religion  can  be 
taught  there,  unless  we  teach  sectarianism.  Now,  if  it  be  complained,  on 
the  part  of  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens,  that  no  religion  is  taught  in 
these  schools,  surely  they  don't  mean  to  keep  schools  in  which  they  will 
teach  no  religion.  We  take  them  to  be  honest  in  what  they  say,  and  I  hope 
that  is  not  "  a  false  issue."  They  allege  that  no  religion  is  taught,  and 
that  none  can  be  taught  without  teaching  sectarianism.  Now  we  take  it  for 
granted  that  they  will  not  keep  schools  in  which  no  religion  is  taught ;  or 
why  do  they  object  to  the  public  schools  ?  And  if  they  teach  religion,  it 
must  be  sectarianism,  for  they  themselves  allege  that  no  religion  can  be 
taught  without  teaching  sectarianism  ;  and  if  so.  then  will  not  the  public 
money  be  used  for  sectarian  purposes  ?  There  is  only  one  way  to  escape 
from  this  position.  What  claim  may  be  set  up  here,  I  know  not ;  but  else- 
where it  is  alleged  that  they  teach  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  that  is 
not  sectarianism,  inasmuch  as  it  is  the  only  true  religion. 

This  may  be  a  salvo  for  them,  but  it  is  not  for  us.  They  will  not  expect 
that  other  denominations  will  admit  that  the  Roman  Catholic  is  the  only 
true  religion,  and  that  it  is  not  sectarianism.  But  if  they  do,  and  if  they 
still  say  that  theirs  is  the  only  true  Church ;  and  if  they,  only  a  branch  of 
the  common  stock,  only  one  of  the  many  sects  of  our  common  Christianity, 
teach  Catholicism  there,  they  teach  sectarianism  as  much  as  Methodists 
would  do  if  they  had  one  of  these  schools  an  which  they  taught  Methodism. 
And  if  they  teach  Catholic  sectarianism  to  their  children,  will  not  the 
money  they  claim,  if  allowed,  be  applied  to  sectarian  purposes  ?  This  is  all 
we  said,  sir ;  and  is  this  "  a  false  issue  "  ?  We  say  it  is  the  true  issue  ; 
there  can  be  no  other  issue,  for  there  can  be  no  possible  objection  to  this 
conclusion.  So  much  for  "  the  issue,"  sir. 

But  it  was  complained,  sir,  that  we  have  said  the  arguments  by  which 
their  application  on  a  former  occasion  was  resisted,  were  "clear,  cogent,  and 
unanswerable."  We  grant  that  this  is  a  matter  of  opinion.  We  say,  when 
we  read  them  in  the  memorial  of  the  trustees  of  the  public  schools,  we 
thought  them  clear,  cogent,  and  conclusive ;  but  we  accord  to  the  gentle- 
man the  right  to  form  his  own  opinion ;  and  can  he  complain  if  we  claim 
the  same  privilege  which  we  accord  to  him  ?  But  it  was  complained  that 
we  had  alleged  that  "  neither  the  Constitution  of  the  State  nor  the  public 
welfare  are  to  be  regarded,  when  they  stand  in  the  way  of  Roman  Catholic 
sectarianism  and  exclusiveness."  Why,  is  it  not  on  the  ground  of  sectarian 
exclusiveness  that  they  make  this  claim  ?  I  take  it  for  granted  that,  if  they 
cannot  conscientiously  send  their  children  to  the  public  schools,  their  con- 
scientious objection  is  founded  on  their  creed.  There  is  something  of  pecu- 
liarity in  their  creed,  for  they  alone,  of  all  the  denominations,  have  scruples 
on  this  subject ;  and  we  did  not  then  intend  to  give  offence  by  the  term 
"  sectarian  exclusiveness."  But  again,  it  is  complained  that  we  alleged  that 


256  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

"  it  must  be  manifest  to  the  Common  Council,  that,  if  the  Roman  Catholic 
claims  are  granted,  all  the  other  Christian  denominations  will  urge  their 
claims  for  a  similar  appropriation,  and  that  the  money  raised  for  education 
by  a  general  tax  will  be  solely  applied  to  the  purposes  of  proselytism, 
through  the  medium  of  sectarian  schools."  And  can  any  thing  be  clearer  ? 
Indeed,  the  gentleman  does  not  take  particular  exception  to  this.  "  That 
the  money  raised  for  education  by  a  general  tax  will  be  solely  applied  to  the 
purposes  of  proselytism  !  "  Why,  if  they  a,re  honest  in  their  prejudices  for 
their  form  of  worship,  and  if  they  believe  their  own  religion  the  best,  they 
will  endeavor  to  impart  their  own  views,  and  all  the  principles  which  they 
advocate,  to  those  they  take  under  their  own  care.  And  what  is  this  but 
proselytism  ?  The  word  is  not  used  offensively,  for  we  only  mean,  by  mak- 
ing proselytes,  the  making  converts  to  their  own  faith.  But  we  had  said, 
"  If  this  were  done,  would  it  be  the  price  of  peace  ?  or  would  it  not  throw 
the  apple  of  discord  into  the  whole  Christian  community  ?  Should  we  agree 
in  the  division  of  the  spoils  ?  "Would  each  sect  be  satisfied  with  the  portion 
allotted  to  it  ?  "  Is  there  any  thing  offensive  in  this  question  ?  Might  we 
not  honestly  differ  respecting  the  amount  appropriated  to  us  severally  ? 

We  venture  to  say,  that  the  sturdy  claimants  who  now  beset  the  Council 
would  not  be  satisfied  with  much  less  than  the  lion's  share  ;  and  we  are  sure 
that  there  are  other  Protestant  denominations  besides  ourselves  who  would 
not  patiently  submit  to  the  exaction. 

And  this  has  been  spoken  of,  sir,  by  the  right  reverend  gentleman,  as 
though  we  had  threatened  a  rebellion  !  Is  it  necessary  that  we  should  stir 
up  rebellion  to  carry  out  all  we  said  ?  We  only  said,  "  We  are  sure  that 
there  are  other  Protestant  denominations  besides  ourselves  who  would  not 
patiently  submit  to  the  exaction."  Have  the  Catholics  submitted  patiently 
to  what  they  consider  a  grievance  ?  Certainly  not,  for  they  have  reiterated 
their  claim  again  and  again  with  a  perseverance  which,  in  a  good  cause,  is 
praiseworthy.  But  we  did  not  say  we  would  rebel ;  we  said  we  would  not 
"patiently  submit;"  nor  should  we  be  patient,  until  we  obtained  a  legal 
remedy.  But  we  have  said,  "  When  all  the  Christian  sects  shall  be  satisfied 
with  their  individual  share  of  the  public  fund,  what  is  to  become  of  those 
children  whose  parents  belong  to  none  of  these  sects,  and  who  cannot  con- 
scientiously allow  them  to  be  educated  in  the  peculiar  dogmas  of  any  one 
of  them  ?  The  different  committees  who,  on  a  former  occasion,  approached 
your  honorable  body,  have  shown  that,  to  provide  schools  for  these  only, 
would  require  little  less  than  is  now  expended  ;  and  it  requires  little  arith- 
metic to  show  that,  when  the  religious  sects  have  taken  all,  nothing  will 
remain  for  those  who  have  not  yet  been  able  to  decide  which  of  the  Chris- 
tian denominations  to  prefer.  It  must  be  plain  to  every  impartial  observer, 
that  the  applicants  are  opposed  to  the  whole  system  of  public  school  in- 
struction." Now,  the  gentleman  admits  it ;  he  says  it  is  obviously  true, 
that,  when  all  is  taken,  nothing  would  remain.  And  wouLl  not  the  sects 
take  all  ?  Who  else  would  there  be  to  take  it  ?  And  when  they  had  taken 
all,  nothing  would  remain.  But  we  have  alluded  to  a  large  body  who 
would  remain  to  be  educated,  when  we  have  no  money  left  for  that  purpose. 


SPEECH    OF   REV.    DR.    BOND.  257 

Our  Roman  Catholic  brethren  claim  to  be  one  fifth  of  the  population.  We 
shall  not  dispute  this.  But  when  the  right  reverend  gentleman  alluded  to 
the  statement  that  six  Catholic  teachers  were  employed  in  the  public  schools, 
he  disputed  five  out  of  the  six,  and  said  that  there  was  but  ono  that  de- 
served the  name.  Now,  if  you  take  these  six  teachers  as  a  fair  sample  of 
this  one  fifth  of  the  population  which  is  nominally  Catholic,  how  many 
would  be  left  that  are  really  Catholic  ?  and  how  many  would,  on  similar 
principles  of  calculation,  really  belong  to  any  of  the  other  sects  who  profess 
to  belong  to  them  ?  But  again,  allowing  that  all  are  Israel  that  are  of  Israel 
— that  all  are  Christian  that  profess  to  be  Christian — what  portion  of  the 
city  of  New  York  is  there  that  professes  to  belong  to  any  sect  at  all  ?  Not 
one  half,  I  am  sure.  Well,  what  becomes  of  the  children  of  those  who 
belong  to  none  of  these  sects  ?  When  the  money  is  distributed  among  the 
sects,  "  what  is  to  become  of  those  children  whose  parents  belong  to  none 
of  these  sects,  and  who  cannot  conscientiously  allow  them  to  be  educated  in 
the  peculiar  dogmas  of  any  one  of  them  ? "  Now,  sir,  the  committees  of 
the  Public  School  Society  expressly  tell  us,  that  it  would  require  little  less 
than  the  present  appropriation  to  provide  for  these  only.  And  why  ?  Be- 
cause the  expense  of  tuition  is  not  in  proportion  to  the  number  taught. 
When  you  have  provided  what  is  necessary  for  a  given  number,  a  great 
addition  may  be  made  without  augmenting  the  expense  at  all ;  and  thus  a 
great  expense  will  be  incurred  for  those  who  are  of  no  denomination.  But 
we  shall  advert  to  this  hereafter.  Sir,  particular  exception  has  been  taken 
to  our  memorial,  and  the  gentleman  did  us  the  honor  to  take  it  up  seriatim, 
paragraph  by  paragraph ;  and  therefore  it  may  be  requisite  that  I  should 
thus  follow  him.  I  now,  then,  pass  to  another  of  the  condemned  passages 
which  it  contains : 

We  are  sorry  that  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools,  without 
note  or  commentary,  is  offensive  to  them ;  but  we  cannot  allow  the  Holy 
Scriptures  to  be  accompanied  with  their  notes  and  commentaries,  and  to  be 
put  into  the  hands  of  the  children  who  may  hereafter  be  the  rulers  and 
legislators  of  our  beloved  country ;  because,  among  other  bad  things  taught 
in  these  commentaries,  is  to  be  found  the  lawfulness  of  murdering  heretics, 
and  the  unqualified  submission,  in  all  matters  of  conscience,  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church. 

Sir,  we  confess,  if  we  march  to  our  object,  it  must  be  by  a  plain  road. 
We  are  a  plain  people,  but  we  compromise  nothing  on  the  subject  of  reli- 
gion. The  right  reverend  gentleman  denied  that  such  are  the  contents  of 
their  books,  and  to  confirm  his  opinion,  he  offers  to  bet  me  a  thousand  dol- 
lars. Sir,  the  right  reverend  gentleman  must  excuse  me.  He  tells  us  our 
religion  is  a  young  religion.  Be  it  so,  sir  ;  but  our  Church  is  old  enough  to 
teach  us  the  sinfulness  of  betting.  Sir,  I  have  been  taught,  as  one  of  the 
primary  principles  of  morals,  that  it  is  sinful  to  take  my  neighbor's  money 
without  an  equivalent.  Now,  should  I  accept  the  gentleman's  offer,  and 
cover  his  thousand  dollars,  he,  or  else  I,  should  take  the  money  of  the  other 
without  an  equivalent.  It  may  be  conformable  with  the  creed  of  the  right 
reverend  gentleman,  but  he  must  allow  me  to  have  my  "  conscientious  scru- 
ples," and  I  shall  accord  the  same  to  him.  But  if  I  do  not  take  up  his  bet, 
17 


258  TIIE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

I  will  try  to  do  better.  We  have  said  in  our  memorial  that  their  commenta- 
ries teach  the  lawfulness  of  murdering  heretics.  That  is  the  first  step.  Now 
we  are  bound  to  sustain  this ;  at  least  we  are  bound  to  show  this  Common 
Council  on  what  authority  we  state  this.  We  arc  bound  to  submit  our  au- 
thority to  the  Common  Council,  and  then  any  gentleman  will  be  able  to 
make  up  his  own  mind  on  the  subject.  I  hold  in  my  hand,  sir,  what  is 
called  "  The  Rhemish  New  Testament,"  and  it  is  proper  that  I  should  here 
say  that  we  have  not  said,  in  our  memorial,  that  these  Catholic  commenta- 
ries have  received  the  sanction  of  the  proper  authorities  of  that  Church. 
We  said  no  such  thing.  We  said  Catholic  commentaries — and  I  know  of 
no  commentaries  among  Protestants  that  have  received  the  sanction  of  a 
Protestant  Church ;  ^ind  yet  do  we  not  call  them  Protestant,  in  contradis- 
tinction to  Catholic  commentaries  ?  All  we  have,  then,  to  prove,  is  this, 
that  this  Rhemish  New  Testament  is  a  Catholic  New  Testament,  written  and 
published  by  Roman  Catholics,  and  with  such  sanctions  as  ordinarily  obtain 
among  the  proper  ministers  of  the  Church.  It  may  be  alleged  that  it  is. 
necessary  to  have  the  sanction  of  His  Holiness,  or  the  council ;  but  all  I  con- 
tend for  is,  that  it  has  been  circulated  among  Catholics,  that  it  was  trans- 
lated for  that  purpose,  and  is  therefore  a  Catholic  commentary.  That  is  all 
we  contend  for.  We  do  not  insist  that  the  right  reverend  gentleman,  or  any 
Church  council,  or  His  Holiness  himself  countenances  it.  We  could  not 
summon  His  Holiness  to  testify  on  the  subject ;  but  in  order  to  ascertain  the 
weight  of  the  historical  record  of  that  Church,  we  must  take  it  as  it  is  re- 
ceived by  the  Church  itself.  Now  this  book — the  Rhemish  New  Testa- 
ment— says : 

The  Douay  Bible  is  usually  so  called,  because,  although  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  first  translated  and  published  at  Rheims,  yet  the  Old  Testament 
was  printed  some  years  after  at  Douay,  the  English  Jesuits  having  removed 
their  monastery  from  Rheims  to  Douay  before  their  version  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament was  completed.  In  the  year  1816,  an  edition,  including  both  the 
Douay  Old  and  the  Rhemish  New  Testament,  was  issued  at  Dublin,  contain- 
ing a  large  number  of  comments,  replete  with  impiety,  irreligion,  and  the 
most  fiery  persecution. 

The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  HUGHES.    From  what  do  you  read  ? 

The  Rev.  Dr.  BOND.  I  read  from  the  second  paragraph  of  the  "  Intro- 
ductory Address  to  Protestants,"  of  an  edition  of  the  Rhemish  Testament, 
published  in  New  York.  It  is  attested  by  gentlemen  of  the  highest  reputa- 
tion in  this  country — by  men  that  will  compare  in  character  with  any  gen- 
tlemen, Protestant  or  Catholic,  in  any  country;  and  they  insist  it  is  a  true 
republication  of  that  New  Testament  which  was  published  at  Rheims  in 
1582.  . 

That  edition  was  published  under  the  direction  of  all  the  dignitaries  of 
the  Roman  hierarchy  in  Ireland,  and  about  three  hundred  others  of  the 
•most  influential  subordinate  priests.  The  notes  which  urged  the  hatred  and 
murder  of  Protestants,  attracted  the  attention  of  the  British  churches ;  and, 
to  use  the  words  of  T.  Hartwell  Home,  that  edition  of  the  Rhemish  Testa- 
ment, printed  at  Dublin  in  1816,  "  corrected  and  revised  and  approved  by 
Dr.  Troy,  Roman  Catholic  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  was  reviewed  by  the 


SPEECH   OF   REV.    DR.    BOND.  259 

British  Critic,  vol  via.,  pp.  276-308,  New  Scries ;  and  its  dangerous  tenets, 
both  civil  and  religious,  were  exposed. 

This  publication,  with  many  others  of  a  similar  character,  produced  so 
great  an  excitement  in  Britain,  that  finally  several  of  the  most  prominent  of 
the  Irish  Roman  prelates  were  called  before  the  English  Parliament  to  prove 
their  own  work.  Then,  and  upon  oath,  with  all  official  solemnity,  they 
peremptorily  disclaimed  the  volumes  published  by  their  own  instigation, 
and  under  their  own  supervision  and  auspices,  as  books  of  no  authority, 
because  they  had  not  been  ratified  by  the  pope  and  received  by  the  whole 
papal  Church. 

Now  have  we  made  any  mistake  in  calling  this  a  Catholic  commentary  ? 
It  must  be  admitted  we  have  some  ground  for  it.  And  now  for  some  of  the 
"  annotations,"  to  show  the  ground  we  have  for  alleging  that  they  do  teach 
the  lawfulness  of  murdering  heretics. 

And  the  servants  said  to  him,  Wilt  thou  we  go  and  gather  it  up  ? 
Mr.  Alderman  GRAHAM  (Chairman).     Will  the  speaker  give  the  page  ? 
The  Rev.  Dr.  BOND.    The  44th  page,- and  the  28th  verse  of  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  Matthew. 

And  he  said,  No  ;  lest  perhaps  gathering  up  the  cockle,  you  may  root  up 
the  wheat  also  together  with  it. 

Now  for  the  commentary  : 

The  good  must  tolerate  the  evil,  when  it  is  so  strong  that  it  cannot  be 
redressed  without  danger  and  disturbance  of  the  whole  Church,  and  commit 
the  matter  to  God's  judgment  in  the  latter  day.  Otherwise,  where  ill  men, 
be  they  heretics  or  other  malefactors,  may  be  punished  or  suppressed  without 
disturbance  and  hazard  of  the  good,  they  may  and  ought  by  public  author- 
ity, either  spiritual  or  temporal,  be  chastised  or  executed. 

I  quote  from  the  ninth  chapter  of  St.  Luke,  p.  108  : 

And  when  his  disciples  James  and  John  had  seen  it,  they  said,  Lord, 
wilt  thou  we  say  that  fire  come  down  from  heaven,  and  consume  them  ? 
And  turning,  he  rebuked  them,  saying.  You  know  not  of  what  spirit  you 
are. 

Now  for  the  "  annotation : " 

Not  justice  nor  all  rigorous  punishment  of  sinners  is  here  forbidden,  nor 
Elias'  fact  reprehended,  nor  the  Church  or  Christian  princes  blamed  for  put- 
ting heretics  to  death  :  but  that  none  of  these  should  be  done  for  desire  of 
our  particular  revenge,  or  without  discretion,  and  regard  of  their  amend- 
ment, and  example  to  others.  Therefore  Peter  used  his  power  upon  Ananias 
and  Saphira,  when  he  struck  them  both  down  to  death  for  defrauding  the 
Church. 

I  quote  from  the  116th  page,  the  23d  verse  of  the  fourteenth  chapter  of 
St.  Luke. 

And  the  Lord  said  to  the  servant,  Go  forth  into  the  ways  and  hedges, 
and  compel  them  to  enter,  that  ray  house  may  be  filled. 

Now  for  the  commentary  : 

The  vehement  persuasion  that  God  useth,  both  externally  by  force  of  His 
word  and  miracles,  and  internally  by  His  grace,  to  bring  us  unto  Him,  is 
called  compelling  :  not  that  He  forceth  any  to  come  to  Him  against  their 
wills,  but  that  He  can  alter  and  mollify  a  hard  heart,  and  make  him  will- 


260  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

ing  that  before  would  not.  ^  Augustine  also  referreth  this  compelling  to 
the  penal  laws  which  Catholic  princes  do  justly  use  against  heretics  and 
schismatics,  proving  that  they  who  are  by  their  former  profession  in  baptism 
subject  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  are  departed  from  the  same  after  sects, 
may  and  ought  to  be  compelled  into  the  unity  and  society  of  the  universal 
Church  again :  and  therefore,  in  this  sense,  by  the  two  former  parts  of  the 
parables,  the  Jews  first,  and  secondly  the  Gentiles,  that  never  believed  before 
in  Christ,  were  invited  by  fair,  sweet  means  only  :  but  by  the  third,  such  are 
invited  as  the  Church  of  God  hath  power  over,  because  they  promised  in 
baptism,  and  therefore  are  to  be  revoked,  not  only  by  gentle  means,  but  by 
just  punishment  also. 

I  quote  from  the  annotations  of  the  23d  verse  of  the  twentieth  chapter 
of  St.  John : 

The  earthly  princes,  indeed,  have  also  power  to  bind,  but  the  bodies 
only  :  but  that  bond  of  priests  which  I  speak  of,  toucheth  the  very  soul  it- 
self, and  reacheth  even  to  the  heavens :  insomuch,  that  whatsoever  the 
priests  shall  do  beneath,  the  self-same  God  doth  ratify  above,  and  the  sen- 
tence of  the  servants  of  the  Lord  doth  confirm ;  for,  indeed,  what  else  is 
this  than  that  the  power  of  all  heavenly  things  is  granted  them  of  God  ? 

I  quote  from  p.  214,  verse  11,  chap,  jcxv.,  of  the  Acts : 
I  appeal  to  Caesar. 
This  is  the  annotation  : 

If  Paul,  both  to  save  himself  from  whipping  and  from  death  sought  by 
the  Jews,  doubted  not  to  cry  for  honor  of  the  Roman  laws,  and  to  appeal  to 
Caesar,  the  Prince  of  the  Romans,  not  yet  christened,  how  much  more  may 
we  call  for  aid  of  Christian  princes  and  their  laws,  for  the  punishment  of 
heretics,  and  for  the  Church's  defence  against  them. 

I  quote  from  annotations  on  the  tenth  chapter  of  Hebrews,  29th  verse, 
on  p.  373 : 

Heresy  and  apostasy  from  the  Catholic  faith,  punishable  by  death. 

I  will  make  but  one  more  extract,  and  that  is  from  the  annotations  on 
the  Apocalypse,  or  the  book  of  Revelations,  seventeenth  chapter,  6th  verse, 
p.  430.  It  is  in  reference  to  the  woman  drunken  with  the  blood  of  the 
saints : 

It  is  plain  that  this  woman  signifieth  the  whole  corps  of  all  the  persecu- 
tors that  have  and  shall  shed  so  much  blood  of  the  just :  of  the  prophets, 
apostles,  and  other  martyrs,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  the  end. 
The  Protestants  foolishly  expound  it  of  Rome,  for  that  there  they  put  here- 
tics to  death,  and  allow  of  their  punishment  in  other  countries.  But  their 
blood  is  not  called  the  blood  of  the  saints,  no  more  than  the  blood  of  thieves, 
man-killers,  and  other  malefactors— for  the  shedding  of  which,  by  order  of 
justice,  no  commonwealth  shall  answer. 

A  friend  suggests  to  me  that  I  may  also  say  the  Rhemish  New  Testament 
is  not  found  in  the  Prohibitory  Index ;  but  I  do  not  assert  that  this  is  in 
itself  conclusive,  for  there  are,  I  must  admit,  thousands  of  books  that  are 
not  forbidden,  for  which  Catholics  are  not  responsible.  All  we  contend  for 
is  this,  that  this  book  was  published  at  Rheiins  by  the  Jesuits ;  that  they 
subsequently  removed  to  and  republished  it  at  Douay  ;  since  that  it  was  re- 
published  in  Ireland,  under  the  sanction  of  the  Catholic  dignitaries,  and  of 
a  large  number  of  the  priesthood  of  that  Church.  But  when  it  was  found 


SPEECH   OF   REV.    DE.    BOND.  261 

that  this  work  had  created  great  alarm  in  England,  and  these  very  dignita- 
ries were  called  before  the  British  Parliament,  they  did  not  say  it  had  not 
their  sanction,  but  they  alleged  that,  because  it  was  not  sanctioned  by  His 
Holiness,  and  had  not  received  the  sanction  of  the  Church,  but  was  only 
circulated  among  and  sanctioned  by  a  small  portion  of  it,  the  Church  was 
not  responsible  for  it,  as  it  was  not  of  Catholic-  authority.  We  have  not 
said,  in  our  memorial,  that  it  had  the  authority  or  was  sanctioned  by  the 
Church.  We  know  of  no  translation  into  any  vulgar  tongue  which  has  re- 
ceived the  sanction  of  pope  or  council.  The  Latin  vulgate  only  has  been  so 
sanctioned.  We  only  allege,  then,  that  this  is  a~  Catholic  publication,  or 
that  it  is  published  by  Catholics  ;  and  that  these  are  Catholic  commentaries. 
And  we  again  affirm  all  we  have  said.  We  have,  moreover,  alleged  that, 
"  among  other  bad  things  taught  in  these  commentaries,  is  to  be  found  the 
absolute  and  unqualified  submission,  in  all  matters  of  conscience,  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church."  But  as  it  has  been  admitted  that  the  Church  has 
this  authority  with  all  who  submit  to  that  Church,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
prove  that  the  commentaries  teach  it. 

Sir,  the  next  complaint  was  of  the  following  paragraph  : 

The  Roman  Catholics  complain  that  books  have  been  introduced  into 
the  public  schools  which  are  injurious  to  them  as  a  body.  It  is  allowed, 
however,  that  the  passages  in  these  books  to  which  such  reference  is  made 
are  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  historical ;  and  we  put  it  to  the  candor  of  the 
Common  Council  to  say,  whether  any  history  of  Europe,  for  the  last  ten 
centuries,  could  be  written  which  could  either  omit  to  mention  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  or  mention  it  without  recording  historical  facts  unfavor- 
able to  that  Church  ?  We  assert  that,  if  all  the  historical  facts  in  which  the 
Church  of  Rome  has  taken  a  prominent  part  could  be  taken  from  writers 
of  her  own  communion  only,  the  incidents  might  be  made  more  objection- 
able to  the  complainants  than  any  book  to  which  they  now  object. 

Sir,  the  gentleman  did  not  deny  this,  for,  as  I  recollect,  he  said  it  was 
true ;  he  admitted  "  that,  if  all  the  historical  facts  in  which  the  Church  of 
Rome  has  taken  a  prominent  part,  could  be  taken  from  writers  of  her  own 
communion  only,  the  incidents  might  be  made  more  objectionable,"  because 
they  always  write  the  truth.  But  then  he  alleges  that  they  also  record  a 
great  many  good  things.  Certainly  they  have  written  "  some  good  things," 
but  it  is  not  from  these  "  good  things  "  exclusively  that  history  is  to  be 
written  ;  it  is  not  these  "  good  things  "  that  are  to  constitute  history  for  the 
public  schools.  What  is  history  ?  History  is  "  philosophy  teaching  by 
example  ;  "  and  could  we  be  taught  by  example,  if  we  only  saw  the  bright 
side  of  the  picture,  and  not  the  dark  side  too  ?  Could  any  such  history  be 
useful  ?  If  we  see  but  a  partial  record,  how  can  we  avoid  error  ?  History 
is  a  beacon  and  a  chart ;  but  would  it  be  so,  would  it  be  a  proper  directory 
if  it  contained  only  that  which  could  be  said  in  favor  of  any  religious 
sect  or  denomination?  Such  a  record  would  be  worthless  "as  a  history. 
The  blessed  Bible  does  not  do  so.  Does  any  history  contain  a  more  particu- 
lar record  than  this  Book  does,  of  the  lapses  and  falls  of  the  most  eminent 
people  of  God  ?  Does  not  the  faithful  page  of  the  sacred  historian  record 
the  fall  of  David  ?  Yes,  sir ;  it  records  that  that  man,  that  holy  Psalmist 


262  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

himself  fell,  being  overcome  by  temptation,  into  the  crimes  of  murder  and 
adultery.  Sir,  it  is  a  faithful  history,  and  I  would  desire  that  all  oilr  histo- 
ries should  record  all  the  good  of  Roman  Catholics ;  but  they  must  record 
the  evil  also,  or  they  are  not  histories  at  all.  But  we  have  said,  "  History, 
then,  must  be  falsified  for  their  accommodation."  And  would  it  not  be  so, 
if  only  that  which  was  good  of  them  was  recorded  ?  "  And  yet  they  com- 
plain that  the  system  of  education  adopted  in  the  public  schools  does  not 
teach  the  sinfulness  of  lying !  "  It  may  be  painful  to  them,  but  are  we  to 
have  no  feeling  ?  But  the  right  reverend  gentleman  told  us  that  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  is  a  young  Church,  and  that  this  was  the  reason  why 
there  were  not  many  very  bad  things  said  of  us.  He  said  our  Church  was 
only  a  hundred  years  old.  Yet  a  great  many  bad  things  may  be  done  in  a 
hundred  years.  But  we  have  not  escaped  unscathed,  though,  perhaps,  the 
gentleman  may  not  know  it.  Why,  sir,  Mr.  O'Connell  has  published  that 
our  founder,  Mr.  Wesley,  aided  and  abetted  Lord  George  Gordon's  mob ! 
Yes,  that,  if  Wesley  did  not  originate,  he  aided  and  abetted  it ; — so  that  we 
have  not  escaped  unscathed.  But  the  reverend  gentleman  went  further. 
He  said  we  had  done  less  good  lhan  any  other  denomination  in  Christen- 
dom. Why,  we  are  not  asking  this  Council  any  reward  for  what  we  have 
done ;  we  make  no  pretensions.  Whether  we  have  done  good,  we  leave  oth- 
ers to  decide.  All  we  claim  is,  that  we  have  stood  in  our  lot.  We  believe 
the  different  sects  and  denominations  in  Christendom  are  permitted  of  God 
for  wise  purposes.  We  would  not  swallow  them  up  if  we  could.  We  would 
not  cross  the  street  to  make  all  other  Protestants  members  of  our  Church. 
We  have  our  work ;  we  cannot  do  their  work,  they  cannot  do  ours.  We 
make  no  claim  ;  but  if  we  have  not  done  a  great  deal  of  good,  how  can  the 
gentleman  with  propriety  profess  so  much  respect  for  us  ?  If  we  had  done 
good,  we  should  not  have  escaped,  any  more  than  our  brethren  so  signifi- 
cantly and  appropriately  termed  '"Friends."  They  have  done  good,  yet 
they  have  not  escaped  any  more  than  ourselves.  It  is  to  them  that  the 
world  owes  the  increasing  disapproval  of  war ;  and  though  they  have  not 
been  able  to  accomplish  what  they  desire,  and  though  they  have  been  unre- 
sistingly oppressed,  they  have  borne  a  patient  testimony  to  their  doctrine, 
and,  with  the  revolutions  of  this  world,  the  day  will  come  when  war  will  be 
no  more.  And  have  they  not  borne  a  holy  testimony  against  slavery  ? — not 
a  turbulent  and  an  abusive  testimony,  but  such  as  comports  with  the  doc- 
trines they  teach  ;  and  yet  they  have  not  escaped,  though  they  have  confess- 
edly done  a  great  deal  of  good.  It  has  been  said  that  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  England  never  favored  the  rights  of  conscience,  nor  aided 
in  the  enlargement  of  liberty.  Why,  there  is  no  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  England  at  all.  The  Methodist  Society  in  England  claims  only 
to  be  a  society  within  the  pale  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  the  Jesuits  are 
a  society  within  the  pale  of  the  Catholic  Church.  If  it  be  alleged  that  the 
Methodist  Society  are  not  acknowledged  by  the  Church  of  England,  it  will 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  order  of  Jesuits  have  been  suppressed  by  the  pope. 
It  seems,  however,  that  the  latter  have  been  restored  ;  and  so  our  friends  in 
England  seem  to  be  getting  high  in  favor  with  the  English  establishment. 


SPEECH   OF   EEV.    DR.    BOND.  263 

Yet,  we  owe  them  no  allegiance ;  we  send  them  no  books  to  be  sanctioned 
before*we  venture  to  use  them  in  our  schools;  in  short,  we  do  not' admit 
their  right  to  dictate  to  us  in  any  matter  whatever.  It  is  in  this  country 
only  that  there  exists  any  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  But  we  are  told 
that  the  Methodists  in  England  have  never  taken  any  part,  or  given  any  aid, 
in  the  struggle  for  religious  liberty.  It  is  true,  sir,  that  the  Methodists  in 
England,  like  the  Methodists  here,  eschew  all  participation  in  political 
strife,  as  a  society  or  Church.  They  do  not  think  it  any  part  of  their  voca- 
tion to  call  meetings  in  their  churches,  and  address  them  on  the  political 
questions  of  the  day,  as  some  other  Churches  do.  Perhaps  they  are  too 
young  a  Church  for  this,  and  we  hope  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  they  get 
old  enough  to  do  so.  But  individually  they  act  in  these  matters  as  others 
do  ;  and  it  is  to  the  honor  of  the  Methodist  denomination  in  England,  that 
their  members  generally  gave  their  whole  weight  and  influence  to  Mr.  Wil- 
berforce  in  all  his  benevolent  efforts  in  favor  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
During  his  long  struggle  against  the  slave  trade,  such  was  their  attachment 
to  him  and  his  cause,  that,  in  some  parts  of  England,  collections  were  made 
at  the  doors  of  their  places  of  worship  to  aid  in  defraying  the  expenses  of 
his  election. 

But  we  have  said,  "  This  is  not  all.  They  have  been  most  complaisantly 
offered  the  censorship  of  the  books  to  be  used  in  the  public  schools.  The 
committee  to  whom  has  been  confided  the  management  of  these  schools  in 
this  city,  offered  to  allow  the  Roman  Catholic  bishop  to  expurgate  from 
these  books  any  thing  offensive  to  him.  But  the  offer  was  not  accepted ; 
perhaps  for  the  same  reason  that  he  declined  to  decide  on  the  admissibility 
of  a  book  of  extracts  from  the  Bible,  which  had  been  sanctioned  by  certain 
Roman  bishops  in  Ireland.  An  appeal,  it  seems,  had  gone  to  the  pope  on 
the  subject,  and  nothing  could  be  said  or  done  in  the  matter  until  His  Holi- 
ness had  decided.  The  Common  Council  of  New  York  will  therefore  find 
that,  when  they  shall  have  conceded  to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  this  city  the 
selection  of  books  for  the  use  of  the  public  schools,  that  these  books  must 
undergo  the  censorship  of  a  foreign  potentate.  We  hope  the  time  is  far 
distant  when  the  citizens  of  this  country  will  allow  any  foreign  power  to 
dictate  to  them  in  matters  relating  to  either  general  or  municipal  law."  To 
this  it  is  objected  simply  that  the  Roman  Catholics  of  this  country  acknowl- 
edge the  supremacy  of  the  pope  only  in  spiritual  things ;  that  they  do  not 
acknowledge  in  him  either  political  or  civil,  or  any  other  than  spiritual 
authority.  Well,  sir,  we  have  not  said  they  did,  in  our  memorial.  What, 
then,  is  the  complaint  ?  We  did  not  undertake  to  determine  whether  the 
submitting  to  His  Holiness  the  question  whether  a  book  shall  be  used  in  our 
schools  is  a  spiritual  or  temporal  matter.  But  we  really  wish  to  know  where 
temporal  jurisdiction  ends  and  spiritual  jurisdiction  begins.  We  should 
like  to  have  some  definite  boundary,  some  line  of  demarcation  drawn  be- 
tween temporal  and  spiritual  authority.  We  did  consider  the  public 
schools  a  secular  matter  altogether ;  we  did  think  it  a  temporal  matter  to 
decide  what  books  should  be  used  in  our  public  schools,  for  professedly  they 
do  not  intend  to  interfere  with  the  peculiarities  of  any  sect.  But  if  this  is 


264  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

really  a  spiritual  matter,  where  will  it  end  ?  What  is  it  it  cannot  reach  ? 
What  is,  it  it  will  not  reach  ?  If  it  is  a  spiritual  matter,  then  all  {hat  is 
necessary  to  carry  out  spiritual  dominion  must  be  granted  ;  and  when  was 
it  that,  to  enforce  spiritual  dictation,  temporal  power  was  not  resorted  to  if 
practicable  ?  The  time  was  when,  to  enforce  this  spiritual  authority,  a 
whole  country  was  laid  under  interdict.  Who  does  not  know  that  the  time 
was  when  the  churches  in  England  were  all  hung  in  black — when  the  dead 
were  unburied — when  the  children  were  not  baptized — and  when  nothing 
was  done  by  the  clergy  which  the  community  esteemed  essential  to  their 
eternal  interests,  and  subjects  absolved  from  their  allegiance  because  the 
king  refused  to  submit  to  the  pope  of  Rome  ?  This  power  may  not  exist 
here ;  the  pretension  may  have  been  abandoned ;  but  if  it  has  been,  I  should 
like  to  know  it.  I  should  like  to  know  where  the  boundary  is  between  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  power.  I  should  like,  for  the  first  time,  to  be  taught 
whether  they  consider  the  common  interests  of  education  a  secular  or  a 
spiritual  matter;  and,  if  a  secular,  whether  it  is  to  be  interfered  with  by 
this  spiritual  power.  As  yet  it  cannot  be  determined  what  books  will  be 
tolerated  in  the  public  schools  by  the  Roman  Catholic  bishop,  while  an 
appeal  has  gone  to  the  Roman  pontiff;  nothing  can  be  done  here  until  his 
answer  is  received !  The  gentleman  did  not  deny  this  last  night,  when  it 
was  so  alleged  on  the  part  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  therefore  he 
must  pardon  me  if  I  believe  it. 

Sir,  we  did,  in  our  memorial,  regret  that  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow- 
citizens,  in  their  address,  should  have  referred  to  the  martyrs  of  their  Church 
who  suffered  for  opinion's  sake,  and  we  did  say  it  was  an  unfortunate  allu- 
sion. It  was  unfortunate  because  it  was  addressed  to  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity, and  because,  in  this  community,  there  are  strangers  from  abroad,  of 
all  countries,  among  whom  there  are  descendants  of  Protestants  who  suf- 
fered for  their  religion.  We  said  it  was  an  unfortunate  allusion,  and  we 
said  so  because  it  would  revive  in  the  minds  of  many  the  memories  of  their 
ancestors,  and  they  would  thereby  be  reminded  of  the  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  the  fires  of  Smith- 
field,  or  the  crusade  against  the  Waldenses.  Now,  we  did  not  mean  to  say 
that  the  right  reverend  gentleman  has  power  to  do  these  things  now ;  we 
did  not  intend  to  insinuate  that  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens  would 
persecute  now ;  but  we  said  it  was  unfortunate.  And  was  it  not  unfortu- 
nate to  do  any  thing  to  revive  the  recollection  of  scenes  so  painful  ?  But 
we  said  we  were  desirous  to  cover  all  these  scenes  with  the  mantle  of  char- 
ity, and  the  gentleman  rebukes  us.  He  tells  us  to  attempt  to  do  no  such 
thing,  for  our  mantle  is  too  narrow.  Well,  I  suppose  he  does  not  mean  to 
practise  this  virtue  himself,  but  to  revive  feelings  in  Protestants  which  we 
should  wish  not  to  recollect  if  it  could  be  prevented.  But  he  adverts  to 
their  sufferings  for  conscience'  sake,  and  he  went  into  details  of  the  persecu- 
tions of  Catholics  in  England.  Now,  sir,  we  are  not  here  to  justify  persecu- 
tion, nor  to  make  excuse  for  it ;  we  hate  k,  and  we  love  to  hate  it ;  but  we 
are  here  to  say,  and  we  must  be  allowed  to  say,  that,  whatever  may  be 
alleged  against  Protestants  about  persecution,  that  we  are  at  liberty  to  be 


SPEECH   OF  REV.    DR.    BOND.  265 

better  than  our  fathers ;  we  are  at  liberty  to  renounce  both  the  practice  and 
the  tenets  of  our  fathers,  if  they  are  found  to  be  wrong.  We  say  that, 
when  Protestants  persecuted  Catholics,  they  were  not  half  reformed — that 
they  had  brought  much  that  was  unchristian  out  of  the  Church  from  which 
they  had  come.  But  we  have  learned  better  now;  we  have  abandoned  those 
tenets  and  practices.  Let  the  right  reverend  gentleman  say  as  much  for 
himself;  let  him  say  that,  with  them,  it  is  not  semper  eadem,  always  the 
same.  Let  him  say  that  the  Roman  Church  has  erred  in  matters  of  faith,  or 
that  she  can  err,  and  then  the  difficulty  between  Protestants  and  Catholics 
will  cease  from  that  moment.  If  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  are  at 
liberty  to  think  for  themselves  on  these  subjects,  and  dissent  from  whatever 
they  believe  is  not  according  to  the  Word  of  God — either  their  translation 
or  the  original — if  they  are  at  liberty  to  do  this,  the  difficulty  is  at  an  end. 
But  while  they  are  bound  by  the  decrees  of  an  infallible  Church — while  they 
are  not  to  determine  any  thing  for  themselves  as  a  matter  of  faith — while 
they  are  not  to  believe  that  their  Church  can  at  any  time  be  wrong  in  opin- 
ion, that  she  can  never  err — we  have  more  cause  to  fear  that  Catholics  will, 
if  they  get  the  power,  persecute  the  Protestants,  than  they  can  have  of  per- 
secution from  Protestants.  If  they  can  say  they  do  not  believe  as  their 
fathers  did,  we  may  hope  they  will  not  do  as  their  fathers  have  done ;  but 
while  their  motto  continues  to  be  "  Semper  cadem" — while  they  continue  to 
declare  that  their  Church  is  always  and  everywhere  the  same,  we  think,  sir, 
we  may  not  dismiss  our  fears.  Let  them  renounce  their  infallibility,  and  we 
will  be  cured  of  our  apprehensions.  But  again  : 

Your  memorialists  had  hoped  that  the  intolerance  and  exclusiveness 
which  had  characterized  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Europe  had  been 
greatly  softened  under  the  benign  influences  of  our  civil  institutions.  The 
pertinacity  with  which  their  sectarian  interests  are  now  urged,  has  dissi- 
pated the  illusion.  We  were  content  with  their  having  excluded  us,  ex 
cathedra,  from  all  claim  to  heaven,  for  we  were  sure  they  did  not  possess  the 
keys,  notwithstanding  their  confident  pretension  ;  nor  did  we  complain  that 
they  would  not  allow  us  any  participation  in  the  benefits  of  purgatory,  for 
it  is  a  place  they  have  made  for  themselves,  and  of  which  they  may  claim 
the  exclusive  property ;  but  we  do  protest  against  any  appropriation  of  the 
public  school  fund  tor  their  exclusive  benefit,  or  for  any  other  purposes 
whatever. 

Now,  the  right  reverend  gentleman  ought  to  have  remarked  here  an  error 
of  the  printer — the  omission  of  the  word  "sectarian;"  and,  instead  of  "any 
other  purpose  whatever,"  it  should  have  read,  "  any  other  sectarvm  purpose 
whatever." 

Sir,  the  gentleman  admits  we  are  right — they  do  not  exclude  us  from 
heaven  ;  but  then  he  alleges  that  we  are  as  bad  as  we  said  they  were,  for  we 
exclude  Catholics.  Now,  if  there  are  any  that  do  not  allow  that  good  pious 
Roman  Catholics  are  going  to  heaven,  I  do  not  know  it.  If  there  are  any 
such  in  our  denomination,  it  is  unknown  to  me.  I  hold  no  such  opinions, 
'and  I  hope  the  gentleman  himself  will  take  it  back  again,  when  I  assure 
him  that  the  founder  of  Methodism,  John  Wesley,  published  the  life  of 
Baron  De  Rentz,  and  that  he  abridged  and  published  "  Kempis'  Christian 
Pattern,"  both  of  which  have  been  widely  circulated  amongst  our  people. 


266  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

We  do  not  deny  that  Roman  Catholics  may  go  to  heaven,  nor  did  we  com- 
plain that  we  were  denied  any  participation  in  the  benefits  of  their  purga- 
tory ;  but  the  gentleman  tells  us  to  go  farther  and  fare  worse.  Sir,  we  will 
take  our  chance  for  that — we  will  take  our  chance  of  faring  worse,  and  of 
getting  to  heaven,  too.  But  if  the  gentleman  denies  us  the  benefit  of  his 
purgatory  in  the  next  world,  we  hope  he  will  allow  us  the  benefits  of  this 
world.  If  he  will  allow  our  children  the  benefit  of  the  public  schools — of 
a  place  where  they  can  learn  to  read  God's  Holy  Word — if  he  will  not  per- 
sist in  a  measure  which  will  destroy  these  schools,  we  will  take  our  chance 
of  going  farther  and  faring  worse.  If  he  will  allow  our  children  a  place 
where  they  can  learn  to  read  that  Book  which,  as  the  great  Mr.  Locke  says, 
has.  God  for  its  author,  salvation  for  its  end,  and  truth  without  any  mixture 
of  error  for  its  mattter,  we  will  not  complain  of  any  other  exclusion  he  may 
insist  upon  in  the  matter.  But  it  is  alleged  that  we  are  here  to  oppose  Ro- 
man Catholics.  Sir,  we  would  oppose  the  Methodists  if  the  same  applica- 
tion was  made  by  them.  I  would  have  stood  here  myself  to  oppose  them, 
for  I  do  not  fear  nor  dodge  any  responsibility.  We  believe  that  all  man- 
kind are  individually  undergoing  a  moral  and  intellectual  probation  before 
God  ;  and  that  we  cannot,  without  incurring  the  Divine  displeasure,  substi- 
tute this  probationary  relation  by  one  before  any  man,  or  any  number  of 
men,  whether  pope  or  Council,  or  the  Methodist  General  Conference.  None 
of  these  can  release  us  from  our  obligations  as  probationers  before  God. 
"  To  our  own  master  we  stand  or  fall."  If  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
had  issued  her  mandate  to  me  not  to  appear  before  this  body,  and  not  to 
oppose  this  application,  I  would  have  set  her  authority  at  naught.  We 
believe  that  these  public  schools  are  necessary  to  our  form  of  government ; 
that  it  is  not  safe  to  commit  the  preservation  and  perpetuation  of  the  public 
liberty  and  of  our  civil  institutions,  to  an  ignorant,  untaught  multitude — to 
those  who  will  be  incapable  of  appreciating  their  value,  or  who  may  be 
made  the  dupes  of  better  educated  but  more  wicked  men.  We  say,  it  is 
necessary  to  the  perpetuation  of  public  liberty  that  the  community  be  edu- 
cated— that  all  who  exercise  the  elective  franchise  should  be  taught  to  value 
our  civil  institutions.  But  we  say  that  no  sectarian  body  can  do  this ;  it 
must  be  done  by  all  together.  If  you  were  to  give  all  this  money  to  the 
sects,  it  could  not  be  done.  It  can  only  be  done  by  a  common  system  ;  for, 
if  all  the  sects  had  this  money  divided  amongst  them,  there  is  one  half  of 
the  community  who  would  not  suffer  their  children  to  be  taught  by  them. 
What,  then,  is  to  become  of  these  children  ?  Our  public  liberties  demand 
a  public  universal  system  of  education,  and  this  can  only  be  effected  by 
agents  appointed  by  the  State,  and  answerable  to  the  State ;  it  can  never  be 
done  if  tthe  money  be  given  to  any  denomination,  or  divided  among  all  the 
sects.  Sir,  we  allege  this  is  the  broad  principle  on  which  the  common 
schools  are  established.  Take  this  away,  and  you  have  no  right  to  lay  a  tax 
at  all ;  you  could  not  lay  a  tax  with  any  justice  for  this  purpose.  If  the 
money  is  to  be  distributed  among  the  different  sects  and  denominations  of 
Christians,  and  they  are  to  use  it  as  they  think  best,  even  for  their  own 
proselyting  purposes — I  speak  of  no  particular  denomination  ;  all  have  their 


SPEECH   OF    REV.    DK.    BOND.  267 

preferences  and  peculiar  tenets,  and  all  desire  to  make  converts  to  their 
belief— I  say,  give  the  money  to  this  end,  and  what  follows  ?  Why,  that 
you  ought  to  tax  them  severally  according  to  what  they  receive.  What 
right  have  you  to  tax  Roman  Catholics  for  the  support  of  Methodist 
schools  ?  or  what  right  have  you  to  tax  Methodists  for  the  support  of  Pres- 
byterian schools?  In  short,  what  right  have  you  to  tax  any  sect  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  schools  of  rival  sects  ?  You  have  first  to  ascertain  what  each 
requires  to  support  the  schools  under  their  care,  and  then  to  tax  that  de- 
nomination to  the  necessary  amount.  You  have  no  right  to  tax  me,  as  a 
Methodist,  for  the  Roman  Catholic  schools,  but  only  on  the  ground  that* 
education  is  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  our  public  liberties,  and  for 
the  public  safety.  Fall  back  upon  the  plan  you  formerly  pursued,  and  you 
will  again  hear  of  complaints  among  the  sects,  that  they  do  not  receive 
from  the  public  fund  according  to  what  they  pay  in.  Now,  the  Methodists, 
perhaps,  pay  much' less  than  some  other  denominations  who  are  less  numer- 
ous than  themselves.  We  make  it  a  part  of  our  religion  to  pay  our  taxes 
if  we  are  able ;  but  we  have  very  little  to  be  taxed  at  all ;  and  if  we  have 
but  little  to  be  taxed,  we  pay  but  little ;  and  yet  we  could  supply  more  chil- 
dren than  some  denominations  who  pay  ten  times  more.  Would  they,  then, 
have  no  right  to  complain  if 'these  schools  were  established  on  sectarian 
principles  instead  of  public  principles  ?  Would  not  their  complaint  be  just 
and  proper  ?  It  is  clear  that  you  could  not  refute  these  complaints.  And 
if  you  concede  the  prayer  of  these  petitioners,  if  you  grant  their  request,  in 
order  that  you  may  remove  their  cause  of  complaint,  you  destroy  the  public 
school  system,  and  you  may  take  your  leave  of  it  -from  that  very  moment. 
The  whole  fabric  will  crumble  into  its  original  elements ;  it  cannot  stand. 

But  why  should  this  system  of  public  education  be  abandoned  ?  Is  it 
to  appease  the  scrupulous  consciences  of  the  Catholics  ?  The  existence  of 
public  schools,  or  of  the  public  school  system,  cannot  affect  their  con- 
sciences, for  they  are  not  compelled  to  send  their  children  to  the  public 
schools.  Haye  they,  then,  any  scruples  of  conscience  about  paying  taxes  for 
the  support  of  this  institution  ?  The  right  reverend  gentleman  tells  you 
himself  they  have  not,  for  he  tells  you  they  have  not  complained,  and  do 
not  intend  to  complain,  of  the  appropriation  by  the  Legislature  of  money 
raised  by  taxation  to  Protestant  colleges.  If,  then,  sir,  you  yield  the  claims 
of  the  Catholics,  it  will  not  be  to  their  conscientious  objections  that  you 
yield,  but  to  the  alleged  injustice  of  compelling  them  to  contribute  to  a 
public  benefit  from  which  they,  as  a  sect,  derive  no  advantage.  You  must, 
then,  sir,  go  farther ;  you  must  release  all  from  the  payment  of  taxes  who 
cannot  conscientiously  avail  themselves  of  the  advantages  offered  by  the 
public -schools,  and  this  will  include  most  of  the  large  property-holders  in 
the  city ;  for  these,  being  able  to  afford  it,  are  bound  by  parental  duty  to 
afford  their  children  a  better  education  than  can  be  given  in  the  public 
schools.  Yet  these  are  not  only  willing  to  pay  taxes  for  the  support  of  pub- 
lic schools,  but  have  petitioned  the  Legislature  to  tax  them  for  this  purpose, 
because  they  are  aware  that  the  education  of  the  poor  classes  is  necessary  to 
the  common  welfare. 


268  TUB   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

But,  sir,  I  adverted  to  a  foreign  potentate ;  and  I  did  say  I  desired  to 
know  where  his  spiritual  authority  ceased.  And  I  ain  the  more  desirous  of 
knowing  this,  because  it  is  alleged — and  the  right  reverend  gentleman 
ought  to  know  if  it  be  true — that,  by  the  oath  taken  by  the  dignitaries  of 
that  Church,  they  are  bound  to  support  a  little  more  than  the  pope's  spirit- 
ual authority.  I  will  make  no  assertion,  but  I  throw  it  out  that  the  right 
reverend  gentleman  may  say  whether  his  oath  of  ordination  does  not  bind 
him  to  a  little  more.  Sir,  I  did  say,  and  I  emphatically  repeat,  that  it  is 
very  desirable  his  fellow-citizens  should  know  where  that  civil  and  spiritual 
1  authority  terminate.  I  beg  pardon  for  intruding  so  long  upon  your  atten- 
tion. I  have  gone  through  our  memorial,  and  that  is  all  we  ask.  At  pres- 
ent I  have  nothing  more  to  say. 

The  gentlemen  who  appeared  as  the  representatives  of  the 
petitioners  and  the  remonstrants  having  now  been  heard,  the 
President  inquired,  What  is  the  pleasure  of  the  board  ? 

An  alderman  moved  that,  if  there  were  other  gentlemen 
present  who  desired  to  be  heard,  that  they  be  heard  on  sending 
their  names  to  the  President ;  which  was  agreed  to. 

Dr.  SWEENEY  said  that  he  'appeared,  with  several  other  gen- 
tlemen, as  a  committee  from  the  Catholics,  but  they  withdrew 
their  claim  to  be  heard,  as  the  Right  Rev.. Bishop  Hughes  was 
entitled  to  a  reply. 

Dr.  DAVID  M.  REESE,  M.D.  (a  local  preacher  in  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church),  rose,  and  said : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  I  avail  myself  of  the  permission  granted  by  the  board 
to  add  a  few  observations  on  another  branch  of  the  subject,  which  is  inter- 
esting to  us  all,  to  which  I  desire  for  a  moment  only  to  direct  your  atten- 
tion. It  appears  to  me,  sir,  that  neither  Romanism  nor  Protestantism  is  on 
trial  here,  and  the  question  submitted  to  this  honorable  board  is  not  whether 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  shall  have  the  exclusive  control  of  any  portion 
of  the  public  treasure,  collected,  by  public  taxation,  for  the  purpose  of  pub- 
lic education ;  it  is  not  the  question  whether  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
shall  have  it ;  but  the  great  question  in  which  we  are  interested,  as  a  com- 
munity, is,  whether  any  denomination — whether  any  portion  of  this  great 
community — shall  have  the  exclusive  control,  though  it  be  but  of  a  single 
dollar,  of  the  money  raised  by  public  taxation  for  the  public  benefit.  I 
would  hope,  therefore,  if  I  succeed  in  gaining  your  attention  to  the  ^oint — 
to  the  single  point  I  submit  to  you — to  call  you  for  a  moment  from  every 
consideration  of  a  sectarian  aspect.  Indeed,  I  humbly  conceive  that  re- 
ligious creeds,  that  sectarian  creeds  of  any  kind  whatever,  are  not  at  issue 
in  the  present  controversy.  If  this  application  had  come  from  Protestants 
as  a  body,  from  any  political  or  religious  sect,  however  numerous  or  power- 
ful or  popular  they  might  be,  the  same  objection  would  lie  against  the  appli- 


SPEECH   OF   DE.   DAVID   M.    REESE.  269 

cation,  from  whatever  source  it  might  come.  I  humbly  submit,  therefore, 
whether  the  right  reverend  gentleman  to  whom  we  had  the  pleasure  to  lis- 
ten last  night,  would  not  have  served  the  public  more  effectually  by  in- 
structing his  people  that  the  opposition  to  this  claim  is  not  an  opposition  to 
the  Roman  Catholics,  but  to  the  principle  of  appropriating  money  raised  by 
taxation  for  public  purposes  to  any  party  whatever,  for  their  exclusive  con- 
trol. I  say,  the  reverend  gentleman  would  have  been  serving  the  public, 
and  would  have  been  doing  nothing  unworthy  of  his  highly  honorable  and 
sacred  office,  if  he  had  applied  himself  to  enlightening  his  people  on  this 
point — that  the  present  opposition  is  not  an  opposition  to  their  creed  or  to 
their  Church,  but  that  the  same  opposition  would  be  against  any  other  de- 
nomination equally  as  numerous  and  equally  as  respectable.  Certainly,  sir, 
this  would  have  been  more  worthy  of  his  sacred  office  than  haranguing  his 
people  in  their  public  assemblies  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  prejudices 
against  the  public  schools.  Before  these  prejudices  were  created,  when 
these  people  had  not  yet  been  taught  to  look  upon  them  as  odious,  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  sent  their  children  to  these  schools,  and  availed  themselves 
thankfully  of  their  benefits.  But  now  many  of  them  have  abstracted  their 
children,  merely  because  harangues  of  that  kind  have  been  made  which  are 
calculated  to  create  disaffection  amongst  them.  Sir,  the  opposition  made  to 
this  memorial  is  neither  sectarian  nor  religious ;  and,  this  being  premised, 
it  is  impossible  that  it  can  involve  a  question  of  conscience  at  all.  What  is 
the  question  ?  It  is  complained  that  men,  having  taxed  themselves  and 
having  paid  that  tax  for  a  given  purpose — the  public  benefit — have  after- 
ward voluntarily  chosen,  in  the  exercise  of  their  freedom  in  this  free  coun- 
try, to  forego  the  benefits  provided  for  the  public  indiscriminately.  All  are 
taxed  for  public  education  which  is  given  by  the  public  schools ;  but  a  por- 
tion of  the  citizens  choose  to  relinquish  the  advantages  of  these  schools. 
The  question,  then,  resolves  itself  into  this  :  Is  it  sound  public  policy  to  tax 
the  citizens  generally  for  a  public  purpose,  when  any  portion  on  whom  the 
tax  is  imposed,  choose  not  to  avail  themselves  of  its  advantages  ?  You  see, 
in  this  aspect,  that  it  strikes  at  the  whole  public  school  system ;  for  if  the 
Roman  Catholics  are  to  be  excused  because  they  choose  to  forego  the  advan- 
tages provided,  every  other  sect,  whether  for  the  sake  of  party  politics  or 
religion,  might  take  the  same  attitude  and  plead  the  same  conscience,  and 
the  result  would  be  that  there  would  be  no  provision  made  for  public  edu- 
cation, and  the  rising  generation  in  multitudes  would  grow  up  like  "  the 
wild  asses'  colt." 

Now,  in  this  aspect,  I  humbly  submit  whether  our  fellow-citizens  who  are 
found  peacefully  enjoying  their  rights  and  liberties  in  this  country,  do  not 
receive  an  equivalent  for  the  taxes  which  they  pay,  in  the  proper  exercise  of 
the  right  of  suffrage  which  is  here  secured ;  whether  they  ought  not  thus 
to  contribute  to  the  political  advantages  which  this  happy  country  fur- 
nishes ;  and  whether  they  do  not  thus  secure  an  ample  equivalent  for  the 
taxes  which  they  pay,  even  in  cases  where  they  voluntarily  decline  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  public  schools  ?  But,  sir,  I  know  a  conscience  may  be 
created  in  this  community  by  a  bishop  or  other  dignitary.  Let  them  but 


270  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

turn  their  churches  into  bear-gardens,  and  agitate  their  congregations  by 
exciting  speeches,  as  has  been  done  on  this  subject,  and  others  will  be 
taught  to  plead  their  newly-excited  consciences  beside  Roman  Catholics. 
And  shall  this  great  community  be  deprived  of  this  system  because  such  a 
conscience  is  created  ?  But  if  there  can  be  no  conscience  in  the  matter  in 
truth,  the  point  is  narrowed  down  to  the  question,  Is  it  a  hardship  to  pay  a 
tax  for  a  public  benefit,  when  we  thus  forego  the  advantages?  Or  ought 
every  man  who  does  not  avail  himself  of  the  advantages  which  the  system 
furnishes,  to  be  exempted  from  taxation  ?  We  know  a  disposition  Jo  avoid 
taxation  exists  in  thousands ;  and  if  conscience  is  to  be  an  excuse,  con- 
science will  easily  be  started  to  avoid  the  payment,  and  the  result  will  be 
that  no  public  education  could  be  sustained,  here  or  elsewhere. 

As  well  might  the  petitioners  ask  for  a  separate  almshouse  or  a  separate 
hospital  for  their  exclusive  accommodation,  and  allege  the  hardship  of  pay- 
ing a  tax  for  the  support  of  these  public  charities,  while  their  consciences 
would  not  allow  them  to  take  shelter  there  in  time  of  adversity ;  because, 
forsooth,  a  Protestant  Bible  is  sometimes  found  there,  and  a  Protestant 
chaplain  sometimes  reads  a  chapter  there  for  the  consolation  of  the  sick  and 
dying. 

Sir,  it  is  the  enlightened  public  policy  of  our  city,  State,  and  nation,  to 
provide  and  perpetuate  the  facilities  for  educating  the  entire  population  in 
the  rudiments  of  secular  learning,  and  to  support  these  and  other  public 
institutions  by  public  taxation.  The  provision  is  free  for  all,  and  all  con- 
tribute to  its  maintenance.  But  if  individuals  among  us  choose  to  educate 
their  own  children,  and  refuse  to  avail  themselves  of  the  public  schools,  the 
act  is  their  own,  but  in  no  wise  furnishes  them  a  pretext  to  complain. 
Especially  when  such  individuals  establish  settarian  schools,  in  which,  with 
the  secular  knowledge  imparted,  their  own  religious  tenets  are  to  be  taught, 
is  it  not  passing  strange  that  they  should  wish  to  impose  upon  all  other 
religions  the  tax  of  sustaining  those  schools  in  which  their  own  religion  is 
exclusively  to  be  inculcated  ?  I  care  not  whether  such  individuals  be  Ro- 
man Catholics  or  Protestants,  they  cannot  by  possibility  possess  any  right 
of  conscience  which  will  give  them  a  claim  to  impose  upon  any  other  man's 
conscience  the  burden  of  supporting  their  sectarian  or  exclusive  schools. 
Nor  can  the  money  raised  by  public  taxation  to  support  public  schools,  be 
expended  in  any  other  schools  than  those  of  strictly  public  character,  which 
denominational  schools  cannot  be,  in  the  nature  of  things. 

The  system  of  the  New  York  Public  School  Society  secures,  confessedly, 
every  desirable  facility  for  secular  learning,  to  an  extent  commensurate  with 
the  population.  No  religious  test  is  required  as  a  qualification  for  the  office 
of  teacher  in  these  schools,  and  both  trustees  and  teachers  are  promiscuous- 
ly taken  from  all  denominations,  a  number  of  Roman  Catholics  being 
engaged  both  as  trustees  and  teachers.  Great  care,  however,  is  token  to 
have  none  employed  in  these  schools  as  teachers  but  persons  of  good  moral 
character ;  and  while  all  the  peculiarities  of  doctrinal  tenets  which  distin- 
guish and  separate  Christian  churches  of  every  name  are  excluded,  the  purest 
morals  in  which  all  agree  are  taught  among  the  lessons  of  each  day,  a  chap- 


SPEECH   OF    REV.    JOHN   KNOX,   D.D.  271 

ter  in  the  Bible  being  read  at  the  opening  of  the  school.  The  petitioners 
themselves  -do  not  allege  any  defect  in  the  Secular  knowledge  here  taught, 
nor  do  they  complain  that  any  religious  doctrines  are  inculcated  in  these 
schools.  But  they  insist  that  their  consciences  will  not  allow  them  to  sus- 
tain such  schools,  because  NO  religion  is  taught  in  them.  And  surely  they 
would  consent  to  none  being  taught,  except  their  own  religion,  and  hence  it 
is  for  this  purpose  alone  they  have  their  own  schools.  It  is  idle,  then,  for 
the  right  reverend  bishop  to  repeat  his  disclaimer  of  any  intention  to  teach 
his  own  religion  in  his  own  schools ;  for  in  no  other  way  can  he  make  out 
his  pica  of  conscience,  nor  can  he  in  any  other  way  make  out  a  single  plea 
against  the  present  excellent  system  of  public  school  instruction. 

I  do  not  design  to  prolong  the  discussion,  but  I  feel  impelled  to  say  what 
I  have  said,  for  I  have  observed  the  excitement  which  exists,  arising  out  of 
the  false  issue  which  the  right  reverend  gentleman  has  created,  and  that 
hence  all  the  publications  on  that  side  of  the  question  in  putting  forth  the 
claim  of  the  Catholics,  have  treated  it  as  though  the  opposition  to  it  was  an 
opposition  to  Roman  Catholics.  Sir,  I  disclaim  it.  I  am  not  aware  that 
any  man  in  this  community  opposes  it  because  it  is  the  petition  of  Roman 
Catholics,  but  because  it  comes  from  a  class  of  citizens,  highly  respectable 
and  numerous,  I  admit,  who  ask  for  this  money  to  be  placed  under  their  own 
control.  I  am  sure  those  with-whom  I  am  associated  do  not  oppose  it  merely 
because  it  comes  from  Roman  Catholics.  We  believe  the  Public  School 
Society  confers  on  us,  and  on  this  community,  an  advantage  by  the  secular 
instruction  of  the  rising  generation.  We  see,  daily,  multitudes  in  these 
schools  of  children  who  will  soon  be  introduced  on  the  stage  as  citizens  of 
this  republic,  and  it  is  vastly  important  that  they  should  be  educated  and 
qualified  for  the  discharge  of  the  important  duties  of  freemen.  This  public 
school  system  is  preparing  them  for  that  purpose  ;  it  is  attracting  the  atten- 
tion of  public  men  of  other  countries.  These  schools  are  regarded  as  the 
nurseries  of  intelligent  freemen,  who  will  hereafter  have  to  take  the  guar- 
dianship of  the  liberties  of  this  country.  We  are  training  up  thousands  of 
citizens,  not  only  for  New  York,  but  for  the  West.  New  York  contributes 
much  to  the  population  of  this  nation,  and  the  power  lies  with  this  Board 
of  Aldermen  to  direct  their  training  so  as  to  make  them  useful  to  their 
country.  But  there  comes  a  petition,  from  a  body  highly  respectable,  I  ad- 
mit, who  ask,  "  Let  us  have  this  money  which  is  collected  for  a  public  pur- 
pose, and  we  will  apply  it  to  a  private  one."  I  know  they  disclaim  sectarian 
views,  if  the  money  is  obtained  ;  but  if  their  views  are  not  sectarian,  they 
can  find  no  valid  objection,  nor  make  any  improvement  to  the  existing  sys- 
tem of  public  schools.  It  is  immeasurably  important  that  the  present  sys- 
tem should  be  supported.  The  gentlemen  to  whom  the  schools  are  now  in- 
trusted have  shown  themselves  amply  qualified  to  discharge  their  duties, 
and  I  hope  any  attempt  to  destroy  the  present  system  will  be  frowned  down, 
whether  it  be  made  by  Catholic  or  Protestant,  Christian  or  infidel. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  KNOX,  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  said  : 
MR.  PRESIDENT  :  I  should  not  have  risen  to  claim  your  indulgence  for  a 


272  THE    PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

single  moment,  were  it  not  to  say  that  the  Christian  denomination  -with 
which  I  am  connected,  in  their*  united  sentiment  are  adverse  to  the  prayer 
of  the  memorial  now  btfore  you  ;  and  that  they  would  unquestionably  have 
been  here  with  a  counter  memorial,  if  they  had  not  cherished  a  confidence 
that,  in  the  hands  of  this  Corporation,  the  matter  is  perfectly  safe.  Sir,  I 
regard  the  subject  now  before  this  honorable  body  as  one  of  most  momen- 
tous importance.  The  principle  on  which  our  Government  is  established  is 
of  a  character  to  exclude  all  immediate  connection,  on  the  part  of  our  Gov- 
ernment, with  religious  things.  All  religion  is  fully  tolerated,  fully  pro- 
tected, and  then  it  is  left  alone,  and  there  I  hope  it  will  continue  to  be.  It 
is  not  profaned  by  the  contact  of  civil  enactments.  We  have  never  heard 
of  any  "  act  of  uniformity,"  to  set  a  whole  community  by  the  cars.  Sir, 
this  principle,  in  this  State,  is  guarded  with  most  peculiar  jealousy  :  there  is 
not  a  minister  of  religion  that  can  even  be  appointed  as  the  superintendent 
of  a  common  school,  or  be  eligible  to  any  civil  office.  Whether  it  is  an 
innovation  on  our  natural  rights,  I  will  not  undertake  to  inquire ;  but  with 
the  existence  of  such  enactments  I  feel  perfectly  satisfied.  Let  it  so  be.  In- 
terrupt this  state  of  things,  and  whither  will  it  lead  ?  Who  can  foretell  to 
what  it  may  lead  ?  The  denomination  with  which  it  is  my  honor  and 
happiness  to  be  connected,  was  the  first  to  introduce  the  gospel  of  salvation 
to  these  shores.  Individuals  of  this  communion  laid  the  foundation  of  this 
city  ;  they  embraced  a  large  portion  of  the  population  of  the  State,  and  bear 
a  large  part  of  its  burdens ;  and  I  know  that  the  feeling  of  this  part  of  our 
population  is  unanimously  in  favor  of  leaving  matters  as  they  are.  As  a 
demonstration  that  they  are  disinterested,  the  particular  Church  which.  I 
serve  has  sustained  a  charity  school  more  than  a  century ;  it  sustains  it  still 
from  the  private  charity  of  Christians ;  and  they  never  received  aid  from 
the  State,  except,  for  a  few  years,  a  few  dollars  for  each  child,  during  the 
operation  of  the  law  referred  to  last  evening.  • 

Now,  personally,  in  reference  to  our  Roman  Catholic  friends,  my  feelings 
are  entirely  kind.  I  have  not  any  other  feeling.  I  am  not  a  man  of  strife. 
But  this  matter  would  not  be  quietly  submitted  to.  Were  any  denomina- 
tion, existing  among  us,  to  put  forth  such  a  claim  as  is  now  before  this 
board — were  the  Presbyterians  to  do  it,  we  would  not  regard  it  as  right. 
Were  the  Episcopalians,  or  the  Methodists,  to  do  it,  we  should  not  deem  it 
right.  In  any  case,  we  should  not  feel  content  to  contribute  to  the  general 
treasury  of  the  State,  if  a  portion  of  that  treasury  were  to  be  taken  hold 
upon  by  a  particular  denomination.  Whilst  the  whole  spirit  of  our  Govern- 
ment, whether  general  or  State,  frowns  upon  any  thing  that  looks  like  ele- 
vating one  section  of  the  Christian  community  in  preference  to  another,  it 
would  not  be  kindly  regarded  if  the  prayer  of  this  petition  were  complied 
with,  and  a  distinction  were  conferred  on  one,  and  not  on  others.  But, 
while  I  say  that  I  feel  kindness  toward  our  Roman  Catholic  friends,  candor 
would  require  me  to  go  a  little  further  than  many  have  gone  who  have  ad- 
dressed you. 

With  reference  to  the  system  of  religion  by  which  they  are  distinguished, 
I  cannot  help  regarding  it  as  differing  from  others.  They  so  regard  it.  It 


SPEECH   OF    EEV.    JOHN   KNOX,    D.D.  273 

is  exclusive ;  and  they  claim  for  it  immutability  and  infallibility.  Sir,  can 
Protestants,  believing  as  they  do  believe,  consent  to  be  directly  instrumental 
in  elevating  to  strength,  and  in  cherishing,  a  system  like  this  ?  I  think  not. 
I  think  the  citizens  of  this  State  will  say  it  ought  not  to  be. 

Mr.  President,  for  myself,  I  wish  our  Catholic  fellow-citizens  to  enjoy  all 
the  immunities  that  are  enjoyed  by  any  others ;  but  with  that  I  wish  them 
to  rest  content.  I  have  sought  carefully,  and  according  to  my  best  ability, 
during  this  discussion  and  previously,  to  ascertain  what  is  the  precise 
ground  of  their  dissatisfaction,  and  I  confess  I  am  not  instructed  yet.  We 
are  told  that  in  these  common  schools  religion  is  not  taught ;  and  in  juxta- 
position -we  are  told  that  the  Bible  is  read.  Now,  with  regard  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  those  schools,  we  have  had  abundant  testimony,  both  here 
and  elsewhere,  that  they  are  conducted  with  extreme — with  the  very  utmost 
''are.  Is  disobedience  to  parents  taught  there  ?  Are  they  taught  to  falsify 
the  truth  ?  or  to  do  a  wrong  thing  ?  On  the  contrary,  are  they  not  instruct- 
ed in  the  common  fundamental  principles  of  morals,  while  they  are  taught 
to  read  and  write,  and  to  discharge  the  duty  of  citizens  when  they  arrive  at 
maturity  ?  The  Bible  is  read,'  as  it  ought  to  be  ;  and  occasionally  passages 
have  been  found  in  the  books,  admitted  into  the  libraries,  which  are  offen- 
sive to  the  feelings  of  Catholics.  These  have  been  expurgated  as  soon  as 
detected,  in  every  instance  that  I  am  aware  of.  But  is  this  a  sufficient  reason 
for  so  great  a  change  ?  Can  you,  or  any  gentleman  who  is  in  the  habit  of 
reading,  for  a  single  week  or  day,  be  perfectly  sure  that,  even  when  reading 
works  of  a  select  kind  you  shall  not  find  something  that  may  not  be  conso- 
nant with  your  feelings  ?  But  let  it  be  overlooked  and  passed  by.  Do 
these  schools  interfere  with  our  religious  instruction  of  our  children  ?  Do 
they  take  them  away  from  the  parent,  or  the  pastor,  or  from  the  Sabbath 
school  ?  Are  they  conducted  by  individuals  of  the  same  faith  ?  I  believe 
net.  I  am  not  able  to  find  a  just  cause  of  complaint. 

I  have  but  a  single  remark  more,  for  I  have  observed  the  great  patience 
with  which  this  honorable  Council  has  sat  to  hear  the  remarks  of  gentlemen 
both  yesterday  and  to-day,  and  I  am  unwilling  to  occupy  more  than  another 
moment  of  their  time  on  a  single  point.  The  gentleman  who  first  addressed 
you  yesterday  afternoon,  throughout  the  whole  of  his  exceedingly  able  and 
eloquent  address,  labored  this  one  point,  to  endeavor  to  produce  an  impres- 
sion on  the  minds  of  this  Common  Council  that  a  false  issue  had  been  started 
— that  they  do  not  want  the  public  money  to  aid  them  in  communicating 
religious  instruction.  Why,  Mr.  President,  it  is  strange  that  this  single  idea 
was  not  lost  sight  of  during  that  long,  able,  and  eloquent  address  of  more 
than  two  hours'  duration.  But,  sir,  if  they  are  willing  to  pledge  themselves 
to  give  no  religious  instruction  in  their  schools,  why  not  allow  their  chil- 
dren to  go  to  the  common  schools  during  school  hours,  and  afterward  give 
them  religious  education  ?  I  confess  I  do  not  know  how  this  can  be  so. 
The  only  answer  I  can  myself  imagine  is  this :  that,  upon  the  whole,  there 
is  an  influence  exerted  by  a  contact  with  the  children  in  these  schools  ad- 
verse to  feelings  of  reverence  for  Catholic  peculiarities.  That  must  be  it. 
Well,  now,  is  it  so  ?  Sir,  my  children  are  exposed,  by  mingling  with  the 
18 


274:  TI1E   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

community,  to  things  which  are  adverse  to  their  feelings — if  you  choose, 
their  prejudices;  they  may  at  the  same  time  meet  with  things  which  reflect 
on  their  family,  and  on  their  associations — their  religious  associations  and 
their  other  associations  too.  Does  that  weaken  their  attachment  to  those 
associations  ?  No,  it  strengthens  them.  They  at  once  say,  Those  persons 
don't  think  as  I  do ;  they  don't  feel  as  I  do.  We  may  be  taunted  about  our 
pastors  or  our  faith ;  does  that  lessen  our  attachment  to  them  ?  I  think 
not.  We  think  we  are  right  and  they  are  wrong,  and  we  let  it  pass.  Sir,  I 
repeat,  though  I  am  not  delegated  to  attend  here  to  tell  it,  that  these  senti- 
ments pervade  the  denomination  which  I  represent,  and  with  the  expression 
of  that  fact  I  will  retire,  and  not  trouble  the  board  any  longer. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  BANGS,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
said : 

SIR  :  I  avail  myself  of  the  liberty  which  your  resolution  gives  me,  to 
make  one  or  two  remarks.  It  might  be  inferred  by  some,  from  the  position 
we  occupy  here,  that  we  appear  here  as  a  sect,  to  vindicate  our  sectarian 
principles  and  rights.  Now,  if  such  an  impression  should  have  existed,  I 
wish  to  correct  it.  We  appear  here  simply,  with  the  rest  of  our  fellow-citi- 
zens, for  the  purpose  of  opposing  what  we  conceive  to  be  an  unjust  applica- 
tion. We  have  nothing  to  ask  for.  We  do  not  ask  for  a. portion  of  the 
public  money  to  enable  us  to  educate  our  children.  The  time  was  when  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  a  flourishing  charity  school,  which  they 
supported  for  upward  of  forty  years  without  a  cent  from  the  public  fund ; 
'but  when  the  Legislature  of  the  State  concluded  to  distribute  a  portion  in 
the  city  of  New  York  among  the  charity  schools,  we  received  our  propor- 
tion ;  and  at  the  first,  when  a  motion  was  made  to  take  it  out  of  the  hands 
of  charity  schools,  and  give  it  to  the  public  schools,  we  did  remonstrate, 
with  others.  But  we  are  very  glad  to  say  that,  since  we  have  seen  the  sys- 
tem in  operation,  and  viewed  its  blessed  effects  on  the  minds  of  our  children 
•  and  the  community,  we  joyfully  acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  the  Common 
Council  on  that  subject.  There  is  one  objection  made  to  this  system  which 
somewhat  surprised  me.  It  was  stated,  if  I  did  not  misunderstand  it,  that, 
by  taking  these  children  and  sending  them  to  these  schools,  they  are  taken 
out  of  the  hands  of  their  parents  and  delivered  over  to  the  hands  of  the 
public  officer  of  the  State.  Why,  sir,  this  is  very  extraordinary.  Suppose 
our  brethren  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  established  their  schools — fpr 
they  have  them,  I  suppose— do  they  not  take  their  children,  during  school 
hours,  from  the  hands  of  their  parents  ?  Are  they  not,  for  the  time  being, 
taken  out  of  the  domestic  circle,  and  delivered  over  to  the  hands  of  the 
public  teacher  ?  And  does  not  every  father  and  mother,  when  they  resign 
their  children  to  a  school,  an  academy,  or  a  college,  deliver  them  out  of 
their  hands  for  the  time  being  ?  But,  sir,  the  sending  of  children  to  public 
schools  in  this  city  is  not  taking  them  out  of  the  hands  of  the  domestic  gov- 
ernment. The  schools  are  established  in  the  midst  of  us ;  we  can  send  our 
children  to  them,  and  they  are  only  absent  from  us  about  six  hours,  and  the 
Test  of  the  time  they  are  with  us.  How,  then,  pray  tell  me,  have  these 


SPEECH    OP   EEV.    NATHAN   BANGS,    D.D.  275 

schools  invaded  the  authority  of  the  father  and  mother  ?  There  is  another 
point.  If  I  did  not  misunderstand  the  senior  pastor  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  he  told  us  that  the  instruction  in  these  schools  tended  to  infidelity. 
He  disclaimed  any  intention  to  charge  this  upon  the  principles  of  the  man- 
agers of  that  institution,  but  he  said  the  system  itself  tended  to  infidelity. 
Now,  sir,  what  is  the  great  bulwark  against  infidelity  ?  Is  it  not  the  Bible, 
sir  ?  What  are  all  the  commentaries,  what  are  all  the  dissertations  that 
were  ever  written,  even  the  most  learned,  in  comparison  with  the  Bible  ? 
Are  we  to  suppose  that  any  human  teaching  in  the  Roman  Catholic  schools 
will  be  paramount  to  the  Bible  in  checking  the  overflowings  of  infidelity  ? 
Would  I  trust  myself,  or  my  denomination,  in  preference  to  the  Bible  ?  No, 
sir.  The  Bible  contains  its  own  evidence  of  its  own  truth ;  it  reflects  its 
own  light,  unobscured  by  the  commentaries  of  feeble  man ;  and  are  we  to 
be  told  that  the  Holy  Scriptures,  without  note  and  comment,  will  lead  to 
infidelity  ?  If  I  mistake  not,  one  of  the  trustees  told  us  that  the  Holy 
Scriptures  were  read  every  day,  and  that  the  children  were  taught  that  God 
made  them,  and  that  He  saw  their  thoughts,  words,  and  actions ;  and  these, 
we  know,  are  the  first  principles  of  revealed  religion,  in  opposition  to  secta- 
rianism ;  and,  in  all  this,  what  testimony  have  we  that  these  schools  tend  to 
infidelity  ?  For  what  shall  we  change  the  Bible,  the  Holy  Book  of  God, 
which  announces  divine  truths  to  man  ?  Shall  we  exchange  this  Bible  for 
the  teaching  of  the  Roman  Catholic  schoolmaster  ?  Which  is  the  best 
adapted  to  stem  the  flood  of  infidelity  ?  But  they  don't  design  to  teach 
sectarianism  !  What  then  ?  I  rejoice  to  be  able  to  say  here — and  I  believe 
the  right  reverend  gentleman  will  join  me  in  saying — that  he  believes  in  one 
God,  in  one  Saviour,  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  the  regener- 
ation of  the  heart  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  justification  by  faith,  and  in  a  future 
day  of  judgment.  I  believe  he  will  join  with  me,  or  any  one  else,  in  the 
belief  of  these  truths.  Are  they  not  the  truths  of  the  Bible  ?  And  may 
not  these  truths  be  taught  our  children  ?  Are  they  not  taught  in  Roman 
Catholic  schools  ?  What,  then,  do  they  desire  to  teach  ?  Why,  the  pecu- 
liarities of  their  system,  and  nothing  else ;  for  all  these  leading  truths  are 
taught  in  the  Bible.  He  wants  something,  I  presume,  that  is  not  in  the 
Bible ;  for  the  Bible  is  taught  there,  and,  if  any  thing  else  is  to  be  taught 
that  is  not  in  the  school,  it  must  be  something  that  is  not  in  the  Bible,  and 
therefore  it  must  be  sectarian.  Now,  we  have  arrived  at  an  age  in  our 
republic  when  we  see  the  different  sects  and  denominations,  though  they 
may  not  agree  in  all  things,  agreeing  in  all  leading  points.  On  these  we  can 
meet  and  unite,  and  strengthen  each  other's  hands  to  do  good  in  our  day 
and  generation.  We  therefore,  as  a  denomination,  unite  with  our  brethren 
of  other  denominations,  and  those  of  no  denomination— or,  in  other  words, 
with  the  representatives  of  every  society — to  say,  Let  this  fund  be  appropri- 
ated as  it  was  intended  to  be,  and  let  all  share  alike  in  the  education  of  the 
rising  generation.  For  myself,  I  could  go  still  farther  than  has  been  gone, 
and  say,  that  these  little  vagrants  that  are  suffered  to  stroll  about  the  streets 
and  spend  their  time  in  idleness,  I  would  compel  to  enter  these  schools ; 
and  I  believe  it  would  be  an  act  of  humanity,  if  their  parents  were  so  indif- 


276  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

ferent  to  the  welfare  of  their  children  that  they  allowed  them  to  spend  their 
time  in  idleness,  or  something  worse.  Let  the  State  extend  the  hand  of 
compassion,  and  take  them  out  of  the  streets,  to  be  taught  where  they  will 
be  saved  from  vicious  indulgences  ;  and  I  hope  the  time  will  yet  come  when 
it  will  be  done. 

The  Kev.  GARDINER  SPRING,  D.D.  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
said : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  As  much  time  has  been  consumed,  as  this  question  has 
been  abundantly  discussed,  and  with  great  ability,  especially  by  the  learned 
counsel,  had  I  not  been  urged  to  say  a  word  on  behalf  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  I  should  not  have  claimed  your  attention.  I  am  not  authorized  by 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  as  a  Church,  to  attend  here  ;  but  if  I  had,  I  would 
have  paid  more  particular  attention  to  the  subject  than  I  have  done.  I  can 
say,  with  my  worthy  brother  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  that  the  senti- 
ment of  the  Church  at  large  with  which  I  am  connected  is  one  of  entire 
unanimity  of  ardent  and  cordial  opposition  to  the  petition  which  is  now 
before  you  from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  I  will  state,  sir,  but  a  single 
fact,  without  recapitulating  the  valuable  remarks  of  the  other  gentlemen, 
which  has  rested  on  my  mind,  and  may  have  some  weight  in  the  bosom  of 
some  gentlemen  with  whom  the  decision  rests.  In  the  providence  of  God, 
sir,  having  been  more  than  thirty  years  in  this  city,  I  have  had  opportunities 
of  watching  .the  progress  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  of  knowing 
some  of  its  history  in  that  period  of  time.  When  it  was  separated  from  the 
Churches  as  such,  and  assumed  its  present  shape,  it  was  a  solemn  matter  of 
compromise  and  contract  on  the  part  of  the  Corporation  and  the  Public 
School  Society.  I  do  not  say  it  was  a  contract  in  writing,  but  this  was  the 
understanding  of  all  our  Churches.  We  were  solicited  to  give  up  our 
rights  and  denominational  feelings,  to  which  we  were  strongly  attached, 
that  this  large  scheme  might  go  into  operation  and  spread  its  influence  over 
the  community ;  and  the  alternative  with  us  was,  whether  we  should  oppose 
that  great  scheme,  and  continue  the  pilfering  which  had  been  detected  in 
one  society,  with  its  unpleasant  attendant  consequences,  or  aid  the  public 
school  plan.  And  we  sacrificed  our  feelings  for  the  general  good,  on  the 
sacred  understanding  that  the  system  should  be  continued ;  and  we  shall 
consider  it  a  violation  of  good  faith  if  you  grant  this  application.  I  can 
unite  with  some  of  my  friends  who  have  preceded  me,  in  saying  that,  if  this 
application  had  come  from  any  other  denomination,  I  would  have  opposed 
it.  But  I  cannot  say  that  I  have  no  greater  opposition  to  it  because  it  comes 
from  my  Catholic  friends.  I  do  view  it  with  more  alarm  on  account  of  the 
source  from  which  it  comes.  And  any  man  who  looks  at  the  history  of^  the 
Catholic  Church,  whether  in  or  out  of  power,  and  finds  she  has  ever  been, 
and  in  those  parts  of  Europe  where  she  remains  in  power  she  continues  to 
be,  almost  uniformly  the  enemy  of  liberty,  will  look  upon  this  application 
with  suspicion  and  fear.  I  do  so  not  only  as  an  American,  but  as  a  Chris- 
tian, as  a  Protestant,  and  as  a  Presbyterian.  The  gentleman  has  sought  to 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  277 

prove  that  the  present  system  leads  to  infidelity.  Now,  sir,  let  no  man  think 
it  strange  that  I  should  prefer  even  infidelity  to  Catholicism.  Even  a  mind 
as  acute  as  Voltaire's  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  if  there  "was  no  alternative 
between  infidelity  and  the  dogmas  of  the  Catholic  Church,  he  should  choose 
infidelity.  I  would  choose,  sir,  in  similar  circumstances,  to  be  an  infidel  to- 
morrow. 

Mr.  President,  my  worthy  father — I  would  call  him  brother,  for  my  hairs 
are  almost  as  gray  as  his — has  well  said,  that  the  great  barrier  to  infidelity 
is  the  Bible.  But,  sir,  the  right  reverend  gentleman  told  us,  yesterday,  he 
had  no  confidence  in  the  Protestant  Bible  ;  and  yet  you  heard  him,  when  he 
came  to  a  community  of  Protestant  citizens,  ask  for  the  bounty  of  the  State 
to  support  such  a  system  as  his  !  With  you,  gentlemen,  the  power  remains. 
I  need  not  now,  after  what  has  been  said — indeed,  this  would  not  be  the 
proper  place — urge  any  arguments  at  length  on  this  subject,  and  therefore  I 
will  not  further  trespass  on  your  time  ;  nor  need  I  scarcely  ask  pardon  for 
detaining  you  so  long,  having  been  myself  urged  to  say  something  on  be- 
half of  the  Church  with  which  I  am  connected. 

The  President  said  the  closing  remarks  would  be  given  to 
the  petitioners. 

Mr.  KETCH  UM  observed  that,  if  any  new  matter  were  intro- 
duced, he  hoped  he  should  have  the  opportunity  to  reply.  The 
right  reverend  gentleman  opened  on  the  part  of  the  petitioners  ; 
lie  had  been  replied  to,  and  it  was  but  right  that  he  should  have 
the  right  to  reply  to  the  other  speakers ;  but  if  he  urged  new 
matter,  either  of  fact  or  argument,  he,  on  the  part  of  the  School 
Society,  should  claim  the  right  to  reply  to  that  new  matter. 

The  President  called  upon  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Hughes  to 
conclude  the  debate. 

The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  HUGHES  then  rose,  to  reply  to  the 
arguments  of  all  the  gentlemen  who  had- been  heard  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  he  spoke  nearly  as  follows : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  It  would  require  a  mind  of  much  greater  capacity  than 
mine  to  arrange  and  mature  the  topics,  relevant  or  otherwise,  that  have  been 
introduced  into  this  discussion  since  I  had  the  honor  to  address  you  yester- 
day. No  less  than  seven  or  eight  gentlemen  of  great  ability  have  presented 
their  respective  views  on  the  subject ;  and  not  only  on  the  subject  in  regard 
to  its  intrinsic  merits,  but  on  subjects  which  they  deemed  at  least  collateral, 
but  which  I  think  quite  irrelevant.  The  gentleman  who  last  addressed  you 
(Dr.  Spring)  is  entitled  to  my  acknowledgments  for  the  candor  with  which 
he  expressed  his  sentiments  in  reference  to  it — namely,  that  he  was  opposed 
to  it  more  because  it  came  from  Catholics  than  if  it  had  been  presented  by 
any  other  denomination.  That  gentleman  is  entitled  to  my  acknowledg- 
.ment,  and  I  award  it,  if  worthy  of  his  acceptance.  The  subject — for  it  is 


278  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

exceedingly  important  that  the  subject  should  be  kept  in  view — is  one,  as  I 
stated  before,  that  is  very  simple.  We  are  a  portion  of  this  community ;  we 
desire  to  be  nothing  greater  than  any  other  portion  ;  we  are  not  content  to 
be  made  less.  There  is  nothing,  sir,  in  that  system  of  the  Public  School 
Society  against  which  any  of  the  gentlemen  who  have  spoken,  either  in  their 
individual  capacity  or  as  the  representatives  of  bodies  of  people,  have  urged 
a  single  conscientious  objection,  and,  of  course,  they  have  no  right  to  com- 
plain ;  they  are  satisfied,  and  therefore  I  am  willing  that  they  should  have 
the  system  ;  but  I  am  not  willing  that  they  should  press  it  upon  me,  and  for 
good  reason.  And,  sir,  if  this  honorable  body  rejects  the  claim  of  your 
petitioners,  what  is  the  issue  ?  That  we  are  deprived  of  the  benefits  to 
which  we  are  entitled,  and  that  we  are  not  one  iota  worse  than  we  were 
before.  That  is  our  consolation.  But  the  whole  range  of  the  argument  of 
the  gentleman  who  spoke  last  was,  to  show  that  this  public  school  system 
was  got  up  with  the  concurrence  of  public  opinion,  and  that,  having  been 
so  got  up,  it  had  worked  beautifully,  and  that  gentlemen  who  had  never 
heard  o£  conscientious  objections  to  it,  because  it  suits  their  views,  deem  it 
wonderful  that  we  can  have  any  conscience  at  all  on  the  subject.  That  is 
the  amount  of  it.  What  I  no  ground  for  conscientious  objection,  when  you 
teach  our  children  in  those  schools  that  "  the  deceitful  Catholics "  burned 
John  Huss  at  the  stake  for  conscience,  when  evidences  are  numerous  before 
you  of  a  more  just  and  a  more  honorable  character — when  you  might  find 
on  the  page  of  history  that,  in  Catholic  Poland,  every  avenue  to  dignity  in 
the  State  was  opened  to  Protestants,  by  the  concurrent  vote  of  eight  Catho- 
lic bishops,  whilst  the  vote  of  any  ONE  of  them,  according  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Polish  Diet,  of  which  they  were  members,  could  have  prevented 
the  law  being  passed ; — and,  what  is  more,  when  the  first  lesson  of  universal 
toleration  and  freedom  of  conscience  the  world  was  ever  called  to  learn  was 
set  by  the  Catholics  of  Maryland.  I  speak  in  the  presence  of  gentlemen 
who  can  contradict  me  if  they  know  where  to  find  the  authority.  And 
what  was  this  but  homage  to  the  majesty  of  conscience  by  a  Church  which 
they  wish  to  establish  as  a  persecuting  Church  ?  That  Church,  sir,  which 
the  gentleman  has  come  here  to  prove  justifies  the  murdering  of  heretics, 
was  the  first  to  teach  a  lesson  which  Protestants  have  been  slow  to  learn  and 
imitate,  but  which  the  religion  they  profess  should  have  taught  them.  But 
not  these  examples  alone ;  there  are  hundreds  more.  At  this  day,  in  Bel- 
gium, where  Protestants  are  in  a  minority  of  one  to  twelve,  the  State  votes 
them  an  equal  portion,  and,  where  their  clergy  are  married,  a  larger  portion, 
and  that  with  thev  concurrence  of  the  Council  and  the  Catholic  bishops. 
The  gentleman  need  not  tell  me  of  Catholicism — I  know  it  well ;  and,  what 
is  more,  I  know  Protestantism  well ;  and  I  know  the  professions  of  good- 
will of  Protestants  do  not  always  correspond  with  their  feelings.  But  I 
should  like  to  know  whether  or  not  in  Protestantism  they  find  authority  for 
persecuting  to  the  knife  not  Catholics  alone,  but  each  other,  even  after  they 
have  proclaimed  the  right  of  every  man  to  think  for  himself.  With  good 
reason,  sir,  do  I  contend  for  conscience ;  but  they  may  think  a  Catholic  has 
no  right  to  have  a  conscience  at  all.  They  may  think,  because  this  system 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  279 

is  beautiful  in  their  view,  that  this  pretension  to  conscience  on  the  part  of 
Catholics  ought  to  be  stifled  £\s  a  thing  not  to  be  admitted  at  all.  But  that 
will  not  do.  Man,  in  this  country,  has  a  right  to  the  exercise  of  conscience, 
and  the  man  that  should  raise  himself  up  against  it  will  find  that  he  has 
raised  himself  up  against  a  tremendous  opponent.  Now,  what  is  it  we  ask  ? 
You  have  heard  from  beginning  to  end  the  arguments  on  this  occasion ;  and, 
though  I  may  not  follow  the  wanderings  of  this  discussion  through  all  its 
minute  parts,  if  I  pass  over  any  part,  be  assured  it  is  not  from  any  desire  to 
avoid  or  any  inability  to  refute  what  has  been  said  against  us.  I  may  pass 
over  many  points,  but  I  will  not  pass  over  any  great  principle ;  and  you 
have  no  doubt  given  so  much  attention-  to  the  subject  as  to  enable  you,  if  I 
should  not  recapitulate  the  whole,  to  decide  justly.  It  has  been  urged  that, 
if  you  give  Catholics  that  which  they  now  ask,  you  will  give  them  benefits 
which  will  elevate  them  above  others ;  but  I  contend,  most  sincerely  and 
most  conscientiously,  that  we  have  no  such  idea ;  and  when  you  shall  have 
granted  the  portion  we  claim,  if  you  should  be  pleased  to  grant  it,  I  con- 
ceive then,  and  not  before,  shall  we  be  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  protection, 
and  not  privilege,  to  which  we  are  entitled.  That  is  my  view  of  the  sub- 
ject ;  but  I  have  been  astonished  to  perceive  the  course  of  argument  of  the 
gentlemen  who  oppose  our  claim,  generally  speaking.  What  it  is  they  con- 
tend for,  I  cannot  determine ;  but  it  seems  to  be  the  preservation  of  the 
existing  system.  They  were  among  the  first  to  disclaim  the  doctrine  that 
the  end  justifies  the  means ;  and  if,  in  attaining  their  end,  they  find  they 
cannot  reach  it  without  injustice,  then,  as  conscientious  and  high-minded 
men,  they  should  have  paused  by  the  way  and  have  ascertained  whether  the 
means  were  worthy  of  them  and  of  our  glorious  country.  Yet,  sir,  they 
have  generally  overlooked  this,  and  it  is  no  new  thing  to  find  that  they  have 
labored  to  promote  the  benefit  of  their  own  Society  at  the  sacrifice  of  the 
rights  of  others.  Sir,  it  is  the  glory  of  this  country  that,  when  it  is  found 
that  a  wrong  exists,  there  is  a  power,  an  irresistible  power,  to  correct  the 
wrong.  They  have  represented  us  as  contending  to  bring  the  Catholic 
Scriptures  into  the  public  schools.  This  is  not  true  ;  but  I  shall  have  occa- 
sion to  refer  more  particularly  to  this  by  and  by.  They  have  represented  us 
as  enemies  to  the  Protestant  Scriptures  "  without  note  and  comment,"  and 
on  this  subject  I  know  not  whether  their  intention  was  to  make  an  impres- 
sion on  your  honorable  body,  or  to  elicit  a  sympathetic  echo  elsewhere ;  but, 
whatever  their  object  was,  they  have  represented  that,  even  here,  Catholics 
have  not  concealed  their  enmity  to  the  Scriptures.  Now,  if  I  had  asked  this 
honorable  board  to  exclude  the  Protestant  Scriptures  from  the  schools,  then 
there  might  have  been  some  coloring  for  the  current  calumny.  But  I  have 
not  done  so.  I  say :  Gentlemen  of  every  denomination,  keep  the  Scriptures 
you  reverence,  but  do  not  force  on  me  that  which  my  conscience  tells  me  is 
wrong.  I  may  be  wrong,  as  you  may  be ;  and  as  you  exercise  your  judg- 
ment, be  pleased  to  allow  the  same  privilege  to  a  fellow-being  who  must 
appear  before  our  common  God  and  answer  for  the  exercise  of  it.  I  wish  to 
do  nothing  like  what  is  charged  upon  me ;  that  is  not  the  purpose  for  which 
we  petition  this  honorable  board  in  the  name  of  the  community  to  which  I 


280  THE   PDBLIO    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

belong.  I  appear  here  for  other  objects ;  and  if  our  petition  be  granted,  our 
schools  may  be  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the  public  authorities,  or 
even  of  commissioners  to  be  appointed  by  the  Public  School  Society.  They 
may  be  put  under  the  same  supervision  as  the  existing  schools,  to  see  that 
none  of  those  phantoms,  nor  any  grounds  for  those  suspicions  which  are  aa 
uncharitable  as  unfounded,  can  have  existence  in  reality.  There  is,  then, 
but  one  simple  question  :  Will  you  compel  us  to  pay  a  tax  from  which  we 
can  receive  no  benefit,  and  to  frequent  schools  which  injure  and  destroy  our 
religious  rights  in  the  minds  of  our  children,  and  of  which  in  our  con- 
sciences we  cannot  approve  ?  That  is  the  simple  question.  Or  will  you 
appoint  some  other  system,  or  will  you  leave  the  children  of  our  denomina- 
tion to  grow  up  in  that  state  of  ignorance  which  the  School  Society  has 
expressed  its  desire  to  save  them  from  ?  Or  shall  the  constable  be  employed, 
as  one  reverend  gentleman  seems  to  recommend  (Dr.  Bangs),  or  some  public 
officer,  to  catch  them  and  send  them  to  school  ?  For  frt>m  this  moment,  in 
consequence  of  the  language  used,  and  the  insulting  passages  which  those 
books  contain,  Catholic  parents  will  not  send  their  children  there,  and  any 
attempts  to  enforce  attendance  would  meet  with  vigorous  resistance  from 
them.  I  have  now  presented  what  is  in  reality  the  simple  issue ;  it  is  no 
matter  whether  we  believe  right  or  not,  for  neither  the  Catholic  nor  the 
Protestant  religion  is  on  trial  here  ;  and  I  repeat,  therefore,  that  the  gentle- 
man who  represents  the  Methodist  Church  has  taken  so  much  pains  to  distil 
through  the  minds  of  this  meeting  a  mass  of  prejudice  which  it  will  take 
several  hours,  but,  at  the  same  time,  very  little  beside,  for  me  to  refut^aud 
scatter  to  the  winds.  I  shall,  perhaps,  not  dwell  long  on  that  part,  because 
I  judge  it  is  irrelevant  to  the  case  in  hand,  but  still  I  shall  feel  authorized  to 
trespass  on  the  patience  of  the  meeting  a  short  time,  though  but  a  short 
time,  to  remove  the  improper  prejudice  which  may  have  been  created. 

Now,  I  start  again  with  a  statement  of  the  question,  as  I  did  the  other 
day,  and,  notwithstanding  all  the  learning — theological,  legal,  medical,  and 
I  know  not  what  beside — which  has  been  employed  to  oppose  our  position, 
and  although  I  have  had  to  meet  so  many  able  gentlemen  who  have  been 
accustomed  to  public  speaking,  I  rise  in  the  proud  consciousness  that  not  a 
solitary  principle  laid  down  by  me,  or  laid  down  in  that  petition,  has  been 
refuted.  I  see  the  question  stand  precisely  where  it  did  before  the  gentle- 
men began  to  speak,  and  I  see  the  same  false  issue — and  I  challenge  any  gen- 
tleman to  say  that  it  is  not  a  false  issue — persevered  in  to  this  very  hour ; 
so  that  our  argument  has  not  been  moved  one  iota.  There  must,  therefore, 
be  something  powerful  in  our  plain,  unsophisticated,  simple  statement,  when 
all  the  reasoning  brought  against  it  leaves  it  just  where  it  was  before. 

I  shall  now  take  the  gentlemen  in  order,  and  follow  them  according  to 
the  notes  which  I  have  taken  and  my  recollection  of  their  arguments,  and  I 
may  possibly  have  some  difficulty  in  avoiding  a  discursive  reply.  The  first 
gentleman  (Mr.  Sedgwick)  who  spoke,  took  up  this  view  :  that,  if  this  sys- 
tem is  wrong,  it  ought  to  be  overturned  entirely.  That  I  leave  to  the  judg- 
ment of  those  with  whom  the  confidence  of  the  people  has  deposited  the 
authority.  He  says  that  the  people  have  a  right  to  interfere,  and  to  give  to 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  281 

the  children  of  the  State  an  intellectual  education ;  that  this  must  be  car- 
ried out  in  some  form  or  other,  and  that  this  system  is  as  little  objectionable 
as  any  that  could  be  presented.  That  may  be  ;  I  do  not  dispute  the  possi- 
bility of  it,  because  it  is  unimportant ;  but  if  he  did  mean  to  contend  that 
that  system  which  has  been  once  sanctioned  must  continue  to  be  sanctioned, 
although  its  sanction  was  merely  by  the  tacit  consent  of  the  different  de- 
nominations, and  although  it  should  become  violative  of  the  religious  rights 
of  any,  then  he  goes  beyond  the  limits  which  even  the  Constitution  of  the 
land  has  made  sacred.  I  have  been  represented  as  endeavoring  to  create 
excitement  on  this  subject.  To  that  I  shall  refer  immediately ;  but  I  may 
here  refer  to  my  objection  to  the  existing  system,  on  the  ground  that  it  has 
a  tendency  to  infidelity,  and  may  observe  that  I  know  clergymen  of  other 
denominations  who  are  also  opposed  to  it  on  the  ground  of  its  infidel  ten- 
dency. There  are  many  who  have  the  conviction  that  it  tends  to  infidelity, 
and  who  know  that  the  preventive  referred  to  is  not  equal  to  stem  the  ten- 
dency to  infidelity  which  does  exist. 

The  first  gentleman  who  spoke,  and  he  spoke  with  a  frankness  and  sin- 
cerity for  which  I  give  him  credit,  contended — and,  when  I  answer  his  objec- 
tion, I  wish  to  be  understood  as  speaking  to  all  that  took  up  that  objection 
— and  it  was  urged  more  or  less  by  the  whole — that  it  was  inconsistent  to 
charge  upon  the  system  a  tendency  to  infidelity,  and  then  a  teaching  of 
religion,  and  that  this  teaching  was  anti-Catholic.  Now,  this  would  be  in- 
consistent under  some  circumstances ;  but  the  gentleman  left  out  the  grounds 
on  w^iich  that  charge  was  made,  and  it  will  be  proper,  therefore,  that  I 
should  state  those  grounds.  In  the  document  which  emanated  from  the 
Board  of  Assistants  last  spring,  they  say  that  the  smallest  particle  of  re- 
ligion is  a  disqualification,  and  that  "  religious  instruction  is  no  part  of  a 
common  school  education."  Now,  was  it  the  intention  of  your  honorable 
body  to  exclude  all  religion  ?  "Was  it  the  intention  of  the  State  Legisla- 
ture ?  Did  any  public  authority  require  that  the  public  school  education 
should  be  winnowed,  as  corn  on  a  barn-floor,  and  all  religion  driven  out  by 
the  winds  of  heaven  as  chaff  not  worthy  to  be  preserved  ?  "Was  there  such 
authority  ?  Who  made  such  a  decision  ?  And  yet  that  very  decision,  I  ask 
you,  if  we  are  not  authorized  to  interpret  as  proof  of  the  charge,  that  the 
system  has  a  tendency  to  infidelity  ?  For,  banish  religion,  and  infidelity 
alone  remains.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  the  gentlemen  of  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  themselves  repeatedly  stating  that  they  inculcate  religion, 
and  give  religious  impressions,  and  I  say  it  does  them  credit ;  for,  as  far  as 
they  can,  they  ought  to  teach  religion.  It  would  be  better  if  they  did  for 
those  who  are  satisfied  with  THEIR  religious  teaching.  This  explanation 
will  set  us  right  in  the  minds  of  your  honorable  body.  It  is  first  said,  no 
religion  is  taught,  and  then  it  is  admitted  that  religion  is  inculcated ;  and 
next,  our  petition  is  opposed  because  it  is  alleged  that,  if  our  prayer  be 
granted,  religion  will  be  taught.  What  weight,  then,  is  the  objection  of  the 
Public  School  Society  entitled  to,  if  this  be  the  fact  ?  And  where  is  our 
inconsistency  ?  If  there  is  a  dilemma,  to  whom  are  we  indebted  for  it  but 
to  the  report  of  the  Board  of  Assistants  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  the  testi- 


282  TUB  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

mony  of  the  Public  School  Society  on  the  other  ?    Let  us  not,  then,  be 
charged  with  inconsistency. 

Now,  sir,  I  contend  there  is  infidelity  taught.  I  do  not  mean  iu  its  gross 
form  ;  but  I  have  found  principles  of  inferiority  in  the  books,  and  one  that 
would  pass  current  as  a  very  amiable  book — a  religious  lesson  which  I  would 
not  suffer  a  child  to  read  over  whom  I  had  any  influence.  The  lesson  repre- 
sents a  father  and  his  son  going  about,  on  Sunday  morning,  to  the  different 
churches,  the  little  boy  asking  questions  as  they  pass  along  from  one  to  the 
other ;  at  last  the  boy  said  to  his  father — I  may  not  quote  the  words,  but  I 
shall  be  found  right  in  substance  :  "  What  is  the  reason  there  are  so  many 
different  sects  ?  Why  do  not  all  people  agree  to  go  to  the  same  place,  and 
to  worship  God  in  the  same  way  ?  "  "  And  why  should  it  not  be  so  ? " 
replied  the  father.  "  Why  should  they  agree  ?  Do  not  people  differ  in 
other  things  ?  Do  they  not  differ  in  their  taste  and  their  dress  ? — some  like 
their  coats  cut  one  way,  and  some  another.  And  do  they  not  differ  in  their 
appetites  and  food  ?  and  in  the  hours  they  keep,  and  in  their  diversion  ?  " 
Now,  I  ask  if  there  is  no  infidelity  in  that  ?  I  ask  if  it  is  a  proper  lesson  to 
teach  children,  that,  as  they  have  a  right  to  form  their  own  tastes  for  dress 
and  food,  they  have  the  right  to  judge  for  themselves  in  matters  of  religion  ? 
for — with  deference  to  the  Public  School  Society — children  are  too  young  to 
have  such  principles  instilled  into  them.  Let  them  grow  up  before  they  are 
left  to  exercise  their  judgment  in  such  weighty  matters — at  least,  do  not 
teach  Catholic  children  such  a  lesson  at  so  early  an  age.  And,  in  all  I  have 
said,  I  desire  to  be  understood  as  abstaining  most  carefully  from  prescribing 
any  rule,  or  method,  or  book,  for  any  denomination  with  which  I  am  not 
connected.  But  for  Catholic  children  I  speak,  and  I  say,  it  is  too  early  for 
them  to  judge  for  themselves.  And  is  this  all  ?  No,  sir ;  one  other  passage, 
and  for  that  there  may  perhaps  be  something  to  be  said  as  to  its  defence, 
because  it  is  from  the  pen  of  an  eminent  Protestant  divine,  the  Bishop  of 
London.  I  presume  the  Bishop  of  London,  when  he  wrote  that  passage, 
must  have  been  writing  on  some  subject  connected  with  infidelity — he  must 
have  been  writing  against  infidelity,  and  indulging  in  a  range  of  argument 
which  might  be  proper  for  such  a  subject,  but  out  of  place  in  the  hands  of 
common  school  children.  What  was  that  passage?  Why,  it  is  one  which 
represents  the  Divine  Redeemer  as  a  man  of  respectable  talents. 

Mr.  KETCHUM  rose,  and  intimated  his  doubt  of  such  a  passage 
being  in  the  books. 

The  right  reverend  prelate  continued  : 

I  have  read  it  in  their  books,  but  the  trustees  have  recalled  them — I  hope 
not  for  the  purpose  of  depriving  me  of  the  opportunity  of  quoting  the  page. 
Such  a  lesson  is  now  to  be  found  in  one  of  the  books,  which  represents  the 
Divine  Redeemer  as  showing  uncommon  quickness  of  penetration  and  saga- 
city. I  ask  whether  such  a  lesson  is  a  proper  one  for  children,  and  whether 
such  is  the  instruction  to  be  given  to  them  of  the  Redeemer  of  the  world  ? 
The  gentleman  who  first  spoke  said  it  was  not  in  reality  religion  that  was 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  283 

taught,  but  mere  morality  that  was  inculcated — the  propriety  of  telling  the 
truth,  and  of  fulfilling  all  moral  duties.  If  this  be  true,  it  is  still  strange 
that  the  School  Society  should  prefer  the  word  "  religious."  He  did  not 
deny  that  it  was  a  kind  of  religion,  and  that  the  precepts  of  the  Decalogue 
were  inculcated  ;  and  while  the  Public  School  Society  admit  that  religion  is 
inculcated,  and  the  legal  gentleman,  their  representative,  does  not  disclaim 
it,  so  far  as  it  forms  the  groundwork  of  a  good  moral  character,  it  may  be 
taken  as  admitted.  And  now,  if  they  teach  religion,  let  us  know  what  it  is 
to  be.  Let  them  not  delegate  to  the  teachers — some  of  whom  may  teach 
one  religion,  some  another — the  authority  or  permission  to  make  "  religious 
impressions,"  to  give  "  religious  instruction,"  to  give  a  "  right  direction  to 
the  mind  of  youth,"  and  all  the  other  phrases  which  we  find  in  their  docu- 
ments. Now,  on  the  subject  of  religion  and  morals,  would  they  teach 
morals  without  religion  ? — which,  I  conceive,  will  be  found  as  visionary  as 
castle-building  in  the  air.  Mr.  Ketchum  says  they  are  taught  not  to  lie ; 
but,  without  religion,  he  furnishes  no  motive  for  not  lying.  If  a  man  tells 
me  not  to  lie,  when  it  is  my  interest  to  lie,  I,  as  a  rational  being,  want  a 
motive  for  telling  the  truth.  My  love  of  gain  tells  me,  if  I  lie,  and  lie  suc- 
cessfully, it  will  add  to  my  fortune  ;  and  if  I  am  told  to  abstain  from  lying 
at  the  risk  of  my  fortune,  let  me  have  a  reason.  But  if  I  am  told  there  is  a 
God  to  whom  I  am  accountable,  that  is  a  motive,  but  then  it  is  a  teaching 
of  religion.  Yes,  sir,  when  I  am  told  there  is  a  God,  I  am  taught  religion, 
and  therefore  I  am  astonished  that  the  report  which  has  gone  forth  from  the 
other  board  should  declare  that  the  smallest  teaching  of  religion  vitiates  the 
claim.  You  may  as  well  think  to  build  an  edifice  without  a  foundation,  as 
to  pretend  to  produce  moral  effects  without  religious  belief. 

There  may  not  be  the  details  of  religion,  but  there  must  be  the  principle 
to  a  certain  extent,  otherwise  you  cannot  lay  the  foundation  of  good  morals 
for  men.  Now,  sir,  I  will  show  you  that  Mr.  Stephen  Girard,  of  Philadel- 
phia, who  had  no  religious  belief  whatever,  in  his  will,  by  which  he  be- 
queathed large  sums  of  money  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  great  and  mate- 
rial benefits  to  society — but  which  has  been  looked  upon  by  many  Christians 
of  every  denomiuation  in  Philadelphia  rather  as  a  curse  than  a  blessing — 
even  he  speaks  of  morality  without  religion  nearly  as  the  Public  School 
Society  does.  He  says : 

Secondly,  I  enjoin  and  require  that  no  ecclesiastic,  missionary,  or  minis- 
ter of  any  sect  whatsoever,  shall  ever  hold  or  exercise  any  station  or  duty 
whatsoever  in  the  said  college  ;  nor  shall  any  such  person  ever  be  admitted 
for  any  purpose,  or  as  a  visitor,  within  the  premises  appropriated  to  the  pur- 
poses of  the  said  college.  On  making  this  restriction,  I  do  not  mean  to  cast 
any  reflection  upon  any  sect  or  person  whatsoever ;  but  as  there  is  such  a 
multitude  of  sects,  and  such  a  diversity  of  opinion  amongst  them,  I  desire 
to  keep  the  tender  minds  of  the  orphans,  who  are  to  derive  advantage  from 
this  bequest,  free  from  the  excitement  which  clashing  doctrines  and  secta- 
rian controversy  are  so  likely  to  produce.  My  desire  is,  that  all  the  instruct- 
ors and  teachers  in  the  college  shall  take  pains  to  instil  into  the  minds  of 
the  scholars  the  purest  principles  of  morality,  so  that,  on  their  entrance  into 
active  life,  they  may,  from  inclination  and  habit,  evince  benevolence  toward 
their  fellow-creatures,  and  a  love  of  truth,  sobriety,  and  industry ;  adopting, 


284  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

at  tbe  same  time,  such  religious  tenets  as  their  matured  reason  may  enable 
them  to  prefer. 

That,  sir,  is  the  policy  of  Mr.  Girard,  who  had  no  belief  that  was  known 
to  others.  That  was  the  policy  of  a  man  who,  so  far  as  was  known,  was  as 
much  a  skeptic  as  Voltaire  or  Rousseau.  He,  by  his  bounty  of  two  millions 
of  dollars  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  provided  that  poor  orphans  should  be 
brought  up  to  respect  infidelity.  He  did  not  say  a  word  against  religion, 
but  he  took  care  to  stand  by,  not  personally,  but  by  his  executors  in  his 
will,  to  prevent  its  precepts  being  inculcated  in  the  minds  of  those  who  are 
the  dependents  on  his  bounty.  They  were  to  have  the  purest  principles  of 
morals  instilled  into  their  minds ;  but  the  attempt  is  vain  when  religion  is 
not  placed  as  the  foundation  of  morals. 

He,  like  the  Public  School  Society,  stands  by  to  see  that  the  potter  shall 
give  no  form  to  the  vase  till  the  clay  grows  stiff  and  hardened.  Then  it  will 
be  too  late. 

The  gentleman  also  made  objections  to  our  schools,  because,  he  said,  they 
were  in  our  churches.  The  fact  is,  we  were  obliged  to  provide  them  where 
we  could,  and  our  means  would  permit ;  and  there  are  some  of  them  in  the 
basement  of  our  churches.  And  he  conceived  it  impossible  to  keep  them 
from  sectarian  influence,  because -the  children  would  be  within  hearing  of 
the  chant  of  divine  service ; — as  though  sectarianism  depended  on  geo- 
graphical distances  from  church.  But  this  could  not  have  been  a  valid 
objection,  because  the  Public  School  Society  has  had  not  only  schools  under 
churches,  but  in  the  session-rooms  of  churches. 

I  shall  refer  now  to  the  learned  gentleman  who  followed  him  (Mr. 
Ketchum) ;  and  I  can  only  say  that  this  gentleman,  with  a  great  deal  of 
experience  in  this  particular  question,  really  seems  to  me  to  confirm  all  I  say 
on  the  ground  we  have  taken.  I  know  he  lectured  me  pretty  roundly  on 
the  subject  of  attending  the  meetings  held  under  St.  James'  Church.  I 
know  he  did  more  for  me  than  the  pope  :  the  pope  "  mitred  "  me  but  once, 
but  he  did  so  three  or  four  times  during  the  course  of  his  address.  He  read 
me  a  homily  on  the  duties  of  station ;  and  he  so  far  forgot  his  country  and 
her  principles  as  to  call  it  a  "  descent "  on  my  part  when  I  mingled  in  a 
popular  meeting  of  freemen.  But  it  was  no  descent ;  and  I  hope  the  time 
will  never  come  when  it  will  be  deemed  a  descent  for  a  man  in  office  to  min- 
gle with  his  fellow-citizens  when  convened  for  legitimate  and  honorable  pur- 
poses. 

But,  from  his  speech,  it  would  appear  that  his  experience  has  been  ob- 
tained by  the  discharge  of  the  duty  of  standing  advocate  of  denial ;  and 
yet,  with  all  his  experience  and  opportunities  of  research,  his  inability  to 
overturn  our  grounds  confirms  me  in  the  conviction  that  they  are  not  to  be 
removed,  even  by  the  aid  of  splendid  talents ;  for  that  speech,  like  most 
others,  went  on  the  false  issue  that  we  want  privileges.  But  we  want  no 
*  privilege.  That  speech,  like  the  speech  from  the  throne,  might  have  been 
the  speech  of  years  past,  and  might  have  been  stereotyped ;  for  its  only  nov- 
.elty,  which  proved  to  me  that  it  was  not  all  the  work  of  antiquity,  was  the 
part  which  appertained  to  myself.  And  not  only  that,  but  I  have  to  say 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  285 

that,  when  I  came  into  this  hall — and  it  is  the  first  time  I  ever  stood  in  an 
assembly  of  this  description — I  felt  that  I  was  thrown  on  the  hospitality  of 
the  professional  gentlemen  ;  and  I  think,  if  I  and  that  gentleman  could  have 
exchanged  places,  I  should  not  have  looked  so  hard  at  him  as  he  did  at  me. 
In  fact,  throughout  that  speech  he,  with  peculiar  emphasis  and  a  manner 
which  he  may  perhaps  have  acquired  in  his  practice  in  courts  of  law,  fixed 
upon  me.  a  steady  gaze — and  he  has  no  ordinary  countenance — and  addressed 
me  so  solemnly,  that  I  really  expected  every  moment  he  would  forget  him- 
self, and  say,  "  The  prisoner  at  the  bar."  He  did  not,  however.  He  passed 
that  over;  and,  whilst  I  recognize  and  respect  the  "human  face  divine," 
because  God  made  it  to  look  upward,  I  may  here  observe,  that  it  has  no 
power  to  frighten  me,  even  if  it  would  be  terrible  ;  and  therefore  I  was  not 
at  all  disturbed  by  the  hard  looks  which  he  gave  me.  The  gentleman  will 
pardon  me,  I  hope,  in  this,  for  it  is  natural  enough,  after  what  has  been  said 
— though  I  know  it  was  said  in  good  humor — to  claim  the  privilege  to 
retort. 

Well,  sir,  this  was  not  all,  but  he  told  us  something  about  going  to  the 
stake.  He  was  sure,  if  any  of  the  public  money  was  voted  to  the  denomi- 
nation of  a  reverend  gentleman  whose  name  I  will  not  mention,  the  Catho- 
lics would  go  to  the  stake.  Now,  sir,  we  have  no  intention  to  do  so.  We 
know  the  public  money  does  go  to  the  support  of  religion ;  it  goes  to  the 
support  of  chaplaincies,  theological  seminaries,  universities,  and  chaplains 
of  institutions  whose  appointments  are  permanent ;  and  be  it  remembered, 
that  one  of  the  first  lectures  delivered  in  one  institution — the  University  of 
this  city — which  was  aided  from  the  public  funds,  was  on  the  anti-republi- 
can tendency  of  popery.  And  yet  we  did  not  go  to  the  stake  for  that ;  and 
why  ?  Because,  though  our  portion  of  taxation  mingles  with  the  rest,  we 
have  no  objections  to  the  use  of  it  which  the  law  prescribes,  so  long  as  no 
inalienable  rights  of  our  own  are  involved  in  the  sacrifice. 

But  again,  he  said,  if  any  of  the  money  was  appropriated  to  the  Catho- 
lic religion,  Protestants  would  go  to  the  stake.  I  will  not  say  whether  Prot- 
estants are  so  exclusive.  While  we  submit  to  taxation  for  Protestant  pur- 
poses without  going  to  the  stake,  whether,  if  we  participate,  they  will  go  to 
the  stake,  is  not  for  me  to  say. 

Then  he  came  to  the  Protestant  Bible,  "without  note  or  comment ; "  and 
"  it  was  hard  for  him  to  part  with  that  translated  Bible."  He  stood  by  it, 
and  repeated  that  "  it  was  hard  to  give  up  the  Bible  ; "  just  as  if  I  had  said 
one  word  against  it,  and  as  if  I  was  about  to  bring  the  pope  to  banish  it  out 
of  the  Protestant  world,  or  wished  to  deprive  any  man  who  venerates  it  of 
any  use  he  may  think  proper  to  make  of  it.  And  there,  again,  he  looked  so 
much  as  if  he  were  in  earnest,  that,  at  one  time,  I  thought  he  was  actually 
about  to  rush  to  the  "  stake."  But  there  was  no  stake  there  to  go  to,  except 
that  which  he  holds  in  the  exchequer  of  the  Public  School  Society.  It  is  a 
most  comfortable  way  of  going  to  martyrdom. 

Sir,  the  gentleman  taunted  me  for  having  attended  the  public  meetings 
of  Catholics  on  this  subject,  and  he  imputed  the  prejudice  which  exists 
against  the  public  school  system  to  the  observations  I  have  made,  as  though 


286  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

it  were  of  ray  creation.  In  answer  to  that,  I  may  state — what  has  been  the 
fact  for  years— that  Catholics  have  been  struggling  to  have  schools,  and  to 
the  extent  of  their  means  we  have  them  ;  and  what  is  the  reason  ?  Do  you 
suppose  that  we  should  impose  additional  burdens  upon  ourselves,  if  we 
were  satisfied  with  those  public  schools  ?  Do  you  suppose  we  should  have 
paid  for  our  bread  a  second  time,  if  that  which  these  schools  offered  had 
not,  in  our  opinion,  been  turned  to  a  stone  ?  No  ;  the  existence  of  our  own 
schools  proves  that  I  have  not  excited  the  prejudice ;  but  still  it  is  at  all 
times  my  duty  to  warn  my  people  against  that  which  is  destructive  or  vio- 
lative  to  the  religion  they  profess ;  and  if  they  abandon  their  religion,  they 
are  free  ;  but  so  long  as  they  are  attached  to  our  religion,  it  is  my  duty,  as 
their  pastor,  as  the  faithful  guardian  of  their  principles  and  morals,  to  warn 
them  when  there  is  danger  of  imbibing  poison  instead  of  wholesome  food. 
That  is  the  reason  ;  and  I  am  sorry  that  he  has  not  found  a  motive  less  un- 
worthy of  me  than  that  he  has  been  pleased  to  assign. 

Then — and  I  may  as  well  take  up  the  question  now  as  elsewhere — it  has 
been  said  that  it  is  conceived  to  be  an  inconsistency  in  our  argument,  that 
we  object  to  the  public  schools  because  religion  is  taught  in  them  ;  and  yet, 
in  the  schools  which  we  propose  to  establish,  or,  rather,  which  we  have 
established,  but  for  which  we  now  plead,  we  profess  to  teach  no  sectarian- 
ism ;  and  the  question  arises,  "  If  you  are  opposed  to  religion  in  these 
schools  because  it  is  sectarianism,  how  can  you  teach  religion  in  your 
schools,  and  yet  your  schools  not  be  sectarian  ? "  This  is  the  position  in 
which  they  place  us  ;  and,  in  answer,  I  have  to  state  that,  in  the  first  place, 
we  do  not  intend  to  teach  religion.  We  shall  be  willing  that  they  shall  be 
placed  under  the  same  inspection  that  the  public  schools  are  now  ;  and  if  it 
should  be  found  that  religion  is  taught,  we  will  be  willing  that  you  shall  cut 
them  off.  You  shall  be  the  judges.  You  may  see  that  the  law  is  complied 
with,  and  if  we  violate  it,  let  us  be  deprived  of  the  benefits  for  which  the 
conditions  were  prescribed.  But  there  is  neutral  ground  on  which  our  chil- 
dren may  learn  to  read  and  cipher.  If  they  read,  it  must  be  something  that 
is  written  ;  words  are  signs  of  ideas,  and,  in  the  course  of  their  instruction, 
they  may  be  made  so  to  shape  their  studies  as  to  loathe  Catholicism  without 
learning  any  other  religion.  And  this  could  be  produced  not  alone  in  refer- 
ence to  Catholics,  but  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  Unitarians,  or  any  other. 
They  might  find  that  their  children  disregard  their  own  religion,  while  they 
are  not  taught  any  other.  Suppose  the  Presbyterians,  or  any  other  denomi- 
nation, were  in  the  minority,  and  Catholics  were  numerically  what  Protes- 
tants are  now,  and  therefore  were  able  to  decide  what  lessons  their  children 
should  read  in  these  schools,  I  ask  you  if  the  gentleman  would  not  conceive 
he  had  reasonable  objections,  if  they  had  forced  upon  them  a  system  of  edu- 
cation which  teaches  that  their  denomination,  past,  present,  and  to  come, 
was  deceitful  f  Now,  take  up  these  books,  which  teach  all  that  is  infamous 
in  our  history — which  teach  our  children  about  the  "  execution  of  Cran- 
mer,"  the  burning  of  Huss,  and  "  the  character  of  Luther."  If  such  a  prac- 
tice were  reversed,  what  would  he  do  ? 

Now,  iu  our  schools  I  would  teach  them — I  would  give  our  children  les- 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  287 

sons  for  exercise  in  reading  that  should  teach  them  that,  when  the  young 
tree  of  American  liberty  was  planted,  it  was  watered  with  Catholic  blood, 
and  that  therefore  we  have  as  much  right  to  every  thing  common  in  this 
country  as  others.  I  should  teach  them  that  Catholic  bishops  and  Catholic 
barons  at  Runneymede  wrung  the  charter  of  'our  liberties — the  grandparent 
of  all  known  liberty  in  the  world — from  the  hands  of  a  tyrant.  I  should 
teach  them  where  to  find  the  bright  spots  on  our  history,  though  the  gentle- 
man who  represents  the  Methodists  knew  not  where  they  were  to  be  found. 
This  I  would  do  ;  and  should  I  violate  the  law  ?  If,  instead  of  the  burning 
of  Huss,  I  gave  them  a  chapter  on  the  character  of  Charles  Carroll  of  Car- 
rollton  as  a  reading-lesson,  would  that  be  teaching  them  of  purgatory,  and 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  ? 

But  if  our  circumstances  were  reversed,  so  that  Catholics  controlled  the 
public  schools,  would  not  Presbyterians  have  a  right  to  complain  ?  And 
should  not  we  be  tyrants  while  we  refused  to  listen  to  their  complaints,  if 
we  spread  before  tJieir  children  lessons  on  the  burning  of  Servetus  by  Calvin, 
and  on  the  hangings  of  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  by  those  who 
held  Calvin's  doctrines  ?  I  should  listen  to  their  appeal  in  such  a  case  with 
feelings  far  different  from  those  manifested  by  them  in  regard  to  others. 
But  I  would  do  more,  in  order  that  those  little  vagrants  of  whom  the  gen- 
tleman speaks  might  come  into  school.  Their  parents  themselves  having 
by  persecution  been  deprived,  in  many  instances,  of  an  education,  do  not 
fully  appreciate  its  advantages,  and  if  you  seek  to  enforce  the  attendance  of 
their  children,  they  will  resist ;  if  you  attempt  to  coerce  them,  you  will  not 
succeed.  But  if  you  put  them  in  a  way  to  be  admitted  without  being 
dragged  by  force  to  the  school,  or  without  destroying  their  religious  prin- 
ciples when  they  enter  (which  you  have  no  right  to  do),  then  you  w,ill  pre- 
pare good  citizens,  educated  to  the  extent  that  will  make  them  useful  to 
their  country.  Then  their  parents,  having  confidence  in  their  pastors,  will 
send  their  children  to  schools  approved  of  by  them  ;  and  the  children  them- 
selves may  attend  schools  where  they  need  not  be  ashamed  of  their  creed, 
and  where  their  companions  will  not  call  them  "  papists,"  and  tell  them  that 
ignorance  and  vice  are  the  accompaniments  of  their  religion.  That  will  be 
the  result,  and  I  conceive  it  will  be  beneficial. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  distinction  between  morality  and  religion, 
and  about  those  certain  broad  principles  on  which  it  is  thought  all  can 
agree.  And  yet  our  opponents  contend,  and  I  am  surprised  at  the  circum- 
stance— gentlemen  who  are  not  only  Christians  themselves,  but  Christian 
ministers— contend  all  through  for  the  rights  of  those  who  are  not  of  the 
Christian  religion,  but  are  commonly  called  infidels.  An  attempt  has  been 
made  to  draw  a  distinction  between  morality  and  religion.  I  have  already 
said— and  there  is  not  a  gentleman  here  who  will  pretend  to  deny  it — that 
morality  must  rest  on  religion  for  its  basis.  I  refer  you — and  it  is  not  an 
ordinary  authority — to  a  man  who  passed  through  life  with  the  most  beau- 
tiful character  and  the  most  blameless  reputation  that  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of 
a  public  man  ;  one  who  was  distinguished  almost  above  all  other  men  ;  one 
of  whom  it  would  be  profane  to  say  that  he  was  inspired,  yet  of  whom  his- 


288  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

tory  has  not  handed  down  one  useless  action,  or  one  single  idle  word — a  man 
who  left  to  his  country  an  inheritance  of  the  "brightest  example  and  the  fair- 
est name  that  ever  soldier  or  statesman  bequeathed  to  a  nation  :  that  man 
was  George  Washington.  Hear  what  he  says,  in  his  Farewell  Address,  on 
the  attempt  now  being  made  to  preserve  morality,  whilst  religion  is  dis- 
carded from  the  public  schools  : 

Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political  prosperity, 
religion  and  morality  are  indispensable  supports.  In  vain  would  that  man 
claim  the  tribute  of  patriotism,  who  should  labor  to  subvert  these  great  pil- 
lars of  human  happiness,  these  firmest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and  citi- 
zens. The  mere  politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  respect  and 
to  cherish  them.  A  volume  could  not  trace  all  their  connections  with  pri- 
vate *nd  public  felicity.  Let  it  be  simply  asked,  Where  is  the  security  for 
property,  for  reputation,  for  life,  if  the  sense  of  religious  obligations  desert 
the  oaths  which  are  the  instruments  of  investigation  in  courts  of  justice  ? 
And  let  us  with  caution  indulge  the  supposition  that  morality  can  be  main- 
tained without  religion.  Whatever  may  be  conceded  to  the  influence  of 
lefiued  education  on  minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and  experience  both 
forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of  reli- 
gious principle. 

'Tis  substantially  true,  that  virtue  or  morality  is  a  necessary  spring  of 
popular  government.  The  rule  indeed  extends  with  more  or  less  force  to 
every  species  of  free  government.  Who  that  is  a  sincere  friend  to  it  can 
look  with  indifference  upon  attempts  to  shake  the  foundation  of  the  fabric  ? 

Such  is  the  warning,  the  solemn  warning,  of  this  great  man.  If  you 
take  away  religion,  on  what  foundation  do  you  propose  to  rear  the  structure 
of  morality  ?  No  ;  they  stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of  parent  and 
offspring ;  or,  rather,  they  are  kindred  principles  from  the  same  Divine 
source  ;  and  what  God  has  joined  together  let  no  man  put  asunder. 

Now,  with  regard  to  all  said  by  me  against  the  Protestant  Bible,  I  appeal 
to  this  honorable  body  whether  I  ever  said  one  word  hostile  to  that  Bible ; 
and  yet,  from  the  address  of  the  gentlemen  on  the  other  side,  men  abroad, 
who  should  read  their  speeches,  would  be  led  to  believe  that  I  not  only 
entertained,  but  that  I  had  uttered,  sentiments  of  hostility  to  that  work. 
And  it  is  ever  thus  that  our  principles  and  our  feelings  are  misrepresented, 
while  gentlemen  profess  to  be  conscious  of  entertaining  no  prejudice  against 
us  as  Catholics.  One  gentleman,  however,  avowed  his  hostility  to  us  on  this 
ground,  and  for  his  candor  I  tender  my  acknowledgment.  The  whole  effort 
of  some  of  the  gentlemen — indeed,  of  all  who  have  spoken  on  the  subject — 
has  been,  to  show  that  the  system  must  be  made  so  broad  and  liberal  that 
all  can  agree  in  it.  But  I  think  they  contend  for  too  much,  when  they  wish 
so  to  shape  religion  and  balance  it  on  its  pedestal  as  to  make  it  suit  every 
body  and  every  sect ;  for  it  infidels  are  to  be  suited,  and  it  is  made  to  recon- 
cile them  to  the  system,  I  want  to  know  whether  Catholics,  or  any  other 
class,  are  not  entitled  to  the  right  to. -have  it  made  to  suit  them  ?  And  if 
every  body  is  to  be  made  satisfied,  why  is  it  that  Catholic?  and  others  are 
discontented  and  excluded  ?  Is  it  not  manifest  that  what  they  profess  to 
accomplish  is  beyond  their  reach  ?  Now,  the  infidels  have  found  able  advo- 
cates in  the  reverend  gentlemen  who  have  spoken  in  the  course  of  this  dis- 
cussion—I  mean  the  interests  of  infidelity  j  and  why  is  it,  then,  that  the 


SPEEOH   OF    BISHOP   HUGHES.  289 

gentlemen  who  plead  for  that  side  of  the  question  enter  their  protest  against 
ours  ?  I  should  like  to  know  why  there  is  this  inconsistency.  If  the  rule  is 
to  be  general,  why  is  it  not  general  ? 

I  pass,  now,  to  the  reasoning  of  one  learned  gentleman  who  spoke  yester- 
day, and  defended  the  Protestant  Bible.  Now,  this  was  unnecessary  in  that 
gentleman ;  it  was  in  him  a  work  of  supererogation  to  vindicate  the  Protes- 
tant Scriptures ;  it  was  useless  to  defend  a  point  which  had  not  been  at- 
tacked. It  was  time  lost ;  and  yet,  perhaps,  not  altogether  lost,  for,  in  some 
respects,  it  may  have  been  profitable  enough.  In  entering  on  its  defence,  he 
said  it  was  the  instrument  of  human  liberty  throughout  the  world ;  wherever 
it  was,  there  was  light  and  liberty ;  and  where  it  was  not,  there  was  bond- 
age and  darkness ;  and  he  brought  it  round  so  that  he  almost  asserts  that 
our  Declaration  of  Independence  had  been  copied  from  the  Bible.  No  doubt 
the  just  and  righteous  principles  on  which  that  Declaration  has  its  founda- 
tion have  their  sanction  in  the  Bible ;  but  I  deny  their  immediate  connec- 
tion, and  on  historical  grounds,  for  it  is  known  that  its  author  looked  upon 
St.  Paul  as  an  impostor ;  consequently  their  connection  is  not  historically 
true.  But  white  the  gentleman  referred  to  our  notes  (but  which  we  disown 
and  repudiate)  as  containing  principles  of  persecution,  how  was  it  that, 
after  the  Protestant  Bible,  "  without  note  and  comment,"  came  into  use, 
every  denomination  of  Protestants  in  the  whole  world  that  had  the  misfor- 
tune— for 'it  must  have  been  a  misfortune — to  be  yoked  to  civil  power, 
wielded  the  sword  of  persecution,  and  derived  their  authority  for  BO  doing 
from  the  naked  text  ?  Yes,  in  Scotland,  in  all  her  confessions  of  faith,  in 
England — and  I  appeal  to  her  penal  laws  against  Catholics,  and  those  acts 
by  which  the  Puritans  and  Dissenters  were  pursued — men  who  had  the  mis- 
fortune, like  ourselves,  to  have  a  conscience,  were  driven  out,  and  all  was 
done  on  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  without  note  or  comment,  and  for  the 
public  good,  and  the  good  of  the  Church.  I  do  not  say  that  the  Bible  sanc- 
tioned persecution,  but  I  deny  that  the  absence  of  notes  is  an  adequate  pre- 
ventive. I  refer  to  history.  And  almost  to  this  day,  though  the  Bible  has 
been  translated  three  hundred  years,  even  in  liberal  governments,  the  iron 
heel  of  persecution  has  been  placed  on  the  dearest  rights  of  Catholics.  The 
gentleman  to  whom  I  allude  said,  no  doubt,  what  he  knew  would  be  popu- 
lar out  of  doors  ;  for  he  seems,  with  others,  to  imagine  that  the  world  began 
at  the  period  of  the  Reformation.  He  seems  to  think  that  every  thing  great 
originated  at  that  period.  But  does  he  not  know  that  eight  hundred  edi- 
tions of  the  Bible  had  been  printed  before  the  Reformation  ?  And  does  he 
not  know  that  two  hundred  editions  had  been  circulated  in  the  common 
tongue,  in  the  common  language  of  the  country  ?  And  has  he  yet  to  learn 
that  the  first  prohibition  to  read  the  Bible  came  not  from  a  jCatholic,  but 
from  a  Protestant — from  Protestant  Henry  VHI.  of  "  glorious  memory  "  ? 
He  was  the  first  to  issue  a  prohibition  ;  and  it  was  not  till  Catholics  saw  the 
evil — not  of  the  Bible,  but  the  bad  uses  men  were  making  of  the  Bible — 
that  they  placed  its  perusal  under  certain  restrictions,  and  cautioned  their 
people  against  hastily  judging  of  it  for  themselves.  All  had  been  united 
and  harmonious,  but  by  the  use,  or  abuse,  which  men  made  of  the  Bible,  all 
19 


290  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

became  doubt  and  speculation,  and  the  positive  revelation  of  Christ  was 
shaken  or  destroyed.  They  saw  this  Bible,  and  what  then  ?  But,  while 
these  school  gentlemen  contend  that  it  is  a  shield  against  infidelity,  and  that 
all  sects  here  agree,  how  is  it  out  of  the  schools  ?  Why,  no  sects  agree  upon 
it.  How  is  it  that  the  Bible,  which  is  given  by  the  inspiration  of  God,  the 
God  of  truth,  is  made  use  of,  in  this  city  even,  to  prove  a  Trinity  and  to 
disprove  a  Trinity  ?  How  is  it  that  Trinitarians  quote  it  to  prove  their  doc- 
trines, and  Unitarians  quote  it  to  establish  the  opposite  doctrines  ?  How  is 
it  that,  whilst  one  says  from  the  Bible  that  God. the  Father  is  God  alone, 
and  that  Christ  is  not  equal  to  Him,  for  He  says,  "  The  Father  is  greater 
than  I,"  another  argues  from  the  same  Bible  that  the  Father  and  Son  are 
equal,  because  Christ  says,  "  The  Father  and  I  are  one "  ?  And  another 
comes  with  the  Bible  in  his  hand,  and  says,  "  I  believe — and  I  can  prove  it 
from  this  Bible — that  Christ  alone  is  the  Almighty  God,  and  the  Father  and 
the  Spirit  are  only  attributes  of  the  same  person  1 "  Why,  this  Bible,  which 
they  say  is  the  foundation  of  all  truth — and  they  say  well,  when  it  is  truly 
understood ;  a  grace  which  God  can  vouchsafe,  and  no  doubt  He  does  to 
many — this  Bible  is  harmonious  in  its  every  doctrine.  But  this  is  not  the 
point ;  the  point  is,  the  uses  we  see  men  make  of  it ;  and  this  is  the  sum  of 
our  reason  that  we  wish  our  children  not  to  be  taught  in  the  manner  in 
which  Protestant  children  are  taught  in  reference  to  the  Bible. 

And  then,  again,  if  you  teach  that  there  is  a  hell,  according  to  the  Bible, 
others  will  contend  that  the  Scriptures  teach  no  such  doctrine.  And  so  I 
might  pass  on  to  other  points  to  show  you,  whilst  they  thus  contend  for  the 
Bible  as  the  guide  to  truth,  there  is  this  disagreement  among  them,  at  least 
in  this  country,  where  human  rights  and  liberties  are  understood,  as  allow- 
ing every  man  to  judge  for  himself.  Is  there  not,  then,  danger — is  there  not 
ground  to  apprehend  that,  when  our  children  read  this  Bible,  and  find  that 
all  these  different  sects  father  all  their  contradictions  on  the  Bible  as  their 
authority,  they  will  derive  their  first  notions  of  infidelity  from  these  circum- 
stances ?  But  there  is  another  ground  on  which  it  is  manifest  we  cannot 
allow  our  children  to  be  taught  by  them.  Whilst  we  grant  them  "the  right 
to  take,  if  they  please,  the  Protestant  Bible  as  the  rule  of  their  faith,  and 
the  individual  right  to  judge  of  the  Bible — and  this  great  principle  they 
proclaim  as  the  peculiar  and  distinctive  and  most  glorious  trait  in  their 
religious  character  dnd  history— and  let  them  boast  of  it ;  there  is  no  diffi- 
culty on  the  subject — they  interpret  the  Bible  by  the  standard  of  reason,  and 
therefore,  as  there  is  no  given  standard  of  reason,  as  one  has  more  and  an- 
other less,  they  scarcely  ever  arrive  at  the  same  result ;  while  the  Bible,  the 
eternal  Word  of  God,  remains  the  same.  But  this  is  not  a  Catholic  princi- 
ple. Catholics  do  not  believe  that  God  has  vouchsafed  the  promise  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  every  individual,  but  that  He  has  given  His  Spirit  to  teach 
the  Church  collectively,  and  to  guide  the  Church,  and  therefore  we  do  not 
receive  as  the  Bible 'except  what  the  Church  guarantees;  and  wanting  this 
guarantee,  the  Methodist  gentleman  failed  to  establish  the  book  which  he 
produced,  with  its  notes,  as  a  Catholic  Bible.  We  do  not  take  the  Bible  on 
the  authority  of  a  "king's  printer"  who  is  a  speculating  publisher,  who 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  291 

publishes  it  but  as  a  speculation.  And  why  ?  Because,  by  the  change  of  a 
single  comma,  that  which  is  positive  may  be  made  negative,  and  vice-versa, ; 
and  then  is  it  the  Bible  of  the  inspired  writers  ?  It  is  not.  They  proclaim, 
then,  that  theirs  is  a  Christianity  of  reason;  of  this  they  boast;— and  let 
them  glory.  Ours  is  a  Christianity  of  faith  ;  ours  descends  by  the  teaching 
of  the  Church.  We  are  never  authorized  to  introduce  new  doctrines,  be- 
cause we  contend  that  no  new  doctrine  is  true  from  the  time  of  the  apostles, 
unless  it  has  come  from  the  mind  of  God  by  a  special  revelation  ;  and,  to  us, 
that  is  not  manifest  among  the  reformers.  We  are  satisfied  to  trust  our  eter- 
nal interests,  for  weal  or  woe,  on  the  security  of  that  Catholic  Church  and 
the  veracity  of  the  Divine  promises.  You  perceive,  therefore,  that  Protes- 
tants may  agree  in  the  system  where  this  Bible  is  thus  introduced ;  but  it  is 
not  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  Catholics  that  each  one  shall  derive 
therefrom  his  own  notions  of  Christianity.  It  is  not  the  principle  of  Catho- 
lics, because  they  believe  in  the  incompetence  of  individual  reason  in  mat- 
ters of  such  importance.  It  is  from  this  self-sufficiency  and  imputed  capa- 
city that  men  derive  such  notions  of  self-confidence,  which,  owing  to  a  want 
of  power  to  control  in  some  domestic  circles,  if  taught  to  our  children,  lead 
to  disobedience  and  disregard  of  the  parental  authority. 

I  have  been  obliged  to  enter  into  this,  which  is  rather  theological  than 
otherwise,  to  put  you  in  possession  of  the  true  ground.  We  do  not  take  the 
Protestant  Bible,  but  we  do  not  wish  others  not  to  take  it  if  they  desire  it. 
If  conscience  be  stifled,  you  do  not  make  us  better  men  or  better  citizens ; 
and  therefore  I  say,  gentlemen,  respect  conscience,  even  though  you  think  it 
in  error,  provided  it  does  not  conflict  with  the  public  rights.  I  have  sufii- 
ciently  disposed  of  the  addresses  of  the  two  legal  gentlemen  who  have  spo- 
ken. I  will  now  call  the  attention  of  .this  honorable  body  to  the  remarks 
of  the  reverend  gentleman  who  spoke  in  relation  to  the  Rhemish  Testament. 
I  did  use,  sir,  yesterday,  an  expression  which  I  used  with  reluctance ;  but 
when  we  were  charged  before  this  honorable  body — when  the  reverend  gen- 
tleman who  represents  a  numerous  denomination  charged  us  with  teaching 
the  lawfulness  of  murdering  heretics,  that  expression  came  on  me  as  a  thun- 
derbolt ;  because  I  thought  that  truth  should  proceed  from  the  lips  of  age 
and  a  man  of  character.  And,  sir,  I  knew  that  position  was  not  true,  and 
that  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  assert  a  thing,  but  not  so  easy  to  disprove  it. 
I  might  take  advantage  of  circumstances  to  charge  a  man  with  things  that 
it  would  take  weeks  to  disprove,  and  therefore  I  thought  it  necessary  to  nail 
that  slanderous  statement  to  the  counter  before  it  could  have  its  designed 
influence  here  or  elsewhere.  That  gentleman  began  with  great  humility,  and 
with  professions  of  being  devoid  of  prejudice,  and  then  he  said  that  those 
meetings  to  which  he  referred,  and  which  he  called  "  public  gatherings," 
had  caused  him  to  feel  greatly  alarmed  about  this  question; — as  if  the  sta- 
bility of  -your  republic  was  endangered,  provided  Catholic  children  received 
the  benefits  of  a  common  school  education  !  He  said  I  had  applied  certain 
remarks  to  the  creed  of  the  Society  of  Friends ;  and  though,  perhaps,  it 
was  somewhat  out  of  order,  but  wishing  to  set  the  gentleman  right,  I  denied 
that  I  had  done  so.  But  since  then  the  reporter  has  handed  me  the  notes 


292  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

taken  of  what  I  did  say,  and  from  them  also  it  appears  that  I  said  no  such 
thing.  He  referred  to  the  practice  of  teaching  religion  in  the  schools ;  but 
of  that  I  have  disposed  already. 

He  then,  while  going  through  the  introductory  part  of  the  remonstrance 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  threw  out  constantly  calumnious  charges 
against  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  Catholic  religion.  He  did  not  throw 
them  out  as  assertions,  but  by  inuendo,  as  "  if  it  be  true,"  and  "  I  should' 
like  to  know  "  ; — as  if  I  am  here  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  every  thing 
he  would  u  like  to  know."  And  how  can  I  meet  him,  when  insinuation  is 
the  form  in  which  his  charges  are  thrown  out  ?  Why,  their  very  feebleness 
takes  from  an  opponent  the  power  of  refutation.  But  when  he  comes  to 
something  tangible,  then  I  can  meet  him.  Having  gone  through  a  series  of 
insinuations,  he  misrepresents  our  intentions.  Notwithstanding  we  disclaim 
such  an  intention,  he  indulges  in  the  gratuitous  supposition  that,  if  your 
honorable  body  should  grant  our  petition,  we  shall  secretly  teach  the  Catho- 
lic religion.  But  if  we  do,  is  not  the  law  as  potent  against  us  as  against 
the  public  schools  ?  If  they  teach  religion,  as  they  acknowledge,  why  may 
not  we  ?  We  are  not  grasping  to  obtain  power  over  others,  but  we  desire  in 
sincerity  to  benefit  a  portion  of  our  own  neglected  children.  I  shall  pass 
over,  therefore,  a  great  deal  of  what  the  gentleman  "  would  like  to  know," 
for  I  do  not  know  if  it  is  of  importance  to  the  subject.  He  said  this 
Rhemish  Testament  was  published  by  authority  ;  but  he  began  by  a  retreat, 
and  not  by  a  direct  charge.  "  He  did  not  profess  to  say  that  our  Church 
approved  of  it ;  but  it  was  printed  and  published,  and  it  was  not  on  the 
Index" — as  if  every  bad  book  in  the  world  must  be  in  the  Index; — and, 
with  this  evidence  of  fact,  he  comes  here  and  spreads  before  the  American 
people  the  slander  and  calumny  that  the  Catholics,  by  their  notes  and  com- 
ments, teach  the  lawfulness  of  murdering  heretics.  Now,  sir,  I  will  take  up 
that  book,  and  the  parts  he  read,  with  the  notes  giving  an  explanation,  as 
though  they  came  from  Catholics.  Do  you  know  the  history  of  that  book, 
sir  ?  If  not,  I  can  tell  you.  When  Queen  Elizabeth  scourged  the  Catholics 
from  their  altars,  and  drove  them  into  exile,  these  men  held  a  common  no- 
tion, which  was  natural  and  just,  that  England  was  their  country,  and  that 
they  were  suffering  unmerited  persecution.  The  new  religion,  net  satisfied 
with  toleration  for  itself,  grasped  the  substance  of  things — grasped  the 
power  of  the  State,  seized  all  their  temples,  and,  not  even  satisfied  with  this, 
scourged  the  Catholics  from  their  home  and  country ;  and  they  did  write 
these  notes— and  why  ?  They  wrote  them  in  exile,  smarting  under  the  lash 
and  the  torture,  and  in  connection,  too,  with  a  plan  for  the  invasion  of  Eng- 
land by  Philip  H.  of  Spain.  Their  object  was,  to  disseminate  amongst 
Catholics  of  England  disaffection  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  thus  dispose  them 
to  join  the  true  Catholic  and  oppose  the  heretics,  because  the  heretics  were 
their  enemies — were  the  enemies  of  their  rights,  and  had  crushed  them. 
But  when  that  book  appeared  in  England,  was  there  a  single  approval  given 
it— a  single  Catholic  that  received  it?  Not  one.  When  it  was  published 
for  political  ends — to  aid  the  invasion  of  Philip — did  the  English  Catholics 
receive  it  ?  Never.  But  the  gentleman  said  it  was  published  by  the  bish- 


SPEECH    OF   BISIIOP   HUGHES.  293 

ops  of  Ireland  and  with,  their  approbation,  and  with  the  approbation  of  a 
great  number  of  the  Catholic  clergy  ;  and  this  after  his  own  admission  that, 
insomuch  as  it  had  not  been  approved  by  the  Holy  See,  the  bishop  of  Rome, 
it  was  not  of  authority  in  the  Catholic  Church.  Now,  I  shall  take  up  both 
parts ;  and  first,  I  should  like  to  know  where  is  his  authority  that  it  was 
published  by  the  bishops  of  Ireland  ?  I  pause  for  a  reply,  and  I  shall  not 
consider  it  an  interruption. 

Dr.  BOND.    Do  you  wish  an  answer  ? 

Bishop  HUGHES.    I  do,  sir  ;  I  desire  your  authority. 

Dr.  BOND.  Why,  if  we  are  to  believe  history,  it  is  true ;  it  is  stated  in 
the  British  Critic. 

Bishop  HUGHES.     Oh  !  I  am  satisfied. 

Dr.  BOND.    It  could  not  have  been  reviewed  if  it  did  not  exist. 

Bishop  HUGHES.  Oh  !  it  is  here,  and  that  proves  its  existence  without 
the  British  Critic.  It  was  gone  out  of  print  again,  and  not  a  Catholic  now 
heard  of  it,  but  your  liberal  Protestant  clergymen  of  New  York  republished 
it.  What  for  ?  To  bring  infamy  on  the  Catholic  name.  And  it  was  from 
this  Protestant  edition,  and  not  from  Ireland,  that  the  Methodist  gentleman 
received  it.  I  am  now  not  surprised  at  his  saying  so  often  that  he  would 
"  like  to  know,"  for  a  little  more  knowledge  would  be  of  great  advantage 
to  him.  I  need  not  read  it. 

Dr.  BOND.     Oh  !  you  had  better. 

Bishop  HUGHES.     Well,  sir,  any  thing  to  accommodate  you. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that,  notwithstanding  the  Vulgate  New "  Testa- 
ment, as  it  was  translated  and  expounded  by  the  members  of  the  Jesuit  col- 
lege at  Rheims,  in  1582,  has  been  republished  in  a  great  number  of  editions, 
and  their  original  annotations,  either  more  or  less  extensively,  have  been 
added  to  the  text ;  yet,  as  soon  as  it  is  appealed  to  as  an  authority,  the  Ro- 
man priests  admit  both  the  value  of  the  book  and  the  obligation  of  the 
papists  to  believe  its  contents.  We  have  a  very  striking  modern  instance  to 
prove  this  deceitfulness. 

Now,  it  must  be  recollected  that  this  is  a  Protestant  publication ;  the 
Catholics  did  not  circulate  it,  but  the  Protestant  ministers  did,  to  mislead 
their  flocks,  and  to  bring  infamy  on  their  Catholic  fellow-citizens. 

The  Douay  Bible  is  usually  so  called  because,  although  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  first  translated  and  published  at  Rheims,  yet  the  Old  Testament 
was  printed,  some  years  after,  at  Douay ;  the  English  Jesuits  having  removed 
their  monastery  from  Rheims  to  Douay  before  their  version  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament was  completed.  In  the  year  1816,  an  edition,  including  both  the 
Douay  Old  and  the  Rhemish  New  Testament,  was  issued  at  Dublin,  contain- 
ing a  large  number  of  comments  replete  with  impiety,  irreligion,  and  the 
most  fiery  persecution.  That  edition  was  published  under  the  direction  of 
all  the  dignitaries  of  the  Roman  hierarchy  in  Ireland,  and  about  three  hun- 
dred others  of  the  most  influential  subordinate  priests. 

Now,  I  called  for  the  gentleman's  evidence  for  this,  and  the  gentleman 
was  found  mimts  Jiabens — he  has  it  not  to  give.  The  prints  said  so,  and  he 
believed  the  prints  !  Now,  sir,  this  is  a  grave  charge,  and  I  am  disposed  to 
treat  it  gravely ;  but  I  should  not  feel  worthy  of  the  name  of  a  man — I 


294:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

should  feel  myself  unworthy  of  being  a  member  of  the  American  family,  if 
I  had  not  risen  and  repelled  such  a  charge  as  it  deserved. 

Dr.  BOND.    You  have  not  read  all  I  read. 

Bishop  HUGHES.  I  will  read  all  the  gentleman  may  wish,  if  he  will  not 
keep  me  here  reading  all  night. 

The  notes  which  urged  the  hatred  and  murder  of  Protestants  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  British  Churches,  and,  to  use  the  words  of  T.  Hartwell 
Home,  that  edition  of  the  Rhemish  Testament  printed  at  Dublin  in  1816, 
corrected  and  revised  and  approved  by  Dr.  Troy,  Roman  Catholic  arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  was  reviewed  by  the  British  Critic,  vol  viii.,  pp.  296-308, 
New  Series,  and  its  dangerous  tenets,  both  civil  and  religious,  were  exposed. 

That  is  the  testimony. 

Dr.  BOND.    There  is  another  paragraph. 

Bishop  HUGHES.    Well,  I  will  read  the  other. 

This  publication,  with  many  others  of  a  similar  character,  produced  so 
great  an  excitement  in  Britain,  that,  finally,  several  of  the  most  prominent 
of  the  Irish  Roman  prelates  were  called  before  the  English  Parliament  to 
prove  their  own  work.  Then,  and  upon  ofith,  with  all  official  solemnity, 
they  peremptorily  disclaimed  the  volumes  published  by  their  own  instiga- 
tion and  under  their  own  supervision  and  auspices,  as  books  of  no  author- 
ity, because  they  had  not  been  ratified  by  the  pope  and  received  by  the 
whole  papal  Church. 

Now,  what  authority  have  we  for  this  charge  of  perjury  against  the  Irish 
bishops,  better  than  the  gentleman's  own  ?  It  is  so  stated  here.  What 
authority  is  there  for  that  ? 

Dr.  BOND.     It  was  so  stated  before  the  British  Parliament. 

Bishop  HUGHES.  I  should  regret,  on  account  of  your  age,  if  I  used  any 
expression  that  might  be  deemed  harsh. 

Dr.  BOND.     Take  the  liberty  to  say  what  you  please. 

Bishop  HUGHES.  With  regard  to  these  notes,  I  have  to  observe,  that 
they  were  written  in  an  age  (1582)  when  the  rights  of  conscience  were  but 
little  understood.  Protestants  in  that  age  everywhere  persecuted  not  only 
Catholics,  but  each  other.  And,  long  after,  the  Puritans  of  New  England, 
with  the  Bible,  and  without  notes,  persecuted  with  torture,  and  even  to 
hanging,  their  fellow-Protestants.  It  was  not  wonderful,  therefore,  if,  in 
such  an  age,  Catholics  were  found  to  entertain  the  opinions  set  forth  in  the 
notes.  But,  bad  as  they  are,  it  is  remarkable  that  they  do  not  sustain  the 
calumnious  charge  of  the  reverend  gentleman,  that  they  "  teach  the  lawful- 
ness of  murdering  heretics. 

And  now,  sir,  let  me  call  your  attention  to  the  book  itself. 

In  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew  there  is  this  text,  at  the  29th 
verse.  It  occurs  in  the  parable  of  the  cockle  (in  the  Protestant  version 
tares)  and  the  wheat,  in  answer  to  Christ's  disciples,  who  asked :  "  Wilt 
thou  that  we  gather  it  up  ?  And  he  said,  No :  lest,  perhaps,  gathering  up 
the  cockles,  you  may  root  up  the  wheat  also  together  with  it."  The  annota- 
tion on  this  is : 

Ver.  29."    Lett  you  pluck  up  also.    The  good  must  tolerate  the  evil,  when 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  295 

it  is  so  strong  that  it  cannot  be  redressed  without  danger  and  disturbance 
of  the  whole  Church,  and  commit  the  matter  to  God's  judgment  in  the 
latter  day.  Otherwise,  where  ill  men,  be  they  heretics  or  other  malefactors, 
may  be  punished  or  suppressed  without  disturbance  and  hazard  of  the  good, 
they  may  and  ought  by  public  authority,  either  spiritual  or  temporal,  to  be 
chastised  or  executed. 

They  may  and  ought  "  by  public  autJwrity  !  "  Why,  the  proposition  of 
the  gentleman  was,  that  Catholics  were  taught  to  kill  their  Protestant 
neighbors.  Now,  there  is  not  throughout  the  whole  volume  a  proposition 
so  absurd  as  the  idea  conveyed  by  him.  Bad  as  the  notes  are,  they  reqxiire 
falsification  to  bear  him  out. 

Again,  Luke,  ninth  chapter,  verses  54,  55 :  "  And  when  his  disciples 
James  and  John  had  seen  it,  they  said,  Lord,  wilt  thou  we  say  that  fire  come 
down  from  heaven,  and  consume  them  ?  And  turning,  he  rebuked  them, 
saying,  You  know  not  of  what  spirit  you  are."  Annotation  : 

Ver.  55.  He  rebuked  them.  Not  justice  nor  all  rigorous  punishment  of 
sinners  is  here  forbidden,  nor  Elias'  fact  reprehended,  nor  the  Church 
or  Christian  princes  blamed  for  putting  heretics  to  death.  But  none  of 
these  should  be  done  for  desire  of  our  particular  revenge,  or  without  dis- 
cretion, and  regard  of  their  amendment,  and  example  to  others.  Therefore 
Pete,'  used  his  power  upon  Ananias  and  Saphira,  when  he  struck  them  both 
down  to  death  for  defrauding  the  Church. 

I  am  afraid  I  shall  fatigue  this  honorable  body  by  going  over  these 
notes,  nor  is  it  necessary  that  I  should  follow  the  gentleman  in  all  his  dis- 
cursive wanderings.  There  is  nothing  in  this  to  authorize  the  murdering 
of  heretics. 

But  again,  Luke,  fourteenth  chapter,  verse  23 :  "  And  the  Lord  said  to 
the  servant,  Go  forth  unto  the  ways  and  hedges,  and  compel  them  to  enter, 
that  my  house  may  be  filled."  Annotation : 

Compel  them.  The  vehement  persuasion  that  God  useth,  both  externally 
by  force  of  His  word  and  miracles,  and  internally  by  His  grace,  to  bring 
us  unto  Him,  is  called  compelling.  Not  that  He  forceth  any  to  come  to 
Him  against  their  wills,  but  that  He  can  alter  and  mollify  a  hard  heart, 
and  make  him  willing  that  before  would  not.  Augustine  also  referreth 
this  compelling  to  the  penal  laws,  which  Catholic  princes  do  justly  use 
against  heretics  and  schismatics,  proving  that  they  who  are,  by  their  former 
profession  in  baptism,  subject  to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  are  departed  from 
the  same  after  sects,  may  and  ought  to  be  compelled  into  the  unity  and 
society  of  the  universal  Church  again :  and  therefore,  in  this  sense,  by  the 
two  former  parts  of  the  parable,  the  Jews  first,  and  secondly  the  Gentiles, 
that  never  believed  before  in  Christ,  were  invited  by  fair,  sweet  means  only  : 
but  by  the  third,  such  are  invited  as  the  Church  of  God  hath  power  over, 
because  they  promised  in  baptism,  and  therefore  are  to  be  revoked,  not  only 
by  gentle  means,  but  by  just  punishment  also. 

Sir,  the  punishment  of  spiritual  offences,  and  the  allusions  here  made  to 
it,  have  their  roots  too  deep  and  too  widespreading  to  be  entered  into  and 
discussed  in  the  time  that  I  could  occupy  this  evening.  It  would  be  impos- 
sible to  go  over  the  historical  grounds  which  suggest  themselves  in  connec- 
tion with  the  subject,  to  show  the  results  to  the  state  of  society  which  grow 
unavoidably  out  of  the  breaking  up  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  the  incur- 


296  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

sion  of  new  and  uncivilized  nations  and  tribes.  Society  had  been  dissolved, 
with  all  the  order  and  laws  of  the  ancient  civilization.  It  was  the  slow 
work  of  the  Church  to  reorganize  the  new  and  crude  materials — to  gather 
and  arrange  the  fragments — to  remodel  society  and  social  institutions  as  best 
she  might.  There  was  no  other  power  that  could  digest  the  crude  mass,  the 
fierce  infusions  of  other  tongues  and  tribes  and  nations  that  had,  during  the 
chaos,  become  mixed  up  with  the  remains  of  ancient  Roman  civilization. 
She  had  to  begin  by  religion,  their  conversion  to  Christianity  being  the  first 
step,  and  the  Catholic  Church  being  the  only  one  in  existence.  Hence,  the 
laws  of  religion  are  the  first  with  which  those  new  populations  became  ac- 
quainted, and  the  only  ones  that  could  restrain  them.  Hence,  too,  what  is 
called  Canon  Law  went  before,  and  Civil  Law  gradually  followed,  oftentimes 
mixed  with  and  deriving  its  force  from  the  older  form  of  legislation.  The 
actual  state  of  society  made  it  unavoidable  that  this  should  be  the  order  of 
things.  Civil  governments  oftentimes  engrafted  whole  branches  of  the 
ecclesiastical  law  in  their  secular  codes;  and  ecclesiastical  judges  were  often 
the  interpreters  and  administrators  of  both. 

Canonical  law  and  civil  law,  thus  blended,  became  the  codes  of  civil 
government,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case  ;  and  it  is  to  this  state  of  things 
.that  the  authors  of  the  notes  make  allusion  in  their  text.  But,  as  I  have 
remarked,  the  subject  is  too  deep  to  be  properly  discussed,  on  this  occasion, 
when  time  is  so  brief,  and  so  many  speakers  to' be  replied  to. 

We  now  come  to  Acts,  chapter  twenty-five,  verse  11 : 

I  appeal  to  Cwsar.  If  Paul,  both  to  save  himself  from  whipping  and 
from  death,  sought  by  the  Jews,  doubted  not  to  cry  for  honor  of  the  Roman 
laws,  and  to  appeal  to  Cajsar,  the  Prince  of  the  Romans,  not  yet  christened, 
how  much  more  may  we  call  for  aid  of  Christian  princes  and  their  laws,  for 
the  punishment  of  heretics,  and  for  the  Church's  defence  against  them. 
August.  Epist.  50. 

Here  you  see  the  working  of  human  interest ;  and  it  is  not  the  first  time 
among  Protestants  and  Catholics,  nor  will  it  be  the  last,  that  men  have  made 
the  Word  of  God  and  sacred  things  a  stepping-stone  to  promote  temporal 
interests.  They  say  there,  "  Heretics  have  banished  us,  and  is  it  not  natu- 
rally the  interest  of  Catholics  to  join  a  Catholic  prince  to  put  down  our 
stern  persecutors?  "  As  if 'they  had  said  to  their  fellow-Catholics  of  Eng- 
land, A  Catholic  prince  will  soon  make  a  descent  on  our  country  ;  it  will  be 
your  duty,  as  it  is  your  interest,  to  join  in  putting  down  the  heretic  Eliza- 
beth, who  has  driven  us  from  our  country. 

I  go  now  to  Hebrews,  chapter  ten,  verse  29 :  "  How  nauch  more,  think 
you,  doth  he  deserve  worse  punishments  which  hath  trodden  the  Son  of  God 
under  foot,  and  esteemed  the  blood  of  the  Testament  polluted  wherein  he  is 
sanctified,  and  hath  done  contrarily  to  the  spirit  of  grace  ?  "  Annotation  : 

The  Mood  of  the  Testament.  Whosoever  makcth  no  more  account  of  the 
blood  of  Christ's  sacrifice,  either  as  shed  upon  the  cross,  or  as  in  the  chalice 
of  the  altar — for  our  Saviour  calleth  that  also  the  blood  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment— than  he  doth  of  the  blood  of  calves  and  goats,  or  of  other  common 
drinks,  is  worthy  of  death,  and  God  will  in  the  next  life,  if  it  be  not  pun- 
ished here,  revenge  it  with  grievous  punishment. 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP    HUGHES.  297 

"  God  will  in  the  next  life  punish  !  "  Why,  after  all,  bad  as  these  notes 
are,  objectionable  and  scorned  and  repudiated  as  they  were  by  the  Catholics 
of  England — bad  as  they  are,  they  do  not  sustain  the  gentleman — whose 
assertion  has  gone  as  far  beyond  the  truth,  as  it  is  infinitely  beyond  charity. 
I  do  not  find  the  notes  from  the  Apocalypse,  which  would  have  gone  to 
show,  in  like  manner,  that,  bad  as  they  were,  they  do  not  support  the  accu- 
sations made. 

Dr.  BOND.    There  are  others  as  well. 

Bishop  HUGHES.     Well,  I  will  give  you  the  rest. 

The  PRESIDENT.  Perhaps  it  is  not  necessary.  But,  if  they  are,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  interrupt  the  gentleman. 

Bishop  HUGHES.  Such,  then,  sir,  are  the  notes  put  by  the  Catholic 
translators  of  the  New  Testament  at  Rheims  in  1582 — smarting,  as  they 
were,  under  the  lash  of  Elizabeth's  persecution,  and  looking  forward  with 
hope  to  the  result  of  the  invasion  by  Philip  H.  They  were  repudiated  in- 
dignantly by  the  Catholics  of  England  and  Ireland  from  the  first ;  and  were 
out  of  print,  until  some  Protestant  ministers  of  New  York  had  them  pub- 
lished in  order  to  mislead  the  people  and  to  excite  odium  against  the  Cath- 
olic name. 

But  here,  sir,  is  the  acknowledged  Testament  of  all  Catholics  who  speak 
the  English  language.  This  is  known  and  may  be  read  by  any  one;  it  is 
the  fourteenth  edition  in  this  country ;  it  corresponds  with  those  used  in 
England  and  Ireland ;  and  if  any  such  notes  can  be  found  in  it,  then  be- 
lieve Catholics  to  be  what  they  have  been  falsely  represented  to  be. 

But  the  reverend  gentleman  disclaims  originating  the  slander.  He  took 
it,  we  are  told,  from  the  British  Critic  ; — as  if  that  which  is  false  must  be- 
come true  from  the  moment  it  is  put  in  type  and  printed.  But,  sir,  he 
should  have  known  that  the  article  in  the  British  Critic  was  refuted  at  the 
time,  and  has  been  since  refuted  in  the  Dublin  Review.  And  it  so  happens 
that  Dr.  Troy,  then  Catholic  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  who  is  here  repre- 
sented as  having  approved  these  notes,  had  to  sustain  a  lawsuit  with  the 
Dublin  publisher,  who  was  also  a  Protestant — not  for  approving  the  work, 
but  for  DENOUNCING  it,  which  destroyed  the  publisher's  speculation,  and  in- 
ilved  a  suit  against  the  Archbishop  for  damages !  !  This  is  attested  by 
jjr.  Troy's  letter,  now  before  me,  and  by  the  legal  proceedings,  and  in  a 
speech  made  by  Daniel  O'Connell  to  the  Catholic  Board  at  the  time  (1817), 
we  find  the  following  : 

From  the  Dublin  Evening  Post  of  the  Sth  of  December,  1817. 
CATHOLIC    BOARD.— THE   RHEMISH   BIBLE. 

A  remarkably  full  meeting  of  the  Catholic  board  took  place  on  Thursday 
last,  pursuant  to  adjournment ;  Owen  O'Conner,  Esq.,  in  the  chair. 

After  some  preliminary  business,  Mr.  O'Connell  rose  to  make  his  prom- 
ised motion  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  prepare  a  denunciation 
of  the  intolerant  doctrines  contained  in  the  Rhemish  notes. 

Mr.  O'Connell  said  that,  on  the  last  day  of  meeting,  he  gave  notice  that 
he  would  move  for  a  committee  to  draw  up  a  disavowal  of  the  very  danger- 
ous and  uncharitable  doctrines  contained  in  certain  notes  to  the  Rhemish 
Testament.  He  now  rose  to  submit  that  motion  to  the  consideration  of  the 


298  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

board.  The  late  edition  of  the  Rhemish  Testament  in  this  country  gave 
rise  to  much  observation.  That  work  was  denounced  by  Dr.  Troy  ;  an  ac- 
tion is  now  depending  between  him  and  a  respectable  bookseller  in  this 
city ;  and  it  would  be  the  duty  of  the  board  not  to  interfere,  in  the  remotest 
degree,  with  the  subject  of  that  action  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  board 
could  not  let  the  present  opportunity  pass  by  of  recording  their  sentiments 
of  disapprobation  and  even  of  abhorrence  of  the  bigoted  and  intolerant 
doctrines  promulgated  in  that  work.  Their  feelings  of  what  was  wise,  con- 
sistent, and  liberal,  would  suggest  such  a  proceeding,  even  though  the  in- 
decent calumnies  of  their  enemies  had  not  rendered  it  indispensible.  A 
work  called  The  British  Critic  had,  no  doubt,  been  read  by  some  gentlemen 
who  heard  him.  The  circulation  of  the  last  number  has  been  very  exten- 
sive, and  exceeded,  almost  beyond  calculation,  the  circulation  of  any  former 
number,  in  consequence  of  an  article  which  appeared  in  it  on  the  late  edi- 
tion of  the  Rhemish  Testament.  He  (Mr.  O'Connell)  said  he  read  that  arti- 
cle ;  it  is  extremely  unfair  and  uncandid  ;  it  gives,  with  audacious  falsehood, 
passages,  as  if  from  the  notes  of  the  Rhemish  Testament,  which  cannot  be 
found  in  that  work  ;  and,  with  mean  cunning,  it  seeks  to  avoid  detection  by 
quoting,  without  giving  either  text  or  page.  Throughout  it  is  written  in 
the  true  spirit  of  the  inquisition  ;  it  is  violent,  vindictive,  and  uncharitable. 
He  was  sorry  to  understand  that  it  was  written  by  ministers  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church ;  but  he  trusted  that,  when  the  charge  of  intemperance  should 
be  again  brought  forward  against  the  Catholics,  their  accusers  would  cast 
their  eyes  on  this  coarse  and  illiberal  attack — here  they  may  find  a  specimen 
of  real  intemperance.  But  the  very  acceptable  work  of  imputing  principles 
to  the  Irish  people  which  they  never  held,  and  which  they  abhor,  was  not 
confined  to  The  British,  Critic.  The  Courier,  a  newspaper  whose  circulation 
is  immense,  lent  its  hand,  and  the  provincial  newspapers  throughout  Eng- 
land— those  papers  which  are  forever  silent  when  any  thing  might  be  said 
favorable  to  Ireland,  but  are  ever  active  to  disseminate  whatever  may  tend 
to  her  disgrace  or  dishonor.  They  have  not  hesitated  to  impute  to  the 
Catholics  of  this  country  the  doctrines  contained  in  those  offensive  notes — 
and  it  was  their  duty  to  disclaim  them.  Nothing  was  more  remote  from 
the  true  sentiments  of  the  Irish  people.  These  notes  were  of  English 
growth ;  they  were  written  in  agitated  times,  when  the  title  of  Elizabeth 
was  questioned,  on  the  grounds  of  legitimacy.  Party  spirit  was  then  ex- 
tremely violent ;  politics  mixed  with  religion,  and,  of  course,  disgraced  it. 
Queen  Mary,  of  Scotland,  had  active  partisans,  who  thought  it  would  for- 
ward their  purposes  to  translate  the  Bible,  and  add  to  it  those  obnoxious 
notes.  But,  very  shortly  after  the  establishment  of  the  college  at  Douay, 
this  Rhemish  edition  was  condemned  by  all  the  Doctors  of  that  institution, 
who,  at  the  same  time,  called  for  and  received  the  aid  of  the  Scotch  and 
Irish  colleges.  The  book  was  thus  suppressed,  and  an  edition  of  the  Bible, 
with  notes,  was  published  at  Douay,  which  has  ever  been  since  adopted  by 
the  Catholic  Church ;  so  that  they  not  only  condemned  and  suppressed  the 
Rhemish  edition,  but  they  published  an  edition  with  notes,  to  which  no 
objection  has,  or  could  be,  urged.  From  that  period  there  have  been  but 
two  editions  of  the  Rhemish  Testament ;  the  first  had  very  little  circula- 
tion ;  the  late  one  was  published  by  a  very  ignorant  printer  in  Cork,  a  man 
of  the  name  of  M'Nauiara,  a  person  who  was  not  capable  of  distinguishing 
between  the  Rhemish  and  any  other  edition  of  the  Bible.  He  took  up  the 
matter  merely  as  a  speculation  in  trade.  He  meant  to  publish  a  Catholic 
Bible,  and  having  put  his  hand  upon  the  Rhemish  edition,  he  commenced  to 
print  it  in  numbers.  He  subsequently  became  bankrupt,  and  his  property 
in  this  transaction  vested  in  Mr.  Gumming,  a  respectable  bookseller  in  this 
city,  who  is  either  a  Protestant  or  Presbyterian  ;  but  he  carried  on  the  work, 
like  M'Namara,  merely  to  make  money  of  it,  as  a  mercantile  speculation ; 
and  yet,  said  Mr.  O'Connell,  our  enemies  have  taken  it  up  with  avidity ;  they 


SPEECH    OF   BISHOP    HUGHES.  299 

have  asserted  that  the  sentiments  of  those  notes  are  cherished  by  the  Catho- 
lics in  this  country.  He  would  not  be  surprised  to  read  of  speeches  in  the 
next  Parliament  on  the  subject.  It  was  a  hundred  to  one  but  that  some  of 
our  briefless  barristers  have  already  commenced  composing  their  dull  calum- 
nies, and  that  we  shall  have  speeches  from  them,  for  the  edification  of  the 
Legislature  and  the  protection  of  the  Church.  There  was  not  a  moment  to 
be  lost.  The  Catholics  should,  with  one  voice,  disclaim  those  very  odious 
doctrines.  He  was  sure  there  was  not  a  single  Catholic  in  Ireland  that  did' 
not  feel  as  he  did — abhorrence  at  the  principles  these  notes  contain.  II- 
liberality  has  been  attributed  to  the  Irish  people,  but  they  are  grossly 
wronged.  He  had  often  addressed  the  Catholic  people  of  Ireland.  He 
always  found  them  applaud  every  sentiment  of  liberality,  and  the  doctrine 
of  perfect  freedom  of  conscience — the  right  of  every  human  being  to  have 
his  religious  creed,  whatever  that  creed  might  be,  unpolluted  by  the  impi- 
ous interference  of  bigotted  or  oppressive  laws.  Those  sacred  rights,  and 
that  generous  sentiment,  were  never  uttered  at  a  Catholic  aggregate  meeting, 
without  receiving  at  the  instant  the  loud  and  the  unanimous  applause  of  the 
assembly. 

It  might  be  said  that  those  meetings  were  composed  of  mere  rabble. 
Well,  be  it  so.  For  one  he  should  concede  that,  for  the  sake  of  argument. 
But  what  followed  ?  Why,  just  this  :  that  the  Catholic  rabble,  without  the 
advantages  of  education,  or  of  the  influence  of  polished  society,  were  so 
well  acquainted  with  the  genuine  principles  of  Christian  charity,  that  they, 
the  rabble,  adopted  and  applauded  sentiments  of  liberality  and  of  religious 
freedom,  which,  unfortunately,  met  but  little  encouragement  from  the  pol- 
ished and  educated  of  other  sects. 

(Then  follows  the  passage  which  we  have  quoted  in  the  preceding  arti- 
cle.) 

Mr.  O'Connell's  motion  was  put  and  earned,  the  words  being  amended 
thus : 

That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  draw  up  an  address  on  the  occasion 
of  the  late  publication  of  the  Rhemish  Testament,  with  a  view  to  have  the 
same  submitted  to  an  aggregate  meeting. 

Such,  sir,  are  the  history  and  the  authority  of  the  notes  put  to  the 
Rhemish  translation  of  the  New  Testament.  The  denunciation  of  Dr. 
Troy  spoiled  the  sale  of  the  work  in  Ireland,  and  the  publishers  sent  the 
remaining  copies  for  sale  to  this  country ;  but  even  this  did  not  remune- 
rate him,  as  his  loss  was  estimated  at  £500  sterling.  It  must  have  been 
from  one  of  these  exiled  copies  that  the  Protestant  edition  published  in  this 
city,  now  produced,  was  taken.  These  being  the  facts  of  the  case,  if  I  were 
a  Protestant  I  should  feel  ashamed  of  a  clergyman  of  my  church  who,  from 
either  malice  or  ignorance,  should  take  up  such  a  book,  with  the  unchristian 
view  of  blackening  the  character  of  any  denomination  of  my  fellow-citizens. 
But  not  only  this,  sir,  but  look  at  the  array  of  the  names  of  Protestant 
ministers  in  this  city  certifying,  contrary  to  the  fact,  that  this  text  and  these 
notes  are  by  the  authority  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  then  say  whether 
there  is  no  prejudice  against  the  Catholics  !  I  shall  now  dismiss  the  subject. 

Sir,  the  Methodist  gentleman,  in  the  whole  of  his  address,  in  which  he 
made  the  charge  I  have  now  disposed  of,  and  of  which  I  wish  him  joy,  slyly 
changed  the  nature  and  bearing  of  my  language  in  the  remarks  I  made  last 
evening.  For  instance,  respecting  purgatory,  of  which  I  observed,  if  they 
were  not  satisfied  with  our  purgatory,  and  wished  to  go  farther,  they  might 


300  THE   TDBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

prove  the  truth  of  the  proverb,  which  says  they  may  "  go  farther  and  fare 
worse."  He  said  I  "««i£"  them  farther.  But  that  corresponds  with  the 
rest.  I  did  not  send  them  farther.  I  here  disavow  such  feelings,  in  the 
name  of  human  nature  and  of  that  venerable  religion  which  I  profess. 

But  he  has  seen  that  "  betting,"  as  he  was  pleased  to  call  it,  is  a  sin, 
because,  forsooth,  "  he  would  get  my  money  without  an  equivalent."  Now, 
I  think  he  suspected  the  contrary.  But  I  did  not  propose  betting.  His 
calumny  had  taken  me  by  surprise ;  but  was  it  not  fortunate,  almost  provi- 
dential, that  I  had  at  hand  a  direct  refutation  ? — for,  if  his  charge  had  gone 
abroad  uncontradicted,  the  ignorant  or  bigotted  would  have  taken  it  on  his 
authority,  and  quoted  it  with  as  much  assurance  as  he  did  on  that  of  the 
British  Critic — and  for  the  same  unholy  purpose.  He  took  me,  I  say,  at  an 
unfair  moment,  and  then  it  was  I  stated  that,  if  the  gentleman  could  prove 
his  charge — there  were  gentlemen  here  who  had  confidence  in  my  word, 
and  I  said  I  would  pledge  myself  to  forfeit  one  thousand  dollars,  to  be  dis- 
tributed in  charities  to  the  poor  as  this  Council  might  direct,  provided  he 
would  agree  to  the  same  forfeiture  if  he  failed  to  prove  it.  This  is  not  bet- 
ting. 

He  says  that  his  Church  has  taught  him  the  sinfulness  of  betting.  But 
this  did  not  deserve  that  name.  It  was  only  an  ordeal  to  test  his  confidence 
in  the  veracity  of  the  slander  contained  in  the  Methodist  remonstrance.  I 
may  not,  indeed,  have  the  same  scruples  about  what  he  calls  gambling  that 
he  has  ;  but  I  do  remember — what  he  seems  to  have  forgotten — that  there  is 
a  precept  of  the  Decalogue,  a  commandment  of  the  living  God,  which  says, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor." 

I  now  pass  to  another  portion  of  this  gentleman's  remarks.  He  con- 
tends that  it  is  impossible  to  furnish  reading-lessons  from  history  for  the 
last  ten  centuries,  without  producing  what  must  be  offensive  to  Catholics. 
The  history  of  Catholics  is  so  black,  that  the  public  schools  could  not,  in 
his  view,  find  a  solitary  bright  page  to  refresh  the  eye  of  the  Catholic  chil- 
dren. This  is  set  forth  in  the  remonstrance  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  this  the  reverend  gentleman  undertook  to  support  in  his  speech. 
He  said  that  history  must  not  be  falsified  for  our  accommodation  ;  that  the 
black  and  insulting  passages  against  us  and  our  religion,  placed  in  the  hands 
of  our  children  at  the  public  schools,  were  not  to  be  charged  as  a  defect  in 
the  system,  inasmuch  as  the  trustees  could  find  worse,  but  would  be  obliged 
to  falsify  history  itself  to  find  better.  From  this  defence  you  can  judge 
what  confidence  Catholics  can  place  in  this  Society,  or  in  the  schools  under 
their  charge. 

I  contended  that  there  existed  portions  of  history  eminently  honorable 
to  Catholics.  But,  says  he,  "  history  is  philosophy,  teaching  by  example ; 
the  good  and  the  bad  must  be  taken  together."  Then  how  does  it  happen 
that  the  bad  alone  is  presented  in  the  public  schools  ?  Besides,  if  all  the 
good  and  all  the  bad  which  history  ascribes  to  Catholics  must  be  presented, 
it  would  make  a  library  rather  large  for  a  class-book  in  the  public  schools. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  a  selection ;  and  how  is  it  that,  in  the  selection,  the 
bad -is  brought  out,  and  the  good  passed  over  in  silence  as  if  it  did  not 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  301 

exist?  Why  is  the  burning  of  Huss  selected?  why  the  burning  of  Cran- 
mer  ?•  Why  are  our  children  taught,  in  the  face  of  all  sense  and  decency, 
that  Martin  Luther  did  more  for  learning  than  any  other  man  "  since  the 
days  of  the  apostles  "  ?  Why  is  "  Phelim  Maghee  "  represented  as  "  sealing 
his  soul  \vith  a  wafer  " — in  contempt  to  the  holiest  mystery  known  to  Catho- 
lics, the  Sacred  Eucharist  ?  Why  are  intemperance  and  vice  set  forth  as  the 
necessary  and  natural  effects  of  the  Catholic  religion  ?  All  this  put  in  the 
hands  of  Catholic  children  by  this  Society,  claiming  to  deserve  the  confi- 
dence of  Catholic  parents  ! 

Now,  the  Methodist  gentleman  says  that  all  this  is  right — that  the  trus- 
tees could  not  possibly,  within  the  last  ten  centuries,  find  history  which 
would  not  be  offensive  to  Catholics  ;  and  that,  to  make  it  otherwise,  it  must 
be  falsified.  Now,  sir,  I  should  like  to  know  whether  it  can  be  expected 
that  we  should  have  any  confidence  in  schools,  for  the  support  of  which  we 
are  taxed,  in  which  our  religious  feelings  are  insulted,  our  children  pervert- 
ed, and  whose  advocates  tell  us  gravely  that  we  ought  to  be  satisfied — that 
things  cannot  be  otherwise,  unless  history  is  to  be  falsified  for  our  con- 
venience !  To  this  we  never  shall  consent.  Religious  intolerance  has  done 
much  to  degrade  us,  and  its  most  dangerous  instrument  was  depriving  us 
of  education. 

The  gentleman  [Dr.  Bond]  has  corrected  some  of  my  remarks  of  last 
evening  on  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  fact  is,  the  style  of  re- 
monstrance presented  here  as  emanating  from  that  Church,  imposed  011  me 
the  necessity  of  alluding  to  the  history  and  principles  of  that  denomina- 
tion. It  is  unpleasant  to  me  at  any  time  to  use  language  calculated  to 
wound  the  feelings  of  any  sect  or  class  of  my  fellow-citizens.  But  they  who 
offer  the  unprovoked  insult  must  not  complain  of  the  retort.  I  stated  that 
the  Methodists  in  England  had  never  done  a  solitary  act  to  aid  in  the  spread 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty  in  that  country ;  that,  whilst  the  Catholics 
aided  the  Dissenters  in  obtaining  the  repeal  of  the  Test  and  Corporation 
acts,  the  Methodists  never  contributed  to  that  measure  by  so  much  as  one 
petition  in  its  favor.  But  it  appears  I  fell  into  a  mistake,  which  the  gentle- 
man corrected  with  great  precision  and  gravity.  The  "  Methodist  society  " 
in  England,  he  tells  us,  is  something  quite  different  from  the  "  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  "  in  the  United  States.  The  former  consider  themselves 
only  as  a  society  in  the  Established  Church,  just  as  the  religious  orders,  the 
Dominicans,  Jesuits,  &c.,  are  in  the  Catholic  communion.  Certainly  it  is 
new  to  me  to  learn  that  the  Methodists  and  the  Church  of  England  are  in 
such  close  and  affectionate  spiritual  relationship.  For,  although  the  Metho- 
dists consider  themselves  a  society  within  the  pale  of  the  Establishment,  the 
members  of  the  Established  Church  are  quite  of  a  different  opinion,  since  it 
was  only  the  other  day  that  I  read  of  a  presbyter  of  that  Church  having 
been  suspended  by  his  bishop  for  having  preached  in  a  Methodist  meeting- 
house 1  So  that  the  affection  of  the  Methodists  for  the  Church  of  England 
does  not  appear  to  be  very  cordially  reciprocated. 

This  gentleman  tells  us  that  the  Methodists,  who  are  only  a  "  society  "  in 
England,  are  an  "  Episcopal  Church  in  America."  Yes,  sir,  Mr.  Wesley,  who 


302  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

was  himself  but  a  priest,  actually  consecrated  a  BISHOP  for  the  United 
States !  And  hence  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church — a  new  order  of  epis- 
copacy, deriving  their  authority  and  character  from  Mr.  John  Wesley,  a 
mere  jn-iest.  But,  with  or  without  bishops,  their  whole  history  proves  how 
much  they  imbibed  of  the  intolerance  of  the  Established  Church  of  Eng- 
land, to  which  he  tells  us  they  are  so  intimately  allied  in  that  country,  but 
which  at  all  times  spurns  the  connection.  This  same  John  Wesley  held  and 
wrote  that  no  government  ought  to  grant  toleration  to  Catholics ;  because, 
forsooth,  either  from  ignorance  of  Catholic  doctrines,  or  bigotry  against 
them,  he  was  pleased  to  believe  and  assert  falsely  that  they  held  it  lawful  to 
murder  heretics.  When  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  was  about  to  miti- 
gate the  code  of  penal  laws  and  persecution  against  the  Catholics  in  1780, 
who  was  more  fervent  and  fanatical  in  opposition  to  the  exercise  of  mercy 
than  John  Wesley  ?  The  great  object  of  the  Protestant  Association,  headed 
by  Lord  George  Gordon,  was  to  oppose  the  least  mitigation  of  severity. 
Who  was  more  active  in  the  intellectual  operations  of  that  Society  than  Mr. 
John  Wesley  ?  Under  the  leadership  of  Lord  George  Gordon,  they  raised  a 
rebellion  in  that  year,  and  when  the  mob  had  plundered,  destroyed,  and 
burnt  the  houses  and  churches  of  the  Catholics,  spread  consternation 
throughout  the  city  of  London,  and  caused  human  blood  to  flow  in  torrents, 
we  have  this  same  Wesley  with  sanctimonious  gravity  charging  it  all  on  the 
Catholics — the  victims  of  its  fury — and  contending  that  it  was  a  "  popish 
plot."  His  services  in  that  association  had  been  acknowledged  by  a  unani- 
mous tote  of  thanks,  dated  February  17th  of  that  very  year.  This  was  in 
1780,  when  the  mighty  events  which  had  occurred  in  this  country  taught 
the  British  Government  the  expediency  of  relaxing  the  penal  laws  against 
so  large  a  portion  of  her  subjects  in  England  and  Ireland.  The  rebound  of 
those  events  had  been  felt  throughout  the  world.  They  were  the  events  cre- 
ated and  accomplished  by  the  great  fathers  of  this  republic,  then  struggling 
into  existence  ;  and  whilst  Catholics  and  Protestants  fought  bravely  side  by 
side  in  the  ranks  of  independence — while  a  Catholic  Carroll  was  signing  its 
charter,  and  another  Carroll,  a  priest  and  (tell  it  not  in  Gath)  a  Jesuit,  was 
employed  on  an  embassy  to  render  the  population  of  Canada  friendly,  or,  at 
least,  not  hostile  to  our  struggle — whilst  a  Catholic  Commodore  Barry  was 
doing  the  office  of  a  founder  and  father  to  our  young  and  gallant  navy — 
what  was  John  Wesley  doing  ?  He  was  creeping  to  the  British  throne,  to 
lay  at  the  feet  of  His  Majesty's  Government  the  offer  to  raise  a  regiment, 
and  put  them  at  the  disposal  of  the  Crown,  expressly  to  put  down  what  he 
called  the  "  American  Rebellion  " — to  crush  the  rising  liberties  of  your 
infant  country  ! 

Now,  sir,  I  think  I  was  authorized  to  state  that  the  Methodists  have 
done  as  little  for  the  spread  of  human  liberty,  the  rights  and  equality  of 
mankind,  as  any  other  denomination,  no  matter  how  old  or  how  young.  If 
they  have  not  done  extensive  mischief,  of  which  the  gentleman  boasts,  it  is 
to  be  remembered  that  they  never  possessed  supreme  civil  power,  and  that, 
in  the  order  of  time,  they  have  been  too  insignificant,  and  are  still  too  juve- 
nile, to  have  done  extensive  evil.  If  they  have  done  private  good,  as  the 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  303 

gentleman  contends,  I  confess  it  reminds  me  of  Stephen  Girard's  charity. 
He  was  exceedingly  rich,  and,  because  he  was  rich,  people  thought  he  was 
very  wise.  And  inasmuch  as  he  despised  all  external  show  of  religion,  it 
was  inferred  he  was  very  charitable  to  the  poor,  without,  however,  making 
a  display  of  it.  If  it  was  so,  no  man  ever  practised  better  the  counsel  of  the 
gospel,  "  not  to  let  the  left  hand  know  what  the  right  hand  doeth  "  in  the 
matter.  It  was  so  private  that  no  one  ever  could  find  it  out.  So  is  it  with 
the  Methodist  Church  with  regard  to  any  public  benefit  ever  conferred  on 
mankind — we  have  yet  to  hear  of  it. 

I  will  now  satisfy  the  gentleman  on  another  subject  which  seems  to 
trouble  him,  ajid  on  which  he  "  should  like  to  know."  And  as  other  gen- 
tlemen have  alluded  to  it,  I  hope  the  same  explanation  will  suffice  in  reply 
to  them  all. 

Before  the  British  Government  released  the  Catholics  from  the  penalties 
under  which  they  labored,  among  which  not  the  least  was  the  exclusion  of 
the  schoolmaster,  they  called  upon  them  to  disavow  principles  which  they 
knew  Catholics  did  not  entertain.  But,  in  order  to  reconcile  the  prejudices 
of  the  English  people,  they  had  an  investigation  of  those  imputed  princi- 
ples before  the  Houses  of  Parliament ;  they  called  upon  some  distinguished 
Catholic  citizens,  and  questioned  them  on  several  points,  such  as  those  the 
gentleman  has  so  frequently  referred  to,  among  which  was  the  spiritual 
authority  of  the  pope.  From  the  testimony  which  they  took  I  now  quote. 
It  is  part  of  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Doyle,  Bishop  of  Kildare ;  but  other  bish- 
ops and  public  men  were  all  examined  on  the  same  subject. 

Question.  According  to  the  principles  which  govern  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  Ireland,  has  the  pope  any  authority  to  issue  commands,  ordi- 
nances, or  injunctions,  general  or  special,  without  the  consent  of  the  king  ? 

Answer.     He  has. 

Question.  If  he  should  issue  such  orders,  are  the  subjects  of  His  Majes- 
ty, particularly  the  clergy,  bound  to  obey  them  ? 

Answer.  The  orders  that  he  has  a  right  to  issue  must  regard  things  that 
are  of  a  spiritual  nature ;  and  when  his  commands  regard  such  things,  the 
clergy  are  bound  to  obey  them ;  but  were  he  to  issue  commands  regarding 
things  not  spiritual,  the  clergy  are  not  in  any  wise  bound  to  obey  them. 

Consequently,  if  His  Holiness,  as  the  gentleman  [Mr.  Ketchum]  said, 
should  forbid  the  reading  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  it  would  not 
be  of  any  authority. 

Mr.  KETCHUM;    Does  the  book  say  so  ? 

Bishop  HUGHES.  I  am  authority  myself  in  matters  of  my  religion. 
Surely,  sir,  I  am  not  here  to  betray  it,  and  I  am  astonished  that  the  gentle- 
man is  not  better  acquainted  with  history  on  the  matter.  He  amused  us,  a 
little  while  ago,  with  the  idea  of  what  terrible  consequences  might  ensue  if 
the  pope,  a  "  foreign  potentate,"  should  forbid  us  to  read  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  or  forbid  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  our  common  schools. 
He  even  apologized  for  his  alarm  with  singular  simplicity  :  "  He  meant  no 
reflection.  This  matter  had  come  out  in  evidence  here."  It  was  then,  sir,  I 
wondered  at  his  not  having  read  history,  or  having  read  it  to  so  little  advan- 
tage. 


THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Did  he  not  know  that,  long  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
Venice  rose  out  of  the  sea,  a  Catholic  State,  with  all  her  republican  glory 
round  about  her  ?  And  when  the  pope,  in  his  capacity  of  "  foreign  poten- 
tate," attempted  to  invade  her  temporal  rights,  her  Catholic  sons  did  what 
they  ought  to  have  done — they  unsheathed  their  swords  and  routed  his 
troops.  Did  they  thereby  forfeit  their  allegiance  to  him  as  spiritual  head  of 
the  Church  on  earth  ?  Not  an  iota  of  it.  To  a  man  who  reads  history  and 
understands  it,  this  fact  alone  points  out  the  difference,  in  the  creed  of 
Catholics,  between  the  pope  and  the  potentate.  The  Venitians  knew  that 
the  pope,  in  his  spiritual  capacity,  belongs  to  a  kingdom  which  is  not  of 
this  world.  And  the  allegiance  of  Catholics  to  him,  out  of  his  own  small 
dominions,  is  due  to  him  only  in  his  spiritual  capacity.  "Whatever  temporal 
right  was  acquired  over  independent  States  by  the  popes  in  former  ages,  was 
owing  to  no  principle  of  Catholic  doctrine,  but  purely  to  the  disorders  of 
the  times  and  the  pusillanimity  of  weak  rulers,  who,  in  order  to  secure  the 
pope's  protection,  made  themselves  his  vassals.  The  popes,  in  such  circum- 
stances, would  have  been  more  or  less  than  men,  had  they  refused  to  embrace 
these  opportunities  of  aggrandizement  so  placed  within  their  reach  and 
often  pressed  upon  them.  Now,  every  Catholic  is  familiar  with  this  view 
of  the  subject,  and  yet,  except  a  few  of  larger  minds  and  better  education, 
it  has  hardly  penetrated  the  density  of  Protestant  prejudice.  Hence  you 
hear  them  giving  the  most  absurd  construction  to  the  duties  of  Catholics 
between  the  supposed  conflicting  claims  of  their  country  and  the  imputed 
principles  of  their  religion.  Permit  me  here  to  call  your  attention  to  the  true 
and  beautiful  exposition  of  the  case  as  set  forth  in  the  language  of  a  gentle- 
man who,  though  a  Catholic,  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  man  of  as  high  honor, 
as  lofty  and  patriotic  principles,  and  as  unblemished  a  character,  as  any  man 
the  nation  can  boast  of:  I  mean  Judge  Gaston,  of  North  Carolina.  The 
State  has  no  son  of  whom  she  is,  or  ought  to  be,  prouder.  And  yet,  up  till 
within  a  few  years,  the  laws  of  that  State  disqualified  a  Catholic  from  hold- 
ing any,  even  the  office  of  a  constable.  In  a  speech  made  by  Judge  Gaston 
in  the  convention  for  revising  the  State  Constitution,  in  reference  to  this 
matter,  he  says : 

But  it  has  been  objected,  that  the  Catholic  religion  is  unfavorable  to 
freedom — nay,  even  incompatible  with  republican  institutions.  Ingenious 
speculations  on  such  matters  are  worth  little,  and  prove  still  less.  Let  me 
ask,  Who  obtained  the  great  charter  of  English  freedom,  but  the  Catholic 
prelates  and  barons  at  Runnymede  ?  The  oldest,  the  purest  democracy  on 
earth,  is  the  little  Catholic  republic  of  St.  Mavino,  not  a  day's  journey  from 
Rome.  It  has  existed  now  for  fourteen  hundred  years,  and  is  so  jealous  of 
arbitrary  power,  that  the  executive  authority  is  divided  between  two  gov- 
ernors, who  are  elected  every  three  months.  Was  William  Tell,  the  founder 
of  Swiss  liberty,  a  royalist  ?  Are  the  Catholics  of  tin-  S\\i-s  cantons  in  love 
with  tyranny  ?  Are  the  Irish  Catholics  friends  to  passive  obedience  and 
non-resistance  ?  Was  La  Fayette,  Pulaski,  or  Kosciusko,  a  foe  to  civil  free- 
dom ?  Was  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  unwilling  to  jeopard  fortune  in 
the  cause  of  liberty  ?  Let  me  give  you,  however,  the  testimony  of  George 
Washington.  On  his  accession  to  the  presidency,  he  was  addressed  by  the 
American  Catholics,  who,  adverting  to  the  restrictions  on  their  worship  then 
existing  in  some  of  the  States,  expressed  themselves  thus :  "  The  prospec* 


SPEECH    OF   BISHOP    HUGHES.  305 

of  national  prosperity  is  peculiarly  pleasing  to  us  on  another  account ;  be- 
cause, while  our  country  preserves  her  freedom  and  independence,  we  shall 
have  well-founded  title  to  claim  from  her  justice  the  equal  rights  of  citizen- 
ship as  the  price  of  our  blood  spilt  under  your  eye,  and  of  our  common 
exertions  for  her  defence  under  your  auspicious  conduct."  This  great  man, 
who  was  utterly  incapable  of  flattery  and  deceit,  utters,  in  answer,  the  fol- 
lowing sentiments,  which  I  give  in  his  own  words :  "  As  mankind  become 
more  liberal,  they  will  be  more  apt  to  allow  that  all  those  who  conduct 
themselves  as  worthy  members  of  the  community,  are  equally  entitled  to  the 
protection  of  civil  government.  I  hope  ever  to  see  America  among  the  fore- 
most nations  in  examples  of  justice  and  liberality  ;  and  I  presume  that  your 
fellow-citizens  will  never  forget  the  patriotic  part  which  you  took  in  the 
accomplishment  of  their  revolution  and  the  establishment  of  their  Govern- 
ment, or  the  important  assistance  which  they  received  from  a  nation  in 
which  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  is  professed."  By  the  by,  sir,  I  would 
pause  for  a  moment  to  call  the  attention  of  this  committee  to  some  of  the 
names  subscribed  to  this  address.  Among  them  are  those  of  John  Carroll, 
the  first  Roman  Catholic  bishop  of  the  United  States,  Charles  Carrol],  of 
Carrollton,  and  Thomas  Fitzsimmons.  For  the  characters  of  these  distin- 
guished men,  if  they  need  vouchers,  I  would  confidently  call  on  the  vener- 
able President  of  this  Convention.  Bishop  Carroll  was  one  of  the  best  men 
and  most  humble  and  devout  of  Christians.  I  shall  never  forget  a  tribute 
to  his  memory  paid  by  the  good  and  venerable  Protestant  Bishop  "White, 
when  contrasting  the  piety  with  which  the  Christian  Carroll  met  death,  with 
the  cold  trifling  that  characterized  the  last  moments  of  the  skeptical  David 
Hume.  I  know  not  whether  the  tribute  was  more  honorable  to  the  piety 
of  the  dead,  or  to  the  charity  of  the  living  prelate.  Charles  Carroll,  of 
Carrollton,  the  last  survivor  of  the  signers  of  American  Independence,  at 
whose  death  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina  unanimously 
testified  their  sorrow  as  at  a  national  bereavement !  Thomas  Fitzsimmons, 
one  of  the  illustrious  convention  that  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  for  several  years  the  Representative  in  Congress  from  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  Were  these,  and  such  as  these,  foes  to  freedom,  and  unfit  for 
republicanism  ?  Would  it  be  dangerous  to  permit  such  men  to  be  sheriffs 
and  constables  in  the  land  1  Read  the  funeral  eulogium  of  Charles  Carroll, 
delivered  at  Rome  by  Bishop  England,  one  of  the  greatest  ornaments  of  the 
American  Catholic  Church — a  foreigner,  indeed,  by  birth,  but  an  American 
by  adoption,  and  who,  becoming  an  American,  solemnly  abjured  all  alle- 
giance to  every  foreign  king,  prince,  and  potentate  whatever — that  eulo- 
gium which  was  so  much  carped  at  by  English  royalists  and  English  tories 
— and  I  think  you  will  find  it  democratic  enough  to  suit  the  taste  and  find 
an  echo  in  the  heart  of  the  sternest  republican  amongst  us.  Catholics  are 
of  all  countries,  of  all  governments,  of  all  political  creeds.  In  all,  they  are 
taught  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  not  of  this  world,  and  that  it  is  their 
duty  to  render  unto  Ca?sar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the 
things  that  are  God's. 

I  shall  new  proceed  with  the  testimony  of  the  Irish  bishops  in  order, 
which  was  interrupted  by  the  gentleman's  question. 

Here,  sir,  is  the  testimony  of  another  bishop — Dr.  Murray,  the  present 
Archbishop  of  Dublin,  before  a  committee  of  the  British  Parliament : 

Question.  To  what  extent,  and  in  what  manner,  does  a  Catholic  profess 
to  obey  the  pope  ? 

Answer.  Solely  in  spiritual  matters,  or  in  such  mixed  matters  as  come 
under  his  government— such  as  marriage,  for  instance,  which  we  hold  to  be 
a  sacrament  as  well  as  a  civil  contract ;  as  it  is  a  sacrament,  it  is  a  spiritual 
thing,  and  comes  under  the  jurisdiction,  of  the  pope.  Of  course,  he  has 

20 


306  THE   PUKLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

authority  over  that  spiritual  part  of  it;  but  this  authority  does  not  affect 
the  civil  rights  of  the  individuals  contracting. 

Question.  Does  this  obedience  detract  from  what  is  due  by  a  Catholic 
to  the  State  under  which  he  lives  ? 

Answer.     Not  in  the  least ;  the  powers  are  wholly  distinct. 

Question.  Does  it  justify  an  objection  that  is  made  to  Catholics,  that 
their  allegiance  is  divided  ? 

Answer.    Their  allegiance  in  civil  matters  is  completely  undivided. 

Question.  Is  the  duty  which  the  Catholic  owes  to  the  pope,  and  the  duty 
which  lie  owes  to  the  king,  really  and  substantially  distinct  ? 

Answer.     Wholly  distinct. 

Question.  How  far  is  the  claim  that  some  popes  have  set  up  to  temporal 
authority,  opposed  to  Scripture  and  tradition  ? 

Answer.  As  far  as  it  may  have  been  exercised  as  coming  from  a  right 
granted  to  him  by  God,  it  appears  to  me  to  be  contrary  to  Scripture  and 
tradition ;  but  as  far  as  it  may  have  been  exercised  in  consequence  of  a  right 
conferred  on  him  by  the  different  Christian  powers,  who  looked  up  to  him 
at  one  time  as  the  great  parent  of  Christendom,  who  appointed  him  as  the 
arbitrator  of  their  concerns,  many  of  whom  submitted  their  kingdoms  to 
him  and  laid  them  at  his  feet,  consenting  to  receive  them  back  from  him  as 
fiefs,  the  case  is  different.  The  power  that  he  exercised  under  that  author- 
ity of  course  passed  away  when  those  temporal  princes  who  granted  it  chose 
to  withdraw  it.  His  spiritual  power  does  not  allow  him  to  dethrone  kings, 
or  to  absolve  their  subjects  from  the  allegiance  due  to  them  ;  and  any 
attempt  of  that  kind  I  would  consider  contrary  to  Scripture  and  tradition. 

Question.  Does  the  pope  now  dispose  of  temporal  affairs  within  the 
kingdoms  of  any  of  the  princes  of  the  continent  ? 

Answer.    Not  that  I  am  aware  of.    I  am  sure  he  does  not. 

Question.  Do  the  Catholic  clergy  admit  that  all  the  bulls  of  the  pope 
are  entitled  to  obedience  ? 

Answer.  They  are  entitled  to  a  certain  degree  of  reverence.  If  not  con- 
trary to  our  usages,  or  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  of  course  they  are  enti- 
tled to  obedience,  as  coming  from  a  superior.  We  owe  obedience  to  a 
parent,  we  owe  obedience  to  the  king,  we  owe  it  to  the  law ;  but  if  a  parent, 
the  king,  or  the  law,  were  to  order  us  to  do  any  thing  that  is  wrong,  we 
would  deem  it  a  duty  to  say,  as  the  apostles  did  on  another  occasion,  "  We 
ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men." 

Question.  Are  there  circumstances  under  which  the  Catholic  clergy  would 
not  obey  a  bull  of  the  pope  ? 

Answer.    Most  certainly. 

Question.  What  is  the  true  meaning  of  the  following  words  in  the  creed 
of  Pius  IV. :  "  I  promise  and  swear  true  obedience  to  the  Roman  bishop, 
the  successor  of  St.  Peter  ? " 

Answer.  Canonical  obedience  in  the  manner  I  have  just  described, 
within  the  sphere  of  his  own  authority. 

Question.  What  do  the  principles  of  the  Catholic  religion  teach  in 
respect  to  the  performance  of  civil  duties  ? 

Answer.  They  teach  that  £he  performance  of  civil  duties  is  a  conscien- 
tious obligation  which  the  law  of  God  imposes  on  us. 

Question.  Is  the  Divine  law,  then,  quite  clear  as  to  the  allegiance  due 
by  subjects  to  their  prince  ? 

Answer.    Quite  clear. 

Question.  In  what  books  are  to  be  found  the  most  authentic  exposition 
of  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  Church  ? 

Answer.  In  that  very  creed  that  has  been  mentioned — the  creed  of  Pius 
IV. ;  in  the  catechism  which  was  published  by  the  direction  of  the  Council 
of  Trent,  called  "  The  Roman  Catechism,"  or  "  The  Catechism  of  Ihe  Coun- 
cil of  Trent ; "  "  An  Exposition  of  the  Catholic  Faith,  by  the  Bishop  of 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  307 

Meaux,  Bossuet ;  "    u  Verron's  Rule   of  Faith  ;  "    "  Holden's  Analysis  of 
Faith,"  and  several  others. 

Such  is  the  character  and  limitation  of  the  pope's  authority,  attested 
under  oath,  by  bishops  and  other  Catholic  dignitaries,  before  the  British 
Parliament.  The  Catholics  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  had  been  bowed 
down  to  the  earth  by  penal  laws  and  persecution  during  three  hundred 
years,  with  nothing  between  them  and  the  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights  but 
the  solemnity  of  an  oath.  If  their  conscience  had  permitted  them  to  swear 
what  they  did  not  believe,  they  might  have  entered  on  their  political  rights 
at  any  time ;  and  yet,  as  martyrs  to  the  sacredness  of  conscience,  they  re- 
sisted. 

I  have  now,  sir,  supplied  the  reverend  gentleman  who  presented  the 
remonstrance  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  with  all  the  information 
which  the  occasion  permits  on  the  subject  of  the  pope's  authority.  But 
there  is  a  good  deal  more  to  which,  if  time  allowed,  I  might  address  myself. 
He  became  very  logical,  and  insisted  on  the  fact  that  the  doctrines  of  the 
Catholic  Church  are  always  the  same — immutable.  He  says  that  we  boast 
of  this ;  and  we  do  so,  most  assuredly.  From  the  hour  when  they  were 
revealed  and  taught  by  Divine  authority  until  the  present,  from  the  rising  to 
the  setting  of  the  sun,  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  believer  and  the  doctrines 
of  the  Catholic  Church  are  everlastingly  and  universally  the  same.  But 
then  he  concludes  that,  as  Catholics  in  some  instances  in  former  times  perse- 
cuted, so,  their  religion  being  always  the  same,  they  are  still  bound  to  perse- 
cute, or  else  disavow  the  doctrine,  as  Protestants  do.  Now,  sir,  we  do  dis- 
avow and  despise  the  doctrine  of  persecution  in  all  its  essence  and  forms. 
But  does  it  follow  that,  by  this,  we  disavow  any  doctrine  of  the  Catholic 
Church  ?  By  no  means.  And  this  proves  that  persecution  never  was  any 
portion  of  the  Catholic  faith ;  for  if  it  had  been,  the  denial  of  it  would  cut 
us  off  from  her  communion.  The  Church  we  believe,  by  the  promise  and 
superintendence  of  Christ,  her  invisible  Head  and  Founder,  to  be  infallible. 
She  received  the  deposit  of  the  doctrines  revealed  by  our  Redeemer  and  His 
apostles ;  her  office  is  to  witness,  teach,  and  preserve  them.  These  alone 
constitute  the  religious  creed  and  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  her 
members.  »We  believe  in  a  Trinity,  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  the  redemp- 
tion by  His  death,  the  divine  institution  of  the  Church.  These,  and  what- 
ever the  Church  holds  as  of  Divine  revelation,  are  the  doctrines  of  our  Cath- 
olic unity.  And  the  individual  who  is  now  addressing  you,  and  the  Cath- 
olic martyr  who  is  at  this  moment,  perhaps,  bleeding  for  his  faith  in  China 
—for  the  Church  has  her  martyrs  still — hold  and  believe  identically  the  same 
doctrines.  But  as  there  is  unity  in  faith,  so  there  is,  in  the  Church,  freedom 
of  opinion  on  matters  which  are  not  determined  by  any  specific  revelation. 
Hence,  we  are  republicans  or  monarchists  according  to  individual  prefer- 
ence, or  the  prevailing  genius  of  the  country  we  belong  to.  Hence,  when 
the  Catholic  divines  at  Rheims  were  appending  these  notes  to  their  edition 
of  the  New  Testament,  the  Catholic  bishops  of  Poland,  with  her  twenty-two 
millions,  were  opening  the  doors  of  the  Constitution  to  the  fugitive  Protes- 
tants of  Germany,  fleeing  from  the  intolerance  and  persecution  of  their  fel- 


308  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

low-Protestants.  The  one  act  is  as  much  a  Catholic  doctrine  as  the  other, 
because,  in  both  cases,  the  agents  acted  not  by  the  authority  of  the  Church, 
but  in  the  exercise  of  that  individual  judgment  for  which  their  account 
stands  to  God. 

But  I  must  be  brief.  I  cannot  follow  so  many  learned  speakers  through 
so  much  matter  that  is  foreign  to  the  subject ;  for  I  agree  with  the  medical 
gentleman,  who  said  that  neither  the  Catholic  nor  the  Protestant  religion 
was  on  trial  here.  It  is  not  religious  creeds  that  are  to  be  tested  by  this 
Council.  I  have,  however,  given  this  explanation,  and  I  trust  it  will  be  re- 
ceived, though  it  may  have  been  tedious,  as  having  its  apology  in  the  re- 
marks which  called  it  forth.  I  only  wish  that  the  gentleman  who  made  the 
observation  had  made  it  one  hour  and  a  half  sooner;  it  would  have  saved 
ail  I  hav"e  said  on  the  subject. 

But  this  speaker  also  (Dr.  Reese)  lectured  me  for  attending  certain  meet- 
ings, as  if  it  were  a  descent  from  my  dignity  to  find  myself  in  an  assembly 
of  freemen.  I  did  not  consider  it  as  a  descent.  But  really,  when  I  came 
here  in  the  simple  character  of  a  citizen,  I  did  not  think  I  should  be  vested 
with  my  official  robes  for  the  purpose  of  being  attacked.  Individuals  as 
respectable  as  he  attended  those  meetings,  and  I  consider  it  no  disgrace  to 
have  been  there  or  here ;  for  even  if  this  petition  came  not  from  Catholics, 
but  from  Methodists  or  any  other  Protestant  denomination,  whose  con- 
sciences were  violated  by  this  system,  I  should  be  found  in  their  midst  sup- 
porting their  claim.  Let  me  add,  too,  that  I  would  rather  be  so  found, 
than,  for  all  the  exchequer  of  the  Public  School  Society,  exchange  places 
with  gentlemen,  and  have  conscience  and  right  for  my  opponents.  He  also 
contended  that  this  want  of  confidence  in  Catholics  was  the  result  of  my 
appeals,  forgetting  that  the  state  of  things  which  is  now  brought  under 
public  notice  has  existed  for  years,  by  efforts  to  provide  a  safe  education  for 
our  children,  long  before  those  meetings  were  called,  and  before  I  attended 
them.  And,  besides,  I  conceive  it  is  my  bounden  duty,  if  I  saw  principles 
inculcated  which  will  sap  the  young  minds  of  our  children — and  I  have  no 
doubt  this  honorable  board  will  say  it  is  my  duty — to  warn  them,  and  to 
bring  them  within  the  pale  of  that  authority  which  they  acknowledge.  I 
wonder  if  Presbyterian  gentlemen  would  see  Catholic  books  circulated 
amongst  their  children,  and  not  warn  their  people  against  them  ?  I  won- 
der, if  these  books  contained  reading-lessons  about  Calvin  and  the  unhappy 
burning  of  Servetus,  whether  they  would  not  warn  their  people  ?  I  say,  if 
they  believe  in  their  religion,  they  would  be  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty. 
And,  while  on  this  subject,  it  occurs  to  me  at  this  moment  that,  in  the  wide 
range  of  observation  which  has  been  taken,  reference  has  been  made  to 
national  education  in  Ireland.  And  we  are  told  that,  after  books  had  been 
agreed  upon,  the  bishops  sent  the  question  to  Rome  to  be  decided  by  the 
pope.  What  question  ?  Can  they  tell  ?  for  I  am  sure  I  cannot.  To  this 
day  I  have  never  understood  the  exact  nature  of  the  reference  to  the  pope. 
But,  sir,  this  is  no  extraordinary  thing.  Under  the  jealous  eye  of  the  Brit- 
ish Government,  even  in  the  darkest  hour  of  her  cruelty  to  Catholics,  their 
intercourse  with  Rome  was  not  interrupted.  But,  while  that  collection  and 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  309 

compilation  of  Scripture  lessons  was  agreed  on  in  the  more  Catholic  parts 
of  the  country  where  the  population  is  divided  between  Protestants  and 
Catholics,  what  is  the  fact  ?  Why,  in  another  part,  the  north  of  Ireland, 
where  the  Presbyterians  are  more  numerous,  they  had  conscientious  objec- 
tions to  this  selection  of  Scripture ;  they  asserted  their  objections,  and  the 
British  Government  recognized  them ;  and  thus,  while  these  lessons,  by 
agreement,  were  in  general  use,  an  exception  was  made  in  favor  of  the  Pres- 
byterians, who  had  objections  to  the  use  of  any  thing  but  the  naked  word 
of  God ; — and  I  say,  honor  to  those  Presbyterians.  The  Catholics  sent  in  no 
remonstrance.  But  if  the  rule  applied  to  their  case,  by  what  authority  will 
your  honorable  body  determine  that  it  shall  not  apply  to  ours  ?  Oh  !  I  per- 
ceive. The  gentleman  whose  remarks  I  am  reviewing,  reasoned  on,  until  he 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  there  were  no  conscientious  grounds  for  our 
objection  at  all.  True,  we  said  we  had ;  but  he  could  not  see  what  con- 
science had  to  do  with  a  matter  so  plain.  He  said,  here  the  community  had 
built  up  a  beautiful  system  ;  it  was  doing  good.  He  asked,  Shall  we  put  it 
aside  in  deference  to  pretended  scruples  ?  Now,  tell  me  when  the  despotism 
of  intolerance  ever  said  any  thing  else  than  this  ?  Why,  the  Established 
Church  of  England  said  "  we  are  doing  good,"  "  our  doors  are  open  to  all," 
"  the  minister  is  at  the  desk,  and  the  bread  of  life  is  distributed  for  the  public 
good."  What  then  ?  What  business  have  these  unhappy  parents  to  find 
fault,  for  conscience'  sake,  and  squeamishness  ?  Now,  sir,  objections  can 
exist  to  the  slightest  shade  of  violation  to  our  conscience,  and,  therefore,  I 
did  not  expect  to  hear  this  argument  at  this  time  of  day.  But  the  gentle- 
man speaks  of  my  addressing  the  public  meetings  to  which  he  has  alluded,  as 
though  my  speaking  there  had  been  the  cause  instead  of  the  consequence  of 
the  scruples  of  our  people.  Then  it  was  I  joined  them  to  seek  a  remedy  for 
our  just  complaint ;  but  if,  in  your  wisdom,  this  body  shall  think  proper  to 
deny  it  us,  we  must  bear  it. 

He  contended,  again,  that  it  would  be  turning  the  public  money  to  pri- 
vate uses.  That  seems  to  me  to  have  been  fully  answered.  He  also  con- 
tended that  it  would  be  the  giving  of  the  money  of  the  State  to  support  re- 
ligion. That  I  have  disputed ;  for  if  so,  I  shall  have  no  objections  to  join 
those  gentlemen  in  their  remonstrance.  But  at  the  same  time  it  does  ap- 
pear strange  to  me,  that  the  gentleman  who  pretends  to  have  read  the  Scrip- 
tures with  so  much  attention,  should  not  have  learned  that  principle — the 
most  general,  sir,  and  the  most  infallible  of  Christian  principles  for  the 
guidance  of  our  conduct — "  Do  unto  others  as  ye  would  that  others  should 
do  unto  you."  That  is  the  principle ;  and  is  it  not  strange  that  such  oppo- 
sition should  be  made  to  us,  when  it  is  known  .that  money  raised  by  public 
tax  goes  to  the  support  of  literature  under  the  supervision  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  ?  And  why  do  not  Catholics  object  to  that  ?  Because 
the  tax  does  not  belong  to  any  particular  sect ;  it  is  thrown  into  a  common 
fund,  and  applied  to  such  uses  as  the  Legislature  in  its  wisdom  thinks 
proper.  We,  sir,  however,  ask  for  our  own,  and  nothing  else.  But  if  you 
say  that  we  shall  be  taxed  for  a  system  which  is  so  organized  that  we  cannot 
participate  in  it  without  detriment  to  the  religious  rights  of  our  children, 


310  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

then  I  say  that  injustice  is  done  even  to  our  civil  rights  ;  for  taxation  is  the 
basis  of  even  civil  rights.  And  I  was  not  a  little  struck,  in  the  course  of 
the  argument,  that  some  gentleman  should  refer  with  so  much  emphasis  05 
to  a  circumstance  novel  and  unparalleled  even  in  social  life  :  that  a  certain 
class  of  gentlemen  should  petition  for — what  ?  The  privilege  of  being 
taxed  !  They  deemed  it  a  privilege ;  and  that  was  wonderful !  and  merit 
was  ascribed  to  them  for  it.  Yes,  sir ;  but  did  it  go  to  the  extent  only  of 
their  own  pockets  ?  Or  did  it  not  reach  the  pockets  equally  of  those  who 
did  not  petition  ?  If  to  themselves  only,  it  was  all  fair  and  proper,  disin- 
terested and  patriotic  :  but  great  emphasis  was  laid  on  this  class  being  most 
"  intelligent  "  and  "  wealthy  "  and  "  respectable  " — nobility  almost ;  as 
though  a  question  of  this  kind  was  intended  for  a  particular  class.  But  let 
me  tell  you,  the  honest  man  who  occupies  only  a  bed  in  a  garret  is  also  a 
taxpayer.  Why  give  him  a  vote  ?  Because  he.  pays  tax  for  the  space  he 
occupies.  If  he  occupies  a  room  and  pays  the  tax,  his  rent  is  less ;  if  the 
landlord  pays,  his  rent  is  so  much  more.  So,  if  he  occupies  a  garret,  or  if 
he  boards,  it  goes  down  to  that ;  for  the  person  who  keeps  the  boarding- 
house  pays  the  rent.  If  that  tax  is  paid  by  the  boarding-house  keeper,  the 
rent  is  so  much  less,  than  if  the  tax  was  paid  by  the  landlord.  If  the 
boarding-house  keeper  pays  the  tax,  he  charges  more  for  board.  So  that  the 
boarder  is  a  taxpayer,  and  it  is  so  understood  in  our  broad  and  excellent 
system  of  representation.  The  exclusive  merit  of  this  tax,  then,  is  not  to  be 
given  to  any  particular  class,  no  matter  how  wealthy  ;  and  I  was  surprised 
that  so  much  emphasis  should  be  laid  on  it.  I  did  not  suppose  that  the 
interests  of  the  poor  were  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  respectability  of  the  rich. 
The  poor  pay  too,  and  it  is  a  beautiful  and  admirable  thing  to  see  what  a 
dignity  this  confers  on  human  nature — what  an  interest  this  excites  in  the 
poor.  I  recollect  passing  along  a  street  some  time  since,  and  I  observed  a 
little  house,  almost  a  shed  or  hovel,  some  fourteen  or  sixteen  feet  square, 
which  was  too  small  to  be  divided  into  two  compartments.  It  had  but  one 
window,  and  this  had  originally  had  four  panes  of  glass,  but  one  having 
been  broken,  it  was  darkened.  There  had  been  some  political  party  tri- 
umph ;  the  boys  in  the  streets  had  their  drums  out,  and  there  appeared  to 
be  a  popular  rejoicing,  and  there  I  saw  three  lights  burning  in  the  window 
of  this  poor  habitation.  I  was  amused  to  see  that  a  man  living  in  so  poor 
a  hovel,  and  unable  to  buy  a  fourth  pane  of  glass,  should  find  means  to 
light  the  other  three.  But,  on  further  reflection,  I  said  to  myself,  "  There  is 
philosophy  there."  What  other  nation  can  exhibit  such  a  spectacle  ?  This 
poor  man,  who  must  toil  till  the  day  he  goes  to  his  grave,  participates  in  a 
political  triumph.  His  bread  has  to  be  corned  by  daily  toil ;  nevertheless, 
though  the  triumph,  perhaps,  will  never  benefit  him,  he  exhibits  a  glorious 
spectacle  to  the  world.  He  is  a  man — he  feels  it  is  recognized.  It  is  a  na- 
tion's homage  offered  to  human  nature.  He  is  a  man  and  a  citizen  ;  and,  on 
reflection,  I  was  delighted  at  a  spectacle  so  glorious  as  this. 

But,  returning  to  the  subject,  they  say  all  religion  is  left  to  voluntary 
contribution.  Now,  ia  this  true  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  here  applied  ? 
Are  not  chaplains  appointed  to  public  institutions  which  are  supported  by 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  311 

the  public  money  ?  And  have  you  not  given  it  to  the  Protestant  Orphan 
Asylum,  and  the  Half-Orphan  Asylum  ?  Have  you  not  given  it  to  the  Cath- 
olic Benevolent  Society  ?  And  do  you  suppose  the  Wesleyan  Catechism  is 
taught  there  ?  Do  you  suppose  the  Catholic  Catechism  is  taught  in  the 
Protestant  asylums  ?  One  gentleman  argued  that  you  had  not  power  to  do 
this.  But  if  you  have  done  it,  does  not  that  prove  that  jou  had  the  power  ? 
If  you  had  power  to  do  that,  you  have  power  equally  to  do  this.  I  shall  go 
further.  I  find,  in  the  report  of  the  regents  of  the  University,  that  the 
Genesee  Wesleyan  Seminary — Theological  Seminary,  as  I  understand — has 
last  year  received  $1,895.56  of  the  public  money.  This  is  not  exclusively 
literary,  as  I  understand  it — 

Dr.  BANGS.    Altogether  literary. 

Bishop  HUGHES.  I  was  under  the  impression  that  it  was  theological, 
and  that  religion  was  admitted.  But  those  in  this  city  furnish  evidence  that 
a  religious  profession  does  not  disqualify. 

I  believe  now,  sir,  I  have  gone  through  the  substance  at  least,  if  not 
through  every  particular,  of  what  has  been  said  by  the  gentlemen  who  in- 
terpose their  remonstrances  and  their  arguments  in  opposition  to  our  right- 
ful claim.  I  will  now  read  one  authority,  and  I  am  the  more  willing  because 
it  is  from  the  Public  School  Society  itself.  It  is  from  the  memorial 
which  they  presented  to  the  Legislature  in  the  session  of  1823,  in  which 
they  state,  p.  7,  "  It  will  not  be  denied  " — recollect,  I  do  not  quote  this  to 
show  that  our  petition  ought  to  be  granted,  but  that,  whatever  opinion 
these  gentlemen  may  now  have  of  the  unconstitutionality  of  granting  this 
claim,  they  saw  nothing  unconstitutional  in  the  practice  then,  and  I  know 
of  nothing  so  far  as  the  Constitution  is  concerned,  neither  of  the  State,  nor 
of  the  United  States — I  know  of  no  enactment  which  should  change  their 
opinion — "  it  will  not  be  denied,  in  this  enlightened  age,  that  the  education 
of  the  poor  is  enjoined  by  our  holy  religion,  and  is,  therefore,  one  of  the 
duties  of  a  Christian  Church.  Nor  is  there  any  impropriety  in  committing 
the  school  fund  to  the  hands  of  a  religious  society,  so  long  as  they  are  con- 
fined in  the  appropriation  of  it  to  an  object  not  necessarily  connected  or 
intermingled  with  the  other  concerns  of  the  church,  as,  for  instance,  to  the 
payment  of  teachers  ;  because  the  State  is  sure,  in  this  case,  that  the  benefits 
of  the  fund,  in  the  way  it  designed  to  confer  them,  will  be  reaped  by  the 
poor.  But  the  objection  to  the  section  sought  to  be  repealed  is,  that  the 
surplus  moneys,  after  the  payment  of  teachers,  is  vested  in  the  hands  of  the 
trustees  of  a  religious  society,  and  mingled  with  its  other  funds,  to  be 
appropriated  to  the  erection  of  buildings  under  the  control  of  the  trustees, 
which  buildings  may,  and  in  all  probability  will,  be  used  for  other  purposes 
than  school-houses." 

That  is  the  statement  of  the  Public  School  Society  itself;  and  throiigh- 
out  this  document — while  the  gentlemen  here  have  been  wielding  against 
our  petition  the  influence  of  respectable  and  wealthy  classes — I  find  that, 
before  the  acquisition  of  their  monopoly,  they  advocated  the  claims  of  the 
poor,  who  cannot  ~buy  education,  sometimes  scarcely  bread.  This  is  the  class 
to  whose  welfare  the  eye  of  the  enlightened,  the  patriotic,  and  the  benevo- 


31'2  ,       THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

lent  should  be  directed  ;  this  is  the  class  that  essentially  requires  education. 
Thus  they  say,  "  The  school  fund  is  designed  for  a  civil  purpose,  for  such  is 
the  education  of  the  poor." 

Again,  they  say  that  the  New  York  Free  School  (that  was  their  own 
Society)  has  "  one  single  object — the  education  of  the  poor.'1'1  Again,  the 
Board  of  Trustees  is  annually  chosen,  &c.,  "  for  the  education  of  the  poor." 
And  yet  now  I  could  point  out  thousands  of  our  poor  who  are  destitute  of 
education,  and  who  have  no  means  to  provide  it.  We  do  what  we  can,  but 
we  are,  too  limited  in  means  to  raise,  of  ourselves,  a  sufficient  fund.  We 
have  labored  under  great  disadvantages ;  we  have  taught  the  catechism  in 
our  schools,  because,  while  we  supported  them,  we  had  the  right  to  do  so  ; 
but  if  you  put  them  on  the  footing  of  the  common  schools,  we  shall  be 
satisfied,  and  the  State  will  secure  the  education  of  our  children.  You  will 
secure  them  an  education  on  the  basis  of  morality ;  for  they  had  better  be 
brought  up  under  the  morality  of  our  religion,  though  gentlemen  object, 
than  none  at  all.  They  say  the  objection  to  the  present  schools  is,  that 
there  they  are  made  Protestants.  No,  sir;  it  is  because  they  are  made 
Nothingarians,  for  we  cannot  tell  what  they  are.  I  have  now  concluded, 
and  if  I  have  been  obliged  to  trespass  long  upon  your  patience,  recollect,  as 
some  extenuation,  that  I  had  a  great  deal  to  reply  to  in  the  arguments  of 
gentlemen  which  were  urged  to  overthrow  the  principles  of  our  petition, 
but  had  no  bearing  on  the  petition  at  all.  We  do  not  ask  for  the  elevation 
of  the  Catholics  over  others,  but  for  the  protection  to  which  all  are  entitled. 
The  question  is  exceedingly  plain  and  simple.  If  it  has  or  can  be  shown 
that  we  are  claiming  this  money  for  sectarian  purposes,  then  I  should  advise 
you  to  withhold  it.  But  if,  in  honesty  and  truth  and  sincerity,  it  is  a  right 
belonging  to  us  as  citizens  to  receive  our  pro  rata,  then  we  appeal  to  you 
with  confidence. 

From  the  sentiments  expressed  here  on  behalf  of  the  Public  School 
Society,  you  can  judge  of  the  chance  that  Catholic  children  have  in  those 
schools  to  have  their  religious  rights  respected.  It  will  be,  as  perhaps  it  has 
been,  considered  a  great  and  a  good  work  to  detach  them  from  a  religion 
which  is  supposed  "  to  teach  the  lawfulness  of  murdering  heretics."  Infidel- 
ity itself  will  be  considered  preferable  to  Catholicism  in  their  regard,  for 
one  reverend  gentleman  has  told  you  that,  if  there  was  no  alternative,  he 
would  embrace  the  doctrines  of  Voltaire  rather  than  the  religion  of  a  Che- 
verus  or  a  Fenclon.  If  the  Catholics  have  been  obliged  to  keep  their  chil- 
dren from  those  schools  in  time  past,  you  may  imagine  what  effects  these 
sentiments,  this  animus  of  the  system,  is  likely  to  have  on  their  minds  for 
the  time  to  come.  But  if  it  is  our  religious  right  to  have  a  conscience  at 
all,  do  not  take  pains  to  pervert  it,  for  we  shall  not  be  better  citizens  after- 
ward. Do  not  teach  us  to  slight  the  admonitions  of  our  conscience.  Re- 
verse our  case  and  make  it  your  own,  and  then  you  will  be  able  to  judge. 
Make  it  your  own  case,  and  suppose  your  children  were  in  the  case  of  those 
poor  children  for  whom  I  plead  ;  then  suppose  what  your  feelings  would  be 
if  the  blessings  of  education  were  provided  bountifully  by  the  State,  and 
you  were  unable  to  participate  in  those  blessings,  unless  you  were  willing  to 
submit  that  your  conscience  should  be  trenched  upon. 


SPEECH   OF   MB.    KETCHUM.  313 

Here  the  right  reverend  prelate  sat  down,  after  having  spo- 
ken for  nearly  three  hours  and  a  half. 

Dr.  BANGS.  I  wish  simply  to  correct  an  error,  into  which  the  reverend 
gentleman  has  fallen,  respecting  an  observation  I  made  as  to  a  matter  of 
fact.  I  believe  he  understood  me  to  say  that  it  was  my  opinion  the  Legisla- 
ture ought  to  take  the  children  of  Catholics  and  compel  them  to  attend  the 
schools.  If  so,  he  misunderstood  me.  I  meant  to  say  that  those  children 
that  do  not  go  to  any  schools  ought  to  be  compelled  to  go  to  the  public 
schools. 

A  brief  conversation  ensued  between  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
Hughes  and  Dr.  Bond,  in  explanation  of  the  charge  made  against 
John  "Wesley,  that  he  had  aided  or  excited  Lord  George  Gor- 
don's mob. 

The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  HUGHES.  Might  I  be  allowed  to  read  the  pas- 
sage from  the  chapter  on  "  The  Character  of  Christ,"  by  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, to  which  reference  has  been  had  ?  Speaking  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  says  : 

His  answers  to  the  many  insidious  questions  that  were  put  to  Him 
showed  uncommon  quickness  of  conception,  soundness  of  judgment,  and 
presence  of  mind,  completely  baffled1  all  the  artifices  and  malice  of  His  ene- 
mies, and  enabled  Him  to  elude  all  the  snares  that  were  laid  for  Him. 

Mr.  KETCHUM  rose,  and  said  :  I  wish,  sir,  to  say  a  few  words  in  explana- 
tion. I  do  not  wish  to  continue  the  theological  discussion,  but  to  make  a 
few  remarks  on  the  precise  issue  before  the  board. 

The  CHAIRMAN.     That  has,  I  apprehend,  been  very  fully  debated. 

Mr.  KETCHUM.  I  desire  to  make  a  remark  in  reply  to  the  gentleman  on 
the  other  side,  in  reference  to  the  publication  of  the  Bishop  of  London. 
But  first,  sir,  the  reverend  gentleman  has  endeavored,  with  great  dexterity, 
to  place  this  case  upon  the  consciences  of  the  Catholic  society.  He  has  rep- 
resented the  decision  of  this  board  against  their  petition  as  a  violation  of 
the  rights  of  conscience.  He  well  knows  the  favorable  attitude  in  which 
they  stand  who  appear  to  be  persecuted  for  conscience'  sake.  Does  the  rev- 
erend gentleman  mean  to  say  here,  he  has  conscientious  scruples  against 
these  schools  as  public  institutions  ?  Does  he  mean  to  affirm  here  that  they 
have  not  performed  all  they  promised — namely,  to  give  a  good  secular  edu- 
cation to  the  poor  ?  No ;  that  is  not  affirmed.  Whatever  he  may  have 
stated  and  whatever  he  may  have  contradicted,  throughout  the  length  of  his 
address,  he  made  no  such  declaration.  But  the  Roman  Catholics  have  con- 
scientious scruples — they  cannot  send  their  children  to  these  schools  with- 
out sacrificing  their  right  of  conscience  !  Now,  the  Friends  cannot  send 
their  children  to  these  schools,  because  they  believe  in  their  consciences  that 
they  ought  to  educate  their  own  children ;  but  onn  the  Friends  say  they  are 
opposed  upon  conscientious  grounds  to  these  schools  ?  They  are  estab- 
lished by  a  public  act  of  the  State,  for  a  public  purpose,  and  they  have 


314  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

accomplished  their  purpose — they  have  furnished  all  the  education  they 
promised.  But  now  the  reverend  gentleman  says  his  conscience,  and  the 
consciences  of  the  Roman  Catholic  community,  are  violated,  because  they 
cannot  send  their  children  to  these  schools.  Do  they  mean  to  say  they  have 
conscientious  scruples  against  paying  their  portion  of  the  tax  for  the  sup* 
port  of  these  schools  ?  It  might  well  be  that  some  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians have  conscientious  scruples  against  sending  their  poor  to  be  taken  care 
of  at  the  almshouse ;  but  would  they  have  the  right  to  say  that  they  would 
not  therefore  be  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  poor  ?  The  conscientious  scru- 
ple here  is  not  against  paying  the  tax,  but  against  sending  their  children  to 
these  schools.  Now,  who  compels  them  ?  Does  the  State  interfere,  and  say 
they  shall  send  their  children  to  these  schools  ?  The  State  says  that  they, 
in  common  with  others,  shall  pay  the  tax  to  support  these  institutions  of 
learning.  Have  they  alleged  that  their  consciences  are  violated  by  paying 
this  tax  ?  Can  they  say  so  ?  No.  Wherein,  then,  consists  this  pressure  on 
their  consciences  ? 

Now,  Mr.  President,  allow  me  to  take  another  view  of  this  conscientious 
objection.  If  I  am  taxed  to  support  the  religion  of  the  Roman  Catholics, 
my  conscience  is  violated,  because  I  am  compelled  to  pay  a  tax  to  support 
that  which  I  believe  ought  not  to  be  supported.  If  you  establish  these  sec- 
tarian schools  through  this  community,  and  make  Protestants  pay  for  Cath- 
olic schools,  then  indeed  you  infringe  the  right  of  conscience,  because  you 
compel  them  to  do  that  which  is  a  violation  of  their  consciences.  But  we 
do  not  compel  them  to  attend  these  schools.  We  receive  this  public  boun- 
ty, and  we  come  here  and  account  for  the  manner  in  which  we  use  it.  The 
gentleman  does  not  object  to  this.  He  does  not  object  to  our  doing  good  to 
the  children  that  do  come.  That  is  not  the  objection  ;  but  he  objects  that 
he  cannot  send  his  children.  He  pays  a  tax  for  a  necessary  public  purpose 
— admitted  to  be  necessary — but,  because  he  cannot  come  in  and  participate, 
he  insists  that  this  public  fund  shall  be  taken  by  the  Roman  Catholics,  by 
the  Methodists,  by  any  and  every  other  denomination,  to  support  their 
religion.  Grant  this,  and  then  indeed  you  will  infringe  the  right  of  con- 
science. I  do  not  mean  that  the  reverend  gentleman  shall  have  the  advan- 
tage here  of  standing  on  this  right  of  conscience.  The  consciences  of  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  of  this  community  will  be  violated,  if  they  are 
to  be  compelled  to  pay  a  tax  to  the  public  treasury,  and  from  thence  to 
make  religionists  of  a  description  that  they  oppose.  I  want  this  matter  to 
be  set  right,  not  only  in  the  estimation  of  this  board,  but  of  the  public.  I 
want  them  to  see  what  this  oppression  of  conscience  is.  If  it  is  anywhere, 
it  is  on  those  who  pay  the  tax  of  which  they  do  not  in  their  conscience 
approve ;  the  pressure  is  not  on  the  man  that  cannot  send  his  children  to 
participate  in  the  fund.  I  cannot  send  my  children  to  these  schools.  There 
are  obstacles  in  the  way  as  formidable  as  the  gentleman's  conscience.  There 
are  obstacles,  perhaps,  with  tens  of  thousands  who  pay  the  tax  but  do  not 
participate,  and  who  cannot  participate,  because  this  obstacle  exists.  But 
have  they  the  right  to  say  they  will  withhold  their  tax  ?  Would  the  State 
listen  to  such  an  objection  ?  No ;  the  State  has  established  these  public 


SPEECH    OF   MB.    KETCHUM.  315 

institutions  for  a  necessary  public  purpose ;  every  man  must  be  taxed  for 
their  support ;  and  if  he  does  not  avail  himself  of  them,  it  must  be  his  own 
fault,  or  his  own  peculiarities,  perhaps.  And  now,  what,  after  all,  is  the 
objection  to  these  schools  ?  Why,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  this 
three  hours'  speech,  we  have  heard  that  these  books  contain  passages  that 
reflect  on  Catholics. 

The  CHAIRMAN  interposed. 

Mr.  KETCHUM  continued.  This  is  new  matter,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned. 
From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  gentleman's  speech,  we  have  beard 
that  the  books  used  in  these  public  schools  contain  passages  that  reflect  on 
Koman  Catholics.  Now,  I  submit  to  any  lair,  candid  man,  if  this  is  the  time 
of  day  to  bring  such  a  charge  ?  The  books  have  been  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  reverend  gentleman ;  he  has  been  asked  to  put  his  finger  on  any 
objectionable  passages,  that  the  board  might  pass  a  resolution  for  its  expur- 
gation ;  and  now  the  gentleman  comes  here,  and  lays  great  stress  on  and 
urges  as  an  argument  against  the  system,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  the 
passages  which  the  trustees  offered  to  expunge.  Sir,  when  the  trustees 
offered  to  expunge  the  passages,  in  all  fairness  and  candor,  they  were  to  be 
considered,  for  the  true  purposes  of  this  argument,  as  expunged.  And  if 
they  were  expunged,  what  would  become  of  three  fourths  of  the  gentleman's 
speech — all,  indeed,  except  the  theological  part  ?  And  now,  the  next  great 
topic  is  the  Bible. 

The  PRESIDENT.    The  gentleman  is  not  in  order. 

Mr.  KETCHUM.  I'll  not  press  this  matter,  if  it  is  disagreeable.  I  know 
the  night  is  far  advanced. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  I  must  say  the  gentleman  is  out  of  order.  The  board 
agreed  that  the  parties  should  be  heard  in  the  order  in  which  their  memo- 
rials were  presented — that  the  petitioners  should  have  the  usual  right  to 
reply.  They  have  been  so  heard,  and  the  gentleman  is  therefore  out  of 
order,  unless  the  board  rescinds  its  resolution. 

An  alderman  then  observed,  that  there  were  some  gentlemen  that  were 
desirous  of  putting  in  written  legal  opinions,  and  he  moved  that  they  have 
permission  to  do  so  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  board. 

The  PRESIDENT  said  that  the  next  meeting  of  the  board  was  Monday 
next,  and  therefore  no  order  of  the  board  was  necessary  for  an  adjournment 
on  the  subject. 

It  was,  then,  understood  that  legal  opinions  would  be  received  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  board. 

The  debate  was  here  brought  to  a  close,  and  the  Council 
adjourned  a  few  minutes  before  12  o'clock. 

The  protracted  and  exhaustive  discussion  being  brought  to  a 
close,  and  the  committee,  having  spent  some  time  in  visiting 
schools  and  making  thorough  examinatiqn  of  the  facts  involved 
in  the  question,  prepared  their  report,  which  was  submitted  to 
the  Board  of  Aldermen  on  January  11,  1841,  asking  to  be  dis- 


316  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

charged  from  the  consideration  of  the  subject.     The  report  is 
subjoined  : 

REPORT  OF  THE  SPECIAL   COMMITTEE   OF  THE  BOARD   OF  ALDERMEN. 

BOARD  OF  AI.DF.RMKS,  January  11,  1841. 

The  Special  Committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  petition  of  the  Catho- 
lics for  a  portion  of  the  school  fund,  together  with  the  remonstrances  against 
the  same,  presented  the  following  report  thereon,  which  was,  on  motion, 
accepted,  and  the  committee  discharged,  on  a  division  called  by  Alderman 
Graham,  Jr.  In  the  affirmative — The  President,  Aldermen  Balis,  "Woodhull, 
Benson,  Jones,  Rich,  Chamberlain,  Campbell,  Hatfield,  Jarvis,  Smith,  Nich- 
ols, Graham,  Cooper,  and  Nash — 15.  In  the  negative — Alderman  Pentz — 1. 
And  one  thousand  copies  thereof  ordered  printed,  with  the  vote  taken  on 
the  report. 

SAMUEL  J.  WILLIS,  Clerk. 


Resolved,  That  all  letters  and  papers  touching  and  connected  with  the 
school  fund  question  be  referred  to  the  Special  Committee  appointed  for.  the 
purpose  of  investigating  the  subject. 

By  WILLIAM  CHAMBERLAIN. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed,  in  conformity  to  the 
request  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  that  a  committee  of  the  petition- 
ers for  a  portion  of  the  school  fund,  and  also  of  the  remonstrants,  be  invited 
to  accompany  them  to  examine  the  public  schools,  for  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining what  defects,  if  any,  exist  in  their  organization :  and  that  the  said 
committee  be  instructed  to  report  to  this  board  whether  any  arrangement 
can  be  agreed  upon  which  will  be  mutually  satisfactory  to  the  parties  in- 
terested. 

By  WILLIAM  CHAMBERLAIN. 


The  Special  Committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  petition  of  the  Catho- 
lics of  New  York  relative  to  the  distribution  of  the  school  fund,  the  several 
remonstrances  and  other  documents  connected  with  the  subject,  together 
with  the  above  resolution  of  instructions,  respectfully  submit  the  following 

REPORT. 

In  pursuance  of  the  instructions  contained  in  the  resolution,  they  em- 
ployed two  entire  days  in  visiting  the  public  schools,  accompanied  by  a 
committee  of  the  petitioners,  and  also  of  the  Public  School  Society,  with  a 
view  to  ascertain  if  any  defects  exist  in  their  organization ;  and  after  a 
thorough  scrutiny,  in  which  all  parties  participated,  your  committee  not 
only  failed  to  discover  any  thing  strikingly  defective  in  the  system,  but  be- 
came strongly  impressed  with  a  conviction  that  the  public  schools,  under 
their  present  organization,  are  admirably  adapted  to  afford  precisely  the 
kind  of  instruction  for  which  they  were  instituted.  It  is  deemed  essential 
to  the  welfare  and  security  of  our  Government  that  the  means  of  mental 


EEPOET   OF   THE   SPECIAL   COMMITTEE.  317 

cultivation  should  be  extended  to  every  child  in  the  community.  The  rising 
generation  are  destined  to  h^e  the  future  rulers  of  the  land,  and  their  happi- 
ness can  only  be  secured  by  such  an  education  as  will  constitute  them  an 
intelligent  community,  prepare  them  to  guard  against  the  machinations  of 
demagogues,  and  so  to  exercise  the  rights  and  franchises  of  citizens  as  not 
to  deprive  themselves  of  the  invaluable  privileges  which  are  their  birth- 
right. That  the  public  school  system,  as  now  organized,  is  calculated  to 
effect  these  objects,  your  committee  do  not  entertain  a  doubt ;  but,  though 
they  regard  it  as  an  incalculable  public  blessing,  if  they  could  be  persuaded 
that  it  trespassed  upon  the  conscientious  rights  of  any  portion  of  our  citi- 
zens, they  would  begin  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  its  continuance.  They 
cannot,  however,  conceive  that  it  is  justly  amenable  to  such  a  charge,  so 
long  as  sectarian  dogmas  and  peculiarities  are  excluded  from  the  schools,  and 
no  pupils  are  either  admitted  into  them,  or  excluded  from  them,  against  the 
consent  of  their  natural  or  legal  guardians.  The  system  has  grown  up 
under  the  auspices  of  a  voluntary  association  of  individuals  usually  known 
as  "  The  Public  School  Society,"  formed  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  edu- 
cation, and  admitting  to  membership  any  citizen  of  good  moral  character 
who  is  not  a  clergyman,  upon  a  contribution  of  ten  dollars  to  its  funds. 
This  Society  has  watched  with  indefatigable  vigilance  and  untiring  assidu- 
ity over  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  system,  and  by  their  unrequited  labors 
it  has  been  nurtured  into  maturity.  In  its  present  aspect,  it  is  a  monument 
of  disinterestedness  and  public  spirit,  of  which  our  city  has  reason  to  be 
proud.  Your  committee  hereby  acknowledge  their  indebtedness  to  the 
members  of  that  Society  for  the  prompt  manner  in  which  they  responded  to 
every  call  made  upon  them ;  and  they  cannot  but  hope  that  the  spirit  of 
candor  which  they  have  displayed,  and  which  the  petitioners  in  the  same 
spirit  acknowledge,  will  ultimately  remove  every  barrier  which,  through  mis- 
apprehension, as  your  committee  believe,  has  hitherto  retarded  the  entire 
success  of  their  benevolent  and  patriotic  exertions.  It  has  been  objected  on 
the  part  of  the  petitioners,  that  the  books  used  in  the  public  schools  contain 
passages  that  are  calculated  to  prejudice  the  minds  of  children  against  the 
Catholic  faith.  This  objection  your  committee  discovered  to  be  not  wholly 
unfounded ;  but  we  are  happy  to  have  it  in  our  power  to  add,  that  the 
School  Society  fully  agree  with  us  in  the  opinion  that  nothing  in  the  books 
or  usages  of  the  schools  should  be  continued  that  is  calculated  in  the  re- 
motest degree  to  wound  the  feelings  or  prejudice  the  minds  of  children  in 
favor  of  or  against  any  religious  sect  whatever ;  that  they  have  expunged 
such  passages  in  the  books  as  they  have  been  able  to  discover  in  any  way 
objectionable ;  that  they  desire  to  continue,  and  earnestly  solicit  the  aid  and 
cooperation  of  the  petitioners,  in  the  work  of  expurgation,  until  every 
really  objectionable  feature  shall  be  entirely  obliterated.  The  extreme  diffi-. 
culty  of  this  undertaking  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  some  of  the  very 
same  passages  quoted  by  the  petitioners  as  particularly  objectionable,  and 
which  have  been  obliterated  in  the  public  school  books,  were  found  by  your 
committee  entirely  unobscured  in  the  books  used  in  one  of  the  Catholic 
schools.  It  is  a  melancholy  fact  that,  in  neighborhoods  where  Catholic  chil- 


318  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

dren  arc  numerous,  the  public  schools  number  but  few  children  whose  parents 
profess  the  Catholic  faith  ;  but  after  the  arduous  task  of  expurgation  shall 
have  been  completed,  and  every  well-grounded  objection  removed,  your  com- 
mittee fondly  hope  that  the  school-houses  will  be  filled  with  children,  and 
that  no  parents  or  guardians,  be  their  religious  feelings  what  they  may,  will 
refuse  to  avail  themselves  of  the  benefits  of  the  public  schools  for  the  edu- 
cation of  their  children,  being  fully  persuaded  that  many  years  would  elapse 
before  any  new  system  of  instruction  could  be  organized,  with  advantages 
equal  to  the  one  now  equally  available  to  every  child  in  the  community. 
If,  with  such  a  system,  any  portion  of  the  children  should  be  left  unedu- 
cated, it  cannot  be  justly  chargeable  to  a  want  of  comprehensiveness  in  the 
system,  but  is  more  fairly  attributable  to  imperfections  which  human  legisla- 
tion cannot  remedy.  The  general  objections  to  sectarian  public  schools  do 
not  apply  to  cases  where  children  are  supported  by  charity,  and  necessarily 
confined  to  a  particular  locality,  and  not  open  to  all  children.  Your  com- 
mittee think  that  all  such  establishments'  might  enjoy  the  benefits  of  educa- 
tion at  public  expense,  without  an  infringement  of  the  principles  contended 
for ;  and,  the  rule  being  made  general,  their  participation  in  the  benefits  of 
the  school  fund  would  not  necessarily  constitute  a  public  recognition  of 
their  religious  sectarian  character.  No  school  system  can  be  perfect  which 
does  not  place  the  means  of  education  within  the  reach  of  every  child  who 
is  capable  of  receiving  instruction  ;  and  such  your  committee  believe  to  be 
the  design  and  capacity  of  the  system  now  in  use  in  this  city. 

The  public  school  buildings  are  constructed  upon  a  uniform  model.  The 
books  used  are  the  same  in  all  the  schools,  and  the  classes  and  departments 
in  each  are  so  similarly  constituted  and  provided,  that  the  removal  of  a 
pupil  from  one  school  to  another  will  not  interrupt  his  studies  or  retard  his 
progress.  Though  religion  constitutes  no  specific  part  of  the  system  of 
instruction,  yet  the  discipline  of  the  schools,  and  the  well-arranged  and 
selected  essays  and  maxims  which  abound  in  their  reading-books,  are  well 
calculated  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  children  a  distinct  idea  of  the 
value  of  religion,  the  importance  of  the  domestic  and  social  duties,  the 
existence  of  God,  the  Creator  of  all  things,  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
man's  future  accountability,  present  dependence  upon  a  superintending 
providence,  and  other  moral  sentiments  which  do  not  conflict  with  secta- 
rian views  and  peculiarities. 

The  different  classes  examined  in  several  schools  by  your  committee  ex- 
hibited an  astonishing  progress  in  geography,  astronomy,  arithmetic,  read- 
ing, writing,  &c.,  and  indicated  a  capacity  in  the  system  for  imparting 
instruction  far  beyond  our  expectations  ;  and  though  the  order  and  arrange- 
ment of  each  school  would  challenge  comparison  with  a  camp  under  a  rigid 
disciplinarian,  yet  the  accustomed  buoyancy  and  cheerfulness  of  youth  and 
childhood  did  not  appear  to  be  destroyed  in  any  one  of  them.  Such  were 
the  favorable  impressions  forced  upon  our  minds  by  a  careful  examination 
of  the  public  schools.  It  is  due  to  the  trustees  to  add,  that  not  one  of  our 
visits  was  anticipated,  and  no  opportunity  was  afforded  to  any  of  the  teach- 
ers for  even  a  momentary  preparation.  In  the  course  of  our  investigations, 


REPORT   OF   THE   SPECIAL   COMMITTEE.  319 

we  also  -visited  three  of  the  schools  established  by  the  petitioners,  and  for 
the  benefit  of  which  a  portion  of  the  school  fund  is  solicited.  We  found 
them,  as  represented  by  the  petitioners,  lamentably  deficient  in  accommoda- 
tions and  supplies  of  books  and  teachers.  The  rooms  "were  all  excessively 
crowded  and  poorly  ventilated,  the  books  much  worn  as  well  as  deficient  in 
numbers,  and  the  teachers  not  sufficiently  numerous.  Yet,  with  all  these 
disadvantages,  though  not  able  to  compete  successfully  with  the  public 
schools,  they  exhibited  a  progress  which  was  truly  creditable ;  and,  with 
the  same  means  at  their  disposal,  they  would  doubtless  soon  be  able,  under 
suitable  direction,  greatly  to  improve  their  condition.  The  object  of  the 
petitioners  is  to  supply  these  deficiencies  from  the  fund  provided  by  the 
bounty  of  the  State  for  the  purposes  of  common  school  education.  But, 
however  strongly  our  sympathies  may  be  excited  in  behalf  of  the  poor  chil- 
dren assembled  in  these  schools,  such  is  the  state  of  the  public  mind  on  this 
subject,  that,  if  one  religious  sect  should  obtain  a  portion  of  the  school 
fund,  every  other  one  would  present  a  similar  claim,  and  it  would  be  a  sig- 
nal for  the  total  demolition  of  the  system  which  has  grown  up  under  the 
guidance  of  many  years  of  toilsome  experience ;  attaining  a  greater  degree 
of  perfection  than  has  perhaps  ever  before  been  achieved,  and  which  is 
probably  extending  a  greater  amount  of  instruction,  at  smaller  expense,  than 
can  possibly  be  imparted  by  any  other  school  system  that  has  been  devised. 
This  result  of  such  a  disposal  of  the  school  funds  would  most  probably  be 
followed  by  a  counteraction  in  the  public  mind,  which  would  lead  to  a  revo- 
cation of  the  act  by  a  succeeding  Common  Council,  and  the  awakening  of  a 
spirit  of  intolerance,  which  in  our  country  is,  of  all  calamities,  the  one  most 
to  be  dreaded.  Political  intolerance  is  an  unmitigated  evil ;  but  the  expe 
rience  of  past  ages  ought  to  admonish  us  to  guard  with  unceasing  vigilance 
against  religious  intolerance,  as  an  evil  greater  in  magnitude  in  proportion 
as  eternal  consequences  exceed  those  of  time.  So  long  as  Government 
refuses  to  recognize  religious  sectarian  differences,  no  danger  need  be  appre- 
hended from  this  source ;  but  when  it  begins  to  legislate  with  particular 
reference  to  any  particular  denomination  of  Christians,  in  any  manner  which 
recognizes  their  religious  peculiarities,  it  oversteps  a  boundary  which  public 
opinion  has  established,  violates  a  principle  which  breathes  in  all  our  con- 
stitutions, and  opens  a  door  to  that  unholy  connection  of  politics  with  reli- 
gion which  has  so  often  cursed  and  desolated  Europe.  Under  these  impres- 
sions of  the  impossibility  of  granting  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  without 
producing  the  most  fatal  consequences,  and  impressed,  at  the  same  time, 
with  an  anxious  desire  to  remove  every  obstacle  out  of  the  way  of  the  pub- 
lic education  of  their  children,  if  it  could  be  done  without  sacrificing  any 
fundamental  principle,  your  committee  invited  the  School  Society  and  the 
petitioners  to  appoint  delegates  to  meet  them,  with  a  view  to  effect  a  com- 
promise, if  possible.  The  invitation  was  promptly  responded  to,  and  several 
meetings  were  held,  at  which  the  subject  was  fully  and  very  courteously  dis- 
cussed in  all  its  bearings ;  and  though  we  extremely  regret  to  report  that 
the  conferences  did  not  result  as  favorably  as  we  had  hoped,  yet  the  spirit 
and  tenor  of  the  following  propositions,  submitted  at  our  request  by  both 


320  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  School  Society  and  the  petitioners,  encourage  a  belief  that  our  labor 
may  not  have  been  entirely  in  vain. 


PROPOSITION  ON   THE  PART   OF  THE   PETITIONERS. 

The  schools  represented  by  the  undersigned,  wherein  children  are  in- 
structed free  of  charge,  shall  be  placed  under  the  supervision  of,  conform  to 
the  system  and  discipline  adopted  by,  the  Public  School  Society,  and  con- 
sent that  all  the  expenditures  of  the  schools  shall  be  made  under  the  direc- 
tion of  that  institution,  to  the  purposes  of  common  school  education,  and  to 
no  other  purpose  whatsoever,  upon  the  following  terms  : 

1st.  That  there  shall  be  reserved  to  the  managers,  or  trustees,  of  these 
schools  respectively,  the  designation  of  the  teachers  to  be  appointed  therein ; 
who  shall  be  subjected  to  the  examination  of  a  committee  of  the  Public 
School  Society,  shall  be  fully  qualified  for  the  duties  of  their  appointment, 
and  of  unexceptionable  moral  character ;  or,  in  the  event  of  the  trustees  or 
managers  failing  to  present  individuals  for  these  situations  of  that  descrip- 
tion, then  individuals  having  like  qualifications,  and  of  unexceptionable 
character,  to  be  selected  and  appointed  by  the  Public  School  Society,  who 
shall  be  acceptable  to  the  managers  or  trustees  of  the  schools  to  which  they 
shall  be  appointed  ;  but  no  person  to  be  continued  as  a  teacher  in  either  of 
the  schools  referred  to,  against  the  wishes  of  the  trustees  or  managers 
thereof. 

2d.  That  the  schools  shall  be  open  at  all  times  to  the  inspection  of  any 
authorized  agent  or  officer  of  the  city  or  State  government,  with  liberty  to 
visit  the  same  and  examine  the  books  used  therein,  or  the  teachers,  touching 
the  course  and  system  of  instruction  pursued  in  the  schools,  or  in  relation  to 
any  matter  connected  therewith. 

The  undersigned  are  willing  that,  in  the  superintendence  of  their  schools, 
every  specified  requirement  of  any  and  every  law  passed  by  the  Legislature 
of  the  State,  or  the  ordinances  of  the  Common  Council,  to  guard  against 
abuse  in  the  matter  of  common  school  education,  shall  be  rigidly  enforced 
and  exacted  by  the  competent  public  authorities. 

They  believe  that  the  benevolent  object  of  every  such  law  is  to  bring  the 
means  of  a  plain  education  within  the  reach  of  the  child  of  every  poor  man, 
without  damaging  their  religion,  whatever  it  may  be,  or  the  religious  rights 
of  any  such  child  or  parent. 

It  is  in  consequence  of  v?bat  they  consider  the  damaging  of  their  religion 
and  their  religious  rights,  in  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  that 
they  have  been  obliged  to  withdraw  their  children  from  them.  The  facts 
which  they  have  already  submitted,  and  which  have  been  more  than  sus- 
tained by  the  sentiments  uttered  on  behalf  of  the  Society,  in  the  late  dis- 
cussion, prove  that  they  were  not  mistaken. 

As  regards  the  organization  of  their  schools,  they  are  willing  that  they 
should  be  under  the  same  police  and 'regulation  as  those  of  the  Public 
School  Society ;  the  same  hours,  the  same  order,  the  same  exercises,  even  the 
same  inspection. 


LI  NDLEY:  MU  RP  AS: 


PROPOSITION   ON   BEHALF   OF   THE   SCHOOL    SOCIETY.  321 

But  the  books  to  be  used  for  exercises  in  learning  to  read  or  spell,  in  his- 
tory, geography,  and  all  such  elementary  knowledge  as  could  have  a  ten- 
dency to  operate  on  their  hearts  and  minds  in  reference  to  their  religion, 
must  be,  so  far  as  Catholic  children  are  concerned,  and  no  farther,  such  as 
they  shall  judge  proper  to  put  in  their  hands.  But  nothing  of  their  dog- 
mas, nothing  against  the  creed  of  any  other  denomination,  shall  be  intro- 
duced. 

(Signed)  HUGH  SWEENY, 

JAMES  W.  McKEON. 

XEW  YOEK,  December  19,  1840. 


PROPOSITION   OX   BEHALF   OF  THE  SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

In  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  committee  of  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men, the  undersigned  committee  of  the  New  York  Public  School  Society 
submit  the  following  propositions  as  a  basis  of  a  compromise  with  their 
Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens  on  the  subject  of  the  public  schools  ;  which 
propositions  they  are  willing  to  support  before  the  trustees  of  the  Society, 
and  which  they  believe  will  be  sanctioned  by  that  board. 

The  Trustees  of  the  New  York  Public  School  Society  will  remove  from 
the  class-books  in  the  schools  all  matters  which  may  be  pointed  out  as  offen- 
sive to  their  Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens,  should  any  thing  objectionable 
yet  remain  in  them. 

They  will  also  exclude  from  the  school  libraries  (the  use  of  which  is  per- 
mitted to  the  pupils,  but  not  required  of  them)  every  work  written  with  a 
view  to  prejudice  the  mind  of  the  reader  against  the  tenets  or  practices  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  or  the  general  tendency  of  which  is  to  produce 
the  same  effect. 

They  will  receive  and  examine  any  books  which  may  be  recommended 
for  the  use  of  the  schools ;  and  should  such  books  be  adapted  to  their  sys- 
tem of  instruction,  and  void  of  any  matter  offensive  to  other  denominations, 
they  shall  be  introduced  so  soon  as  opportunity  may  be  afforded  by  a  call 
for  new  books. 

Any  suggestions  in  reference  to  alterations  in  the  plan  of  instruction  or 
course  of  studies,  which  may  be  offered,  shall  receive  prompt  consideration  ; 
and,  if  not  inconsistent  with  the  general  system  of  instruction  now  prevail- 
ing in  the  schools,  nor  with  the  conscientious  rights  of  other  denominations, 
they  shall  be  adopted. 

The  building  situated  in  Mulberry  street,  now  occupied  by  Roman  Cath- 
olic schools,  shall,  if  required  for  the  use  of  the  Public  School  Society,  be 
purchased  or  hired,  on  equitable  terms,  by  the  trustees,  should  such  an 
arrangement  be  desired. 

Every  effort  will  be  made  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society 
to  prevent  any  occurrence  in  the  schools  which  might  be  calculated  to 
wound  the  feelings  of  Roman  Catholic  children,  or  to  impair  their  confi- 
dence in,  or  diminish  their  respect  for,  the  religion  of  their  parents. 

Anxious  to  keep  open  every  avenue  to  such  an  arrangement  as  will  lead 
to  a  general  attendance  of  the  Roman  Catholic  children  at  the  public 
21 


THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

schools,  and  fully  aware  that  some  things  may  have  escaped  their  observa- 
tion which  might  he  modified  without  violation  of  the  conscientious  rights 
of  others,  the  undersigned  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that,  in  offer- 
ing the  foregoing  propositions  as  the  basis  of  an  arrangement,  it  is  not  in- 
tended to  exclude  other  propositions  which  the  Roman  Catholics  may  make, 
provided  they  do  not  interfere  with  the  principles  by  which  the  trustees  feel 
themselves  bound. 

(Signed)  SAMUEL  F.  MOTT,      \ 

A.  P.  HAL.SEY,  >  Committee. 

J.  SMYTH  ROGERS,     i 

NEW  YORK,  December  19,  1910. 


Your  committee  deem  it  proper  to  remark,  in  vindication  of  the  School 
Society,  that  they  were  only  one  of  the  numerous  remonstrants  against  the 
prayer  of  the  petitioners.  Their  views  were  represented  in  the  late  discus- 
sion before  the  board  only  by  their  legal  advisers,  Messrs.  Sedgewick  and 
Ketchum.  The  other  gentlemen  who  participated  in  the  discussion  repre- 
sented other  bodies  which  are  not  in  any  manner  connected  with  them. 
Sentiments  were  uttered  by  some  of  them  which  the  School  Society  do  not 
entertain,  and  for  which  they  are  not  justly  accountable.  This  explanation 
is  deemed  proper,  in  consequence  of  a  remark  in  the  above  proposition  of 
the  petitioners  which  appears  to  be  founded  on  an  erroneous  impression. 
The  unwillingness  of  the  petitioners  to  agree  to  any  terms  which  did  not 
recognize  the  distinctive  character  of  their  schools  as  Catholic  schools,  or 
which  would  exclude  sectarian  supervision  from  them  entirely,  was  the 
obstacle  to  a  compromise,  which  could  not  be  overcome.  However  much 
we  may  lament  the  consequences,  we  are  not  disposed  to  question  the  right 
of  our  Catholic  fellow-citizens  to  keep  their  children  separated  from  inter- 
course with  other  children ;  but  we  do  not  believe  the  Common  Council 
would  be  justified  in  facilitating  such  an  object.  They  have  an  unquestion- 
able right  to  pursue  such  a  course,  if  the  dictates  of  conscience  demand  it 
of  them  ;  and  they  have  a  just  claim  to  be  sustained  by  the  Common  Coun- 
cil in  the  exercise  of  that  right ;  but  they  cannot  justly  claim  public  aid  to 
carry  out  such  intentions,  unless  they  can  show  that  the  public  good  would 
be  promoted  by  it,  and  that  such  public  aid  can  be  extended  to  them  with- 
out trespassing  upon  the  conscientious  rights  of  others.  But  if  any  religious 
society  or  sect  should  be  allowed  the  exclusive  right  to  select  the  books, 
appoint  or  nominate  the  teachers,  or  introduce  sectarian  peculiarities  of  any 
kind  into  a  public  school,  the  exercise  of  such  a  right,  in  any  one  particular, 
would  very  clearly  constitute  such  school  a  sectarian  school,  and  its  support 
at  the  public  expense  would,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  be  a  trespass 
upon  the  conscientious  rights  of  every  taxpayer  who  disapproved  of  the 
religion  inculcated  by  the  sect  to  which  such  school  might  be  attached ; 
because  they  would  be  paying  taxes  for  the  support  of  a  religion  which  they 
disapproved.  Your  committee  are,  therefore,  fully  of  the  opinion  that  the 
granting  of  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners,  or  conforming  to  the  terms  of  the 
proposals  submitted  by  the  committee  who  represented  them,  would  render 


KEPOST   OF   THE   SPECIAL   COMMITTEE.  323 

the  school  system  liable  to  the  charge  of  violating  the  rights  of  conscience 
— a  charge  which  would  be  fatal  to  the  system,  because  it  would  invalidate 
its  just  claim  to  public  patronage. 

The  proposition  of  the  committee  who  represent  the  Public  School  Soci- 
ety appears  to  us  to  have  been  conceived  in  a  liberal  spirit.  Your  commit- 
tee think  it  goes  as  far  as  a  due  regard  to  the  true  objects  of  the  institution 
would  warrant,  and  seems  to  open  an  avenue  which  we  would  fain  hope  may 
yet  lead  to  a  satisfactory  arrangement.  Both  propositions  exhibit  more  lib- 
erality, probably,  than  either  party  had  before  given  the  other  credit  for ; 
and  we  hope  that  result  may  prove  to  be  an  important  step  toward  the  ac- 
complishment of  an  object  which  every  patriot  must  desire  with  intense 
anxiety.  Your  committee  respectfully  ask  to  be  discharged  from  the  further 
consideration  of  the  subject. 

WILLIAM  CHAMBERLAIN, 
ROBERT  JONES, 
JOSIAH  RICH. 

The  report  of  the  committee  being  read,  the  question  on  its 
acceptance  and  adoption  was  put,  and  decided  in  the  affirmative, 
as  follows : 

Ayes — The  President  (E.  F.  Purdy),  Aldermen  Balis,  "Wood- 
hull,  Benson,  Jones,  Rich,  Chamberlain,  Campbell,  Hatfield, 
Jarvis,  Smith,  Nichols,  Graham,  Cooper,  and  Nash — 15. 

Nay — Alderman  Pentz — 1. 

The  application  of  the  Roman  Catholics  for  the  school 
moneys  was  thus  negatived,  and  the  committee  were  discharged. 

The  proceedings  in  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen  were 
interesting  and  important.  The  various  petitions  and  remon- 
strances were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Arts,  Sciences,  and 
Schools,  whose  report  was  submitted  on  the  27th  of  April.  A 
brief  statement  of  the  facts,  together  with  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee, will  be  found  in  the  Appendix  marked  B. 


324  •      THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

EXPURGATION   OF  SCHOOL-BOOKS.— 1840-1841. 

Propositions  of  Bishop  Dubois  relative  to  School-Books — Rev.  Felix  Varela — Commit 
tee  of  Examination  and  Correspondence  Appointed — Report  of  the  Committee-  - 
Letter  of  Rev.  Felix  Varela — Letter  to  the  Freeman's  Journal  by  Rev.  John 
Power,  D.D. — Letter  to  Dr.  Powers  from  the  Committee — Address  of  the  Roman 
Catholics — Reply  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Society — Letter  to  Bishop  Hughes- 
Reply  of  Bishop  Hughes — Letter  of  David  Graham  to  the  Society — Reply  of  the 
Committee — Expurgation  of  School-Books. 

THE  exciting  discussion  relative  to  the  distribution  of  the 
school  fund  brought  into  requisition  all  the  arguments  and  objec- 
tions on  both  sides  of  the  question,  and,  among  the  grounds  of 
complaint,  it  was  urged  by  the  parties  who  advocated  a  change 
in  the  apportionment  of  the  school  money,  that  the  text-books  in 
use  in  the  public  schools  contained  passages  which  were  not 
merely  objectionable  to  Roman  Catholics,  but  hostile  to  their 
faith,  some  of  them  being  even  "  defamatory,"  and  at  the  same 
time  false  in  their  statements  of  historical  facts. 

The  trustees  of  the  Society  were  anxious  to  remove  every 
objection,  and  took  measures  to  secure  the  fullest  information 
upon  the  subject  from  the  highest  authorities  in  the  Churcb, 
among  laymen  as  well  as  the  clergy,  in  order  that  the  obnoxious 
passages  might  be  detected  and  removed.  This  measure  formed, 
at  the  time,  the  topic  of  animated  discussion,  and  the  fkcts  are 
worthy  of  detail  as  an  important  event  in  the  history  of  the 
school  system. 

•  The  reader  will  have  noticed,  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the 
controversy  of  1834,  between  Bishop  Dubois  and  the  trustees 
relative  to  Public  School  No.  5,  in  Mott  street,  that  he  submit- 
ted several  propositions  to  the  Board  of  Trustees,  the  third  of 
which  was  as  follows  : 

3d.  That  no  books  shall  be  received  in  the  school  but  such  as  will  have 
been  submitted  to  the  bishop  as  free  from  sectarian  principles,  or  calumnies 


COMMITTEE   APPOINTED   TO   EXAMINE   BOOKS.  325 

against  his  religion ;  and  as  many  otherwise  good  books  may  require  only 
that  such  passages  should  be  expunged,  or  left  out  in  binding,  that,  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  bishop,  the  board  will  order  it  to  be  done. 

At  that  time  no  further  action  was  taken  in  the  matter,  as 
the  trustees  could  not  concede  the  general  proposition  of  the 
bishop,  and  no  reply  to  their  letter  was  ever  received. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  trustees  held  at  Public  School  No.  5,  for 
the  annual  examination  on  March  24,  1840,  the  Vice-President 
stated  that  Rev.  Felix  Varela  had  made  a  request  to  be  fur- 
nished with  a  set  of  the  reading-books  used  in  the  schools,-and 
the  following  resolution  was  immediately  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  be  requested  to  send  a  copy  of  each  of  said 
books  to  Mr.  Varela  for  his  inspection. 

The  following  resolution  was  also  unanimously  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  the  board  continues  to  entertain  an  anxious  desire  to 
remove  every  objection  which  the  members  of  the  Catholic  Church  may 
have  to  the  books  used  or  the  studies  pursued  in  the  public  schools,  and 
that  the  Secretary  be  requested  to  renew  the  assurance  given  on  a  former 
occasion,  that  any  suggestion  or  remarks  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Varela  may 
deem  it  right  to  make,  on  his  own  behalf  and  that  of  his  associates,  after 
said  books  have  been  examined,  shall  receive  the  most  serious  and  respect- 
ful consideration  of  this  board. 

The  resolutions  and  books  were  ordered  to  be  transmitted  to 
Mr.  Varela,  and  soon  after  the  receipt  he  made  a  reply.  At 
the  meeting  of  the  trustees  held  on  the  1st  of  May,  Mr.  Yarela's 
response  was  read,  and  the  following  resolution  was  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed  to  examine  the  books  in 
use  in  the  public  schools,  including  those  in  the  libraries,  with  a  view  to 
ascertain  and  report  whether  they  contain  any  thing  derogatory  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  or  any  of  its  religious  tenets,  with  power  to  com- 
municate with  such  persons  of  that  Church  as  may  be  authorized  to  meet 

them  in  reference  to  such  alterations. 

• 

The  committee  so  appointed  consisted  of  J.  Smyth  Rogers, 
M.D.,  Joseph  B.  Collins,  Samuel  F.  Mott,  James  F.  Depeyster, 
and  Robert  Hogan,  M.D.  * 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Society  held  on  the  25th  of  Septem- 
ber, called  for  the  consideration  of  the  action  of  the  committee, 
the  following  report  was  presented  and  adopted,  and  the  recom- 


326  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

mendation  that  the  subject  be  referred  to  the  Executive  Com 
mittee  was  adopted : 

To  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  : 

The  committee  appointed  on  the  1st  of  May,  1840,  to  examine  the  school- 
books,  confer  with  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  &c.,  RESPECTFULLY  REPORT  : 

That  they  have  devoted  much  time  in  discharging  to  the  best  of  their 
ability,  the  important  duty  assigned  them.  Soon  after  their  appointment, 
the  secretary  placed  in  their  hands  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Varela,  with  a 
few  remarks  regarding  the  school-books,  copies  of  which  had  been  placed  in 
his  hand  under  the  resolution  of  the  board,  passed  on  24th  of  March.  A 
copy  of  Dr.  Varela's  letter  is  appended,  marked  A. 

The  committee  early  sought  and  obtained  an  interview  with  the  Very 
Rev.  Dr.  Power,  Vicar-General  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Diocese  of  New 
York,  during  which  he  treated  the  subject  with  much  apparent  frankness 
and  candor,  but  gave  very  little  encouragement  to  expect  a  satisfactory 
arrangement  of  the  points  at  issue.  It  resulted,  however,  in  his  requesting 
a  copy  of  the  school-books,  with  an  understanding  that,  when  he  had  ex- 
amined them,  he  would  communicate  with  your  committee.  After  a  lapse 
of  several  weeks,  and  when  the  committee  were  in  daily  expectation  of  a 
communication  from  Dr.  Power,  a  letter  under  his  signature  appeared  in  the 
Freeman's  Journal,  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  appendix,  marked  C.  This 
unlooked-for  course  on  the  part  of  the  reverend  gentleman  induced  the 
committee  to  address  a  letter  to  him,  as  per  copy  herewith,  marked  D,  to 
which  the  committee  have  not  received  any  reply.  About  the  middle  of 
August,  the  Roman  Catholics  of  this  city  issued  an  "  Address  to  the  People 
of  the  City  and  State  of  New  York,"  urging  their  claims  to  a  portion  of  the 
school  money ;  see  copy,  marked  E.  The  extraordinary  character  of  por- 
tions of  this  address  appeared  to  the  committee  to  call  for  a  prompt  reply. 
They  accordingly  prepared,  and,  with  the  sanction  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, issued  a  reply,  a  copy  of  which  is  annexed,  marked  F.  Subsequent 
to  this,  the  committee  had  an  informal  interview  with  the  Right  Rev.  Dr. 
Hughes,  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  Coadjutor  of  New  York,  which  resulted  in 
a  request  on  his  part  to  be  furnished  with  copies  of  the  school-books,  and 
as  each  member  of  the  committee  confidently  supposed,  for  the  purpose  of 
uniting  with  the  committee  in  ascertaining  objectionable  passages.  The 
books  were  sent,  and  a  letter  was  addressed  to  the  bishop,  a  copy  of  which 
is  annexed  herewith,  marked  G.  The  answer  was  received,  marked  H. 

By  referring  to  the  report  of  the  committee  on  "  Arts  and  Sciences,  and 
Common  Schools  "  of  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen,  to  whom  was  re- 
ferred the  petition  of  the  Roman  Catholics  (p.  352  of  Document  No.  80),  it 
is  stated  that  the  committee  had  "  been  informed,  by  the  officers  of  the 
Public  School  Society,  that  no  books  are  used  in  the  schools  which  reflect  in 
any  degree  upon  the  Catholic  Church."  Your  committee  are  unable  to 
account  for  this  misapprehension  on  tho  part  of  the  Board  of  Assistant 
Aldermen.  By  reference  to  the  annexed  copy  of  a  note  addressed  to  David 
Graham,  Jr.,  Esq.,  chairman  of  that  committee,  in  reply  to  one  from  him, 


EXPURGATION   OF   SCHOOL   BOOKS.  327 

marked  I,  it  will  be  perceived  that  your  committee  expressly  acknowledged 
the  existence  of  such  passages.    Their  answer  is  subjoined,  marked  J. 

From  the  foregoing  statement,  and  the  accompanying  documents,  it  will 
bo  seen  that  your  committee  has  been  actuated  throughout  by  the  motives 
which  influenced  the  Board  of  Trustees  in  creating  it — that  is,  a  sincere 
desire  to  remove,  as  far  as  may  be  done,  without  sacrificing  the  rights  and 
feelings  of  others,  every  obstacle  to  the  attendance  of  Catholic  children  at 
the  public  schools.  It  is  now  evident  that  the  cooperation  of  the  Catholic 
clergy  in  effecting  an  expurgation  of  the  books  cannot  be  relied  on.  The 
committee  is  fully  aware  of  the  importance  of  such  aid  in  order  to  secure 
their  influence  in  promoting  the  attendance  of  Catholic  children,  and,  possi- 
bly, in  preventing  the  necessity  of  a  second  revision.  But  it  is  believed  that 
the  time  has  arrived  for  the  trustees  to  accomplish  the  work  without  them. 
If  it  does  not  have  the  effect  so  greatly  desired,  the  trustees  will  have  the 
satisfaction  of  reflecting  that  they  have  discharged  their  duty  in  the  prem- 
ises. Under  a  strong  impression  of  the  duty  which  devolves  on  the  trustees 
to  expunge  words  and  passages  clearly  objectionable,  your  committee  had 
made  some  progress  in  the  work  ;  but  a  reference  to  the  resolution  appoint- 
ing them  showed  that  their  powers  do  not  extend  beyond  reporting  the 
offensive  parts.  They  have,  therefore,  asked  for  the  present  meeting,  in 
order  to  lay  before  the  board  the  parts  adverted  to,  and  obtain  permission  to 
continue  the  work. 

In  conclusion,  the  committee  have  to  report  that  a  petition  is  now  b«fbre 
the  Board  of  Aldermen,  with  a  renewed  request  for  aid  to  support  the 
Roman  Catholic  schools.  As  the  petition  has  not  yet  been  printed,  the  com- 
mittee is  unable  to  furnish  a  copy.  It  is  with  feelings,  more  of  sorrow  than 
indignation,  that  this  committee  have  to  add  that  this  petition — notwith- 
standing the  repeated  assurances  made  to  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy,  that 
every  obnoxious  word  should  be  expunged  from  the  school-books,,  and  that 
the  trustees  only  await  their  aid  in  selecting  them — contains  some  quota- 
tions, and  again  urges  them,  as  a  reason  why  they  cannot  permit  their  chil- 
dren to  attend  the  public  schools. 

The  committee  respectfully  suggest  whether,  under  existing  circuna^ 
stances,  it  may  not  be  expedient  to  refer  further  movements  in  opposing  all 
applications  for  school  money  for  schools  connected  with  churches,  to  the 
Executive  Committee,  particularly  as  that  committee  will  meet  nearly  every 
day  for  some  time  to  come,  in  making  the  usual  annual  examinations  of  the 
schools. 

All  which  is  repcctfully  submitted, 

JOSEPH  B.  COLLINS;  Chairman  pr*  tern. 

NEW  YOBK,  September  25,  1840. 


A. 

KS-w  Yonx,  April  8, 1810. 

DEAK  SIR  :  I  received  the  books  you  had  the  kindness  of  sending  to  me, 
according  to  a  resolution  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Common  Schools, 
in  consequence  of  an  information  given  by  one  of  them  as  to  my  wish  of. 


328  TIIK    I'l'UUC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

examining  said  books.  I  thank  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  this  mark  of 
good  feelings,  and,  in  order  to  comply  with  their  request,  I  will  express  my 
opinion  on  the  subject. 

The  ''  Scripture  Lessons "  present,  in  the  very  title-page,  an  attack 
against  the  Catholic  Church  ;  for  it  is  expressly  stated  that  they  are  without 
note  or  comment,  so  as  to  call  the  atteution  of  a  child,  and  to  tell  him  : 
"Your  Church  is  wrong  in  giving  the  Bible  always  with  notes ;  disregard 
her,  and  read  the  Scriptures  without  any  note  or  comment,  and  find  out  o 
religion  for  yourself."  This  is  to  establish  at  once  the  Protestant  fundamen- 
tal principle,  and  to  make  the  public  schools  completely  sectarian. 

In  the  Geography  (p.  143),  it  is  said  that  the  Catholic  clergy,  who  have 
vast  influence,  oppose  the  diffusion  of  general  knowledge ;  and,  in  the  very 
next  page,  it  is  said  that  Catholics  pay  great  reverence  to  the  priests.  It  is 
very  easy  to  perceive  that  a  child  will  think  very  little  of  such  a  reverence-, 
and  lose  every  regard  for  such  a  ministry. 

There  are  also,  in  the  description  of  Italy,  some  passages  which  evi- 
dently tend  to  diminish  the  consideration  that  a  Catholic  child  has  for  tho 
Catholic  Church.  I  also  noticed,  in  the  "  Reading-Book,"  the  description 
of  the  character  of  Luther,  with  some  expressions  which,  no  doubt,  will 
please  the  Protestants,  but  imply  an  attack  against  the  Catholic  Church. 

By  making  these  few  observations,  I  do  not  allude  to  the  question  as  to 
the  petition  made  by  the  Catholics  to  obtain  a  part  of  the  school  funds,  but 
I  merely  respond  to  the  kindness  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  in  sending  me 
the  books  for  examination. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient 

•    FELIX  VABELA. 
'To  A.  P.  HALSEY,  Secretary  of  Public  School  Society. 


C. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  New  York  Freeman's  Journal : 

SIR  :  In  compliance  with  your  request,  I  must,  in  justice  to  myself,  say 
jfhat  my  .duties  are  of  so  heterogeneous  a  nature  as  to  leave  me  but  little 
time  to  arrange  my  thoughts  to  my  own  satisfaction  on  any  subject.  Yet, 
as  the  education  of  Catholic  children  has  been  always  to  me  a  matter  of 
deep  interest,  I  claim  familiarity  with  the  subject,  and  can  therefore  ap- 
proach it  with  less  timidity  and  reluctance. 

You,  sir,  are  fully  aware  that  the  enemies  of  the  Catholic  priesthood  say 
that  we  keep  the  people  in  ignorance,  in  order  to  promote  our  own  interests. 
"This  charge  has  often  been  repeated,  even  in  this  enlightened  community,  by 
persons  who  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  efforts  we  are  daily  making  to  teach 
those  under  our  care  how  to  employ  the  faculties  which  God  gave  them  to 
the  best  advantage. 

Our  sincere  wish,  sir,  is  to  have  instilled  into  their  minds  a  clear  notion 
of  the  compact  and  duties  of  society.  We  wish  them  to  comprehend  the 
comforts  as  well  as  the  restraints  of  civilization,  knowing  that  they  are  part 
of  >the  materials  which  will  form  the  edifice  of  the  State,  and  which,  by  the 
simple  process  of  a  more  graceful  order  and  position,  will  contribute  to  its 
beauty  and  permanency. 

The  Catholic  clergy  glory  in  an  association  with  the  charms  of  litera- 
ture. They  consider  education,  next  to  the  gospel — to  be  the  best  boon  of 
Heaven  to  man.  They  know  that  it  infuses  a  divinity  into  his  spirit. 

"  Doctrina  scd  vim  promovct  insitam 
Reetiqjie  cultus  pectora  roborant." 

They  know  that  nations  have   been   rendered  formidable   by  knowledge. 
They  know  that  public  liberty  has  never  been  injured  by  understanding  its 


EXPURGATION   OF   SCHOOL   BOOKS.  329 

true  meauing.  They  know  that  freedom  has  not  been  abused  because  soci- 
ety has  learned  to  comprehend  and  obey  the  law.  When,  sir,  I  open  the 
historic  page,  and  learn  that  the  bravest  people  whose  history  we  can  trace, 
loved  and  cultivated  letters — when  I  see  Sparta  making  the  education  of  her 
sons  the  public  care,  and  securing  the  culture  of  their  minds  by  a  public 
provision — with  all  this  in  view,  sir,  I  should  despise  myself  were  I  for  one 
instant  to  place  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  public  instruction,  were  it  based 
on  a  proper  foundation. 

You,  Mr.  Editor,  will  agree  with  me,  that  the  object  of  public  instruc- 
tion is  to  fit  man  for  society.  It  is  also  an  axiom,  that  man  has  various 
duties  to  fulfil,  both  of  a  public  and  private  nature,  toward  the  community. 
He  has  also,  as  a  rational  and  accountable  being,  duties  to  perform  toward 
his  Maker.  Now,  without  religion,  what  security  have  we  that  those  duties 
will  be  punctually  discharged  ?  What  guarantee  have  we  that  man  will  be 
honest  in  the  dark,  and  without  a  witness  ?  We  have  no  pledge,  sir,  that 
the  claims  of  society  will  be  answered ;  and  I  therefore  assert  that  a  purely 
intellectual  education  will  not  fit  a  man  for  society.  On  this  principle,  sir, 
I  am  decidedly  opposed  to  the  education  which  is  now  given  in  our  "  pub- 
lic schools."  It  is  not  based,  as  in  a  Christian  community  it  ought  to  be,  on 
the  Christian  religion.  Its  tendency  is  to  make  deists. 

There  are,  it  is  true,  beautiful  lessons  in  the  class-books  on  the  providence 
of  God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  man's  accountability,  &c. ;  but  these 
lessons  do  not  constitute  Christianity.  We  learn  them  from  the  light  of 
reason  alone,  while  the  positive  ordinances  of  the  Christian  religion  are 
learned  from  revelation ;  and,  as  there  is  not  the  slightest  allusion  to  these 
ordinances,  we  say  that  pure  deism  alone  is  taught  in  these  schools. 

My  second  exception  is  founded  on  the  sectarian  character  of  the  public 
schools.  The  Holy  Scriptures  are  read  every  day,  with  the  restriction  that 
no  specific  tenets  are  to  be  inculcated.  Here,  sir,  we  find  the  great  demar- 
cating principle  between  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  sectaries  introduced 
silently.  The  Catholic  Church  tells  her  children  that  they  must  be  taught 
their  religion  by  AUTHORITY.  The  sects  say,  Read  the  Bible,  judge  for  your- 
selves. The  Bible  is  read  in  the  public  schools,  the  children  are  allowed  to 
judge  for  themselves.  The  Protestant  principle  is  therefore  acted  upon, 
silently  inculcated,  and  the  schools  are  sectarian.  It  may  be  said  that  the 
Bible  is  introduced  for  the  mere  purpose  of  teaching  its  morality.  But 
recollect,  sir,  that  the  morality  of  the  Bible  is  founded  on  the  law  of  nature, 
and  is  a  clearer  evolution  or  expression  of  that  law  ;  and  as  the  motive  for 
introducing  the  Bible  into  the  schools  is  the  inculcation  of  its  morality  only, 
a  severe  logic  forces  me  to  say,  that  the  holy  Book  is  made  ancillary  to  pure 
deism. 

There  are  libraries  connected  with  our  public  schools,  and  it  is  notorious, 
that  books  which  to  Catholics  must  be  exceptionable,  as  containing  the 
most  malevolent  and  foul  attacks  on  their  religion,  were  placed  in  the  way 
of  Catholic  children,  no  doubt  for  the  very  laudable  purpose  of  teaching 
them  to  abhor  and  despise  that  monster  called  popery. 

How,  then,  sir,  can  we  think  of  sending,  under  these  circumstances,  our 
children  to  those  schools,  in  which  every  artifice  is  resorted  to  in  order  to 
seduce  them  from  their  religion  ? 

One  word  to  parents,  before  I  close  this  hasty  communication.  If  it  be 
of  acknowledged  moment  that  parents  should  engage  in  those  duties  which 
concern  the  temporal  welfare  of  their  children,  should  not  the  most  ani- 
mated zeal  be  indulged  in  fixing  and  giving  life  to  every  moral  and  religious 
principle  ?  In  moral  and  religious  acquirements  consist  the  chief  dignity 
and  happiness  of  man.  Deprive  him  these,  and  you  leave  him  ignorant  of 
the  true  grounds  of  rectitude  and  honor,  and  dry  up  the  purest  sources  of 
human  joy ;  you  degrade  him  in  the  creation,  and  render  him  an  improper 
object  for  the  future  reward  of  his  Maker.  Many  parents,  sir,  by  their  in- 


330  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

attention  to  this  part  of  their  duty,  are  the  cause  of  ruin  to  those  whom 
they  professedly  love,  and,  instead  of  being  their  best  friends,  become  their 
worst  enemies. 

The  objections  to  our  claims  for  a  due  portion  of  the  school  fund  are,  I 
think,  urged  in  bad  faith.  It  is  said  that  the  State  cannot  lend  itself  to  the 
support  of  sectarian  principles.  But  recollect,  sir,  that  this  objection  is 
urged  by  those  whose  conduct  is  truly  sectarian,  as  far  as  regards  the  man- 
agement of  the  public  schools.  This,  I  think,  I  have  abundantly  proved. 

When  the  common  school  fund  was  created,  it  was  not  considered  un- 
constitutional to  extend  it  to  the  charity  schools  in  connection  with  the 
incorporated  religious  societies  in  this  city ;  and,  if  I  am  not  much  mistaken, 
the  philanthropic  and  enlightened  statesman  with  whom  the  measure  origi- 
nated, thought  that  the  best  application  of  the  fund  lay  in  giving  it  to  those 
who  would  make  a  proper  use  of  it,  by  giving  that  instruction  which  alone 
can  save  man  from  the  tyranny  of  his  passions,  and  make  him  a  good  mem- 
ber of  society. 

Would  it  not,  Mr.  Editor,  be  a  libel  on  the  memory  of  the  founders  of 
our  glorious  Constitution,  to  pervert  that  instrument  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
think  that  they,  in  disclaiming  a  civil  preference  for  any  form  of  Christianity, 
thereby  intended  that  the  public  education  of  the  country  should  not  be 
founded  on  religion  ?  In  this  respect  I  apprehend  they  did  not  depart  from 
the  rule  of  all  wise  legislators,  and  never  contemplated  that  our  charity 
schools  should  not  participate  in  the  fund  set  apart  for  public  education, 
because  the  catechisms  of  the  different  religious  societies  of  which  this  re- 
public is  composed  would  be  taught  in  them. 

I,  sir,  would  be  the  last  man  to  wish  that  the  State  would  spend  its 
means  in  supporting  sectarianism ;  and  the  principle  that  induces  me  to 
make  this  avowal,  bids  me  also  to  express  my  conviction  that,  unless  public 
instruction  be  connected  with  religious  instruction,  there  is  no  guarantee  for 
the  permanence  of  our  civil  institutions.  I  would,  then,  most  respectfully 
say  to  our  rulers,  Let  mental  cultivation  be  general,  but  let  it  have  religion 
for  its  basis.  This  will  be  the  surest  foundation  not  only  for  your  internal 
improvement,  but  for  the  increase  of  your  general  prosperity.  This  will  be 
the  means  by  which  your  rank  and  consideration  are  to  be  raised  into  com- 
petition with  the  foremost  of  polished  nations. 

I  am,  sir,  with  great  respect,  your  very  humble  servant, 

JOHN  POWEU,  Vicar-General  of  the  Diocese  of  New  York. 

NEW  YOEK,  July  9,  1840. 

D. 

NEW  YOHK,  August,  1840. 

The  undersigned,  on  behalf  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  trustees: 
of  the  Public  School  Society  "  to  examine  the  books  used  in  the  public 
schools,  including  those  in  the  libraries,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  and  report 
whether  they  contain  any  thing  derogatory  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
or  any  of  its  religious  tenets,  with  power  to  communicate  with  such  persons 
of  that  Church  as  may  be  authorized  to  meet  them  in  reference  to  such  alter- 
ations," referring  to  the  interview  had  with  you  on  the  evening  of  the  14th 
of  May  last,  on  the  subject  of  their  appointment,  instruct  me  to  inquire 
whether  you  have  examined  the  books  placed  in  your  hands,  agreeably  to 
the  request  then  made ;  and,  if  so,  whether  you  will  favor  them  with  the 
result  of  your  investigations.  The  committee  has  steadily  prosecuted  the 
objects  indicated  in  the  resolution  appointing  it,  but  does  not  feel  prepared 
to  report  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  until  they  have  the  benefit  of  those  in- 
quiries and  objections  which  your  feelings,  and  the  duties  of  your  station, 
must  alike  prompt.  The  committee  is  anxious  to  discharge  the  duty  assigned 
it  without  delay.  It  is  therefore  very  desirable  to  hear  from  you  as  early  ae 
your  convenience  will  permit. 


EXPURGATION   OF   SCHOOL    BOOKS.  331 

I  am  further  instructed  to  say,  that  the  committee  cannot,  in  justice  to 
themselves  or  to  you,  close  this  communication  without  expressing  the  regret 
and  surprise  caused  by  portions  of  a  letter  under  your  signature,  which 
appeared  in  the  New  York  Freeman's  Journal  of  the  12th  ult.  A  vivid  recol- 
lection of  the  frankness  with  which  you  treated  this  deeply-interesting  sub- 
ject at  the  interview  referred  to,  and  the  voluntary  avowal  then  made  of 
your  entire  satisfaction  with  the  explanation  given  by  the  committee  of  the 
accidental  introduction  into  the  school  libraries  of  a  volume  of  the  "  Tem- 
perance Tales,"  in  which  there  was  one  story  justly  obnoxious  to  Catholic 
censure,  which,  as  you  are  aware,  was  withdrawn  when  discovered,  and 
which,  you  remarked,  might,  under  similar  circumstances,  have  found  its 
way  into  a  Catholic  library,  still  rests  upon  their  minds. 

These  facts  contrast  so  strongly  with  the  imputations  of  base  and  dis- 
honorable motives  in  which  you  have  seen  fit  to  indulge,  and  with  the  im- 
portance into  which  you  attempt  to  magnify  the  single  story  referred  to, 
that  the  committee  will  not  venture  to  express  the  feelings  which  such  a 
course  on  your  part  must  necessarily  give  rise  to.  They  would  gladly  find 
an  adequate  apology  for  this  unmerited  and  unlooked-for  attack  in  the 
"  haste  "  with  which  you  say  it  was  written,  and  in  the  fact,  as  you  allege, 
that  your  duties  are  of  so  "  heterogeneous  a  nature  as  to  leave  you  but  little 
time  to  arrange  your  thoughts  to  your  own  satisfaction  on  any  subject ; " 
and  they  now  submit  to  your  more  calm  and  deliberate  consideration  wheth- 
er, pending  an  examination  of  the  school-books,  with  a  view  to  their  expur- 
gation, in  which  you  promised  cooperation,  it  would  not  have  been  more 
consonant  with  propriety  and  the  generally  acknowledged  courtesies  of  life, 
if  you,  had  suspended  your  public  denunciations  of  a  large  body  of  your 
fellow-citizens  until  they  had  furnished  evidence  cf  "  bad  faith,"  by  refusing 
to  expunge — as  they  assured  you  they  would  do — every  thing  in  the  school- 
books  which  might  be  pointed  out  as  objectionable  by  yourselves  and  asso- 
ciates in  religious  faith. 

On  behalf  of  the  committee. 


E. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLICS  TO  THEIR  FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF 
THE  CITY  AND  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

FELLOW- CITIZENS  :  We,  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
feeling  that  both  our  civil  and  religious  rights  are  abridged  and  injuriously 
affected  by  the  operation  of  the  "common  school  system,"  and  by  the  con- 
struction which  the  Common  Council  have  lately  put  on  the  laws  authoriz- 
ing that  system,  beg  leave  to  state  our  grievances,  with  the  deep  confidence 
in  the  justice  of  the  American  character  that,  if  our  complaints  are  well- 
founded,  you  will  assist  us  in  obtaining  the  redress  to  which  we  are  entitled. 
If  they  are  not  well  founded,  we  are  ready  to  abandon  them. 

We  are  Americans  and  American  citizens.  If  some  of  us  are  foreigners, 
it  is  only  by  the  accident  of  birth.  As  citizens,  our  ambition  is  to  be  Ameri- 
cans ;  and  if  we  cannot  be  so  by  birth,  we  are  so  by  choice  and  preference — 
which  we  deem  an  equal  evidence  of  our  affection  and  attachment  to  the 
laws  and  Constitution  of  the  country.  But  our  children,  for  whose  rights  as 
well  as  our  own  we  contend  in  this  matter,  are  Americans  by  nativity.  So 
that  we  are,  like  yourselves,  either  natives  of  the  soil,  or  like  your  fathers 
from  the  Eastern  world,  having  become  Americans  under  the  sanction  of 
the  Constitution,  by  the  birthright  of  selection  and  preference. 

We  hold,  therefore,  the  same  ideas  of  our  rights  that  you  hold  of  yours. 
We  wish  not  to  diminish  yours,  but  only  to  secure  and  enjoy  our  own.  Nei- 
ther have  we  the  slightest  suspicion  that  you  would  wish  us  to  be  deprived 
of  any  privilege  which  you  claim  for  yourselves.  If,  then,  we  have  suffered 


332  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL. SOCIETY. 

by  the  operation  of  the  "  common  school  system  "  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
it  is  to  be  imputed  rather  to  our  own  supineness,  than  to  any  wish  on  your 
part  that  we  should  be  aggrieved. 

The  intention  of  the  Legislature  of  this  State  in  appropriating  public 
funds  for  the  purposes  of  popular  schools  must  have  been  (whatever  construc- 
tion the  lawyers  of  the  Common  Council  put  upon  it),  to  diffuse  the  bless- 
ings of  education  among  the  people,  without  encroachment  on  the  civil  and 
religious  rights  of  the  citizens.  It  was,  it  must  have  ~been,  to  have  planted  in 
the  minds  of  youth  principles  of  knowledge  and  virtue,  which  would  secure 
to  the  State  a  future  population  of  enlightened  and  virtuous,  instead  of 
ignorant  and  vicious  members.  This  was  certainly  their  general  intention, 
and  no  other  would  have  justified  their  bountiful  appropriation  of  the  pub- 
lic funds. 

But,  in  carrying  out  the  measure,  this  patriotic  and  wise  intention  has 
been  lost  sight  of;  and  in  the  city  of  New  York  at  least,  under  the  late 
arbitrary  determination  of  the  present  Common  Council,  such  intention  of 
the  Legislature  is  not  only  disregarded,  but  the  high  public  ends  to  which 
it  was  directed  are  manifestly  being  defeated. 

Mere  knowledge,  according  to  the  late  decision,  mere  secular  knowledge, 
is  what  we  are  to  understand  by  education,  in  the  sense  of  the  Legislature 
of  New  York.  But  if  you  should  allow  the  smallest  ray  of  religion  to  enter 
the  school-room— if  you  should  teach  the  children  that  there  is  an  eye  which 
sees  every  wicked  thought,  that  there  is  a  God,  a  state  of  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments beyond  this  life,  then,  according  to  the  decision  of  the  Common 
Council,  you  forfeit  all  claim  to  the  bounty  of  the  State,  although  your 
scholars  should  have  become  as  learned  as  Newton  or  wise  as  Socrates  !  Is, 
then,  we  would  ask  you,  fellow-citizens,  a  practical  rejection  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  in  all  its  forms,  and  without  the  substitution  of  any  other,  the 
basis  on  which  you  would  form  the  principles  and  character  of  the  future 
citizens  of  this  great  commonwealth  ?  Are  the  meek  lessons  of  religion  and 
virtue,  which  pass  from  the  mother's  lips  into  the  heart  of  her  child,  to  be 
chilled  and  frozen  by  icy  contact  with  a  system  of  education  thus  inter- 
preted ? 

Is  enlightened  villany  so  precious  in  the  public  eye,  that  science  is  to  be 
cultivated,  whilst  virtue  is  neglected,  and  religion,  its  only  adequate  ground- 
work, is  formally  and  authoritatively  proscribed  ?  Is  it  your  wish  that  vice 
should  thus  be  elevated  from  its  low  and  natural  9ompanionship  with  igno- 
rance and  be  married  to  knowledge  imparted  at  the  public  expense  ? 

We  do  not  say  that  even  the  Common  Council  profess  to  require  that  the 
Christian  religion  should  be  excluded  from  the  common  schools.  They  only 
contend  that  the  inculcation  of  each  or  any  of  its  doctrines  would  be  secta- 
rianism ;  and  thus,  lest  sectarianism  should  be  admitted,  Christianity  is  sub- 
stantially excluded.  Christianity  in  this  country  is  made  up  of  the  different 
creeds  of  the  various  denominations,  and,  since  all  these  creeds  are  pro- 
scribed, the  Christian  religion  necessarily  is  banished  from  the  halls  of  pub- 
lic education. 

The  objections  which  we  have  thus  far  stated,  fellow-citizens,  ought  to 
appear  to  you,  in  our  opinion,  as  strong  to  you  as  they  do  to  us.  For, 
though  we  may  differ  in  our  definition  of  the  religion  of  Christ,  still  we  all 
.generally  profess  to  believe,  to  revere  it,  as  the  foundation  of  moral  virtue 
and  of  social  happiness.  Now,  we  know  of  no  fixed  principle  of  infidelity 
except  the  negation  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  adherents  of  this  prin- 
ciple may  differ  on  other  points  of  skepticism,  but  in  rejecting  Christianity 
they  are  united.  Their  confession  of  faith  is  a  belief  in  the  negative  of 
Christianity,  but  they  reject  it  in  toto  ;  whilst  the  Common  Council  rejects  it 
only  in  all  its  several  parts,  under  the  name  of  sectarianism. 

It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  the  public  school  system  in  the  city  of  New 
York  is  entirely  favorable  to  the  sectarianism  of  infidelity,  and  opposed  only 


EXPURGATION   OF   SCHOOL   BOOKS.  333 

to  that  of  positive  Christianity.  And  is  it  your  wish,  fellow-citizens — is  it 
your  wish  more  than  ours,  that  infidelity  should  have  a  predominancy  and 
advantages  in  the  public  schools  which  are  denied  to  Christianity  ?  Is  it 
your  wish  that  your  children  shall  be  brought  up  under  a  system  of  educa- 
tion, so  called,  which  shall  detach  them  from  the  Christian  belief  which  you 
profess,  whatever  it  may  be,  and  prepare  them  for  initiation  into  the  myste- 
ries of  Fanny  Wrightism,  or  any  other  scheme  of  infidelity  which  may  come 
in  their  way  ?  Are  you  willing  that  your  children,  educated  at  your  ex- 
pense, shall  be  educated  on  a  principle  antagonist  to  the  Christian  religion  ? 
— that  you  shall  have  the  toil  and  labor  of  cultivating  the  ground  and  sow- 
ing the  seed,  in  order  that  infidelity  may  reap  the  harvest  ? 

With  us  it  is  matter  of  surprise  that  conscientious  persons,  of  all  Chris- 
tian denominations,  have  not  been  struck  with  this  bad  feature  of  the  sys- 
tem as  understood  by  the  Common  Council.  A  new  sectarianism  antagonist 
to  all  Christian  sects  has  been  generated  in,  not  the  common  schools,  as  the 
State  originally  understood  the  term,  but  in  the  pullic  schools  of  the  Public 
School  Society.  This  new  sectarianism  is  adopted  by  the  Common  Council 
of  this  city,  and  is  supported,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others,  at  the  public 
expense.  Have  the  conscientious  Methodists,  Episcopalians,  Baptists,  Lu- 
therans, and  others,  no  scruples  of  conscience  at  seeing  their  children,  and 
the  children  of  their  poor,  brought  up  under  this  new  sectarianism  ?  It  is 
not  for  us  to  say ;  but  for  ourselves  we  can  speak  :  and  we  cannot  be  parties 
to  such  a  system  except  by  legal  compulsion  and  against  conscience. 

Let  us  not  be  mistaken.  We  do  not  deny  to  infidels,  for  unbelief,  any 
right  to  which  any  other  citizen  is  entitled. 

But  we  hold  that  the  common  school  system,  as  it  has  been  lately  .inter- 
preted by  the  Common  Council  of  the  city,  necessarily  transfers  to  the  inter- 
est of  infidel  sectarianism  the  advantages  which  are  denied  to  Christian  sec- 
tarianism of  every  kind. 

Again,  let  us  not  be  misunderstood.  We  are  opposed  to  the  admission 
of  sectarianism  of  any  and  of  every  kind,  whether*  Christian  or  anti-Chris- 
tian, in  the  schools  that  are  supported  by  the  State. 

But  we  hold,  also,  that,  so  far  as  the  commonwealth  is  concerned  in  the 
character  of  her  future  citizens,  even  the  least  perfect  religion  of  Christian 
sectarianism  would'be  better  than  no  religion  at  all.  And  we  hold  that,  of 
all  bad  uses  to  which  the  public  money  can  be  perverted,  among  the  worst 
would  be  the  expending  of  it,  in  the  shape  of  a  bounty  to  education,  for  the 
spread  and  propagation  of  sectarian  infidelity.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  sup- 
pose that  either  the  Legislature,  Common  Council,  or  School  Commissioners 
ever  intended  such  perversion.  We  hold,  nevertheless,  that  the  consequence 
which  we  have  pointed  out,  and  the  apprehension  of  which  is  one  of  the 
reasons  why  we  Roman  Catholics  cannot  conscientiously  participate  in  the 
benefits  of  these  schools,  is  necessary  and  inevitable.  The  education  which 
each'denomination  might,  under  proper  restraints  and  vigilance,  give  to  its 
own  poor,  has  passed  and  become  a  monopoly  in  the  hands  of  "  The  Public 
School  Society  of  New  York."  That  corporation  is  in  high  and  almost 
exclusive  standing  with  the  Common  Council.* 

*  "  The  Public  School  Society  "  was  originally  incorporated  for  "  the  education  of 
poor  children  who  do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  provided  for  by,  any  religious  society." 
The  purpose  was  humane,  patriotic,  and  benevolent.  But,  alas !  it  has  been  most 
sadly  departed  from.  One  of  the  motives — indeed,  the  principal  one — which  they  set 
forth  in  their  petition  for  a  charter  from  the  people  and  Legislature  of  the  State,  was, 
in  their  own  language,  "  the  benefits  which  would  result  to  society  from  the  education 
of  such  children,  BY  IMPLANTING  IN  THEIR  MINDS  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  RELIGIOX  AND 
MORALITY."  This  was  in  1805.  In  1808,  they  obtained  a  considerable  appropriation 
of  the  public  money,  independent  of  the  school  fund  ;  and  had  themselves  designated 
the  "  Free-School  Society  of  New  York,"  with  an  extension  of  their  powers  reaching 


334:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

Now,  the  education  which  is  imparted  on  the  principle  of  the  schools  of 
that  Society  is,  in  our  decided  opinion,  calculated,  from  its  defectiveness,  to 
disappoint  the  benevolent  hope  of  legislative  bounty,  and  to  make  bad  and 
dangerous  citizens.  We  all  know  that  the  belief  of  another  world  is,  ulti- 
mately, at  the  base  of  all  that  is  just  and  sacred  in  this.  The  love  of  God, 
the  hope  of  future  rewards,  the  dread  of  future  punishment — one  or  all  of 
these  constitute  and  must  be  the  foundation  of  conscience  in  the  breast  of 
every  man.  Where  neither  of  them  exists,  conscience  is  but  an  idle  word. 
Religion  is  but  the  development  of  these  important  truths,  governing  man 
by  their  internal  influence  on  his  passions  and  affections,  regulating  the 
order  of  his  duties  to  God,  to  his  country,  to  his  neighbor  and  himself.  If 
they  have  their  full  force,  he  will  be  a  man  of  justice,  probity,  and  truth. 
And  in  proportion  as  such  men  are  numerous  in  the  commonwealth,  in  the 
same  proportion  will  the  State  enjoy  security  and  happiness  from  within, 
honor  and  high  estimation  from  without. 

Now,  holding  these  truths  as  indisputable,  we  ask  you,  fellow-citizens,  to 
say  whether  this — not  common,  but  public — school  system,  as  it  is  now  ad- 
ministered, under  the  interpretation  of  the  Common  Council,  is  calculated 
to  raise  up  for  your  successors  in  the  State  men  of  this  description ;  or, 
rather,  whether  it  does  not  promise  you  men  of  a  different  and  diametrically 
opposite  character  ?  The  Common  Council  makes  it  a  condition — an  essen- 
tial one  of  those  schools — that  religion  shall  not  be  taught,  for  this  would 
be  sectarianism.  And  thus  the  intellect  is  cultivated,  if  you  please,  but  the 

"  all  children  who  are  proper  objects  of  gratuitous  education."  In  1810,  they  obtained 
an  act  (for  they  never  slumbered),  putting  the  right  of  membership  at  a  contribution 
of  fifty  dollars,  and  providing  for  them  another  extra  appropriation.  Thus  they  con- 
tinued from  year  to  year,  until  they  finally  got  themselves  denominated  "  The  Public 
School  Society  of  New  York,"  and  from  that  time  labelled  their  schools,  ns  if  they 
belonged  to  the  community  at  large,  "  Public  Schools."  They  are  not,  certainly,  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  the  terms,  what  they  profess  to  be.  They  are  merely  called  "  public 
schools,"  but  they  belong  to  a  private  corporation,  who  have  crept  up  into  high  favor 
with  the  powers  that  be,  and  have  assumed  the  exclusive  right  of  monopolizing  the 
education  of  youth,  and  of  receiving  exclusively  the  public  funds  set  apart  for  that 
benevolent  and  patriotic  purpose. 

But  there  is  one  circumstance  which  brands  their  exclusive  pretension  with  the 
stamp  of  rare  and  peculiar  arrogance.  It  is,  that  they  claim  the  common  school  funds 
on  the  express  ground  of  defeating  the  very  end  for  which  their  charter  was  obtained, 
viz.,  "  the  benefits  that  would  result  to  society  from  the  education  of  (such)  children, 
by  implanting  in  their  minds  the  principles  of  religion  and  morality."  Now,  in  their 
apostasy  from  their  first  profession,  they  claim  the  merit  of  benefiting  society  by  see- 
ing that,  in  their  schools,  no  principle  of  religion  and  morality  shall  be  implanted  ! 
The  same  body,  under  different  names,  obtaining  a  charter  and  high  pecuniary  privi- 
leges in  consideration  of  their  doing  a  certain  good  work  ;  and  yet  coming  out  openly 
to  claim  exclusively  the  bounty  granted  for  that  purpose,  on  the  ground  that  they,  and 
they  alone,  have  taken  the  precaution  that  the  good  work  shall  not  be  performed  in 
co/inection  with  education.  Not  only  will  they  not  perform  it  themselves,  but  they 
will  not  allow  others  to  accomplish  it.  What  would  have  been  a  benefit  to  society 
when  they  applied  for  a  charter,  would  be  a  terrible  injury  now.  And  if,  by  chance, 
"  the  principles  of  religion  and  morality  were  implanted  in  the  minds  of  children," 
there  would  result  nothing  but  sectarianism,  bickering,  and  religious  wars,  and,  over 
and  above,  the  equilibrium  of  the  American  Constitution  would  be  awfully  disturbed, 
the  rights  of  conscience  would  be  violated,  and  disasters  innumerable  would  be  the 
result. 

(VIDE  the  apprehensions  of  the  lame  and  laboring  report  put  forth,  in  April,  on 
behalf  of  the  public  school  system,  as  emanating  from  a  committee  of  the  Board  of 
Assistant  Aldermen,  against  the  petitions  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  Scotch  Presbyte- 
rians, and  others,  who  have  the  misfortune  to  believe  still  that  society  would  be  bene- 
fitted  by  having  "  principles  of  religion  and  monility  implanted  in  tbe  minds  of  chil- 
dren.") 


EXPURGATION   OF   SCHOOL   BOOKS.  335 

heart  and  moral  character  are  left  to  their  natural  depravity  and  wildness. 
This  is  not  education  ;  and,  above  all,  this  is  not  the  education  calculated  to 
make  good  citizens. 

Education  cultivates  all  the  faculties  of  the  human  BOU!,  the  will  as  well 
as  the  understanding  and  memory. 

The  public  school  system  not  only  does  not  cultivate  the  will  (for  this 
can  hardly  be  done  without  the  aid  of  religion),  but  it  almost  emancipates 
the  will,  even  in  the  tender  age  of  childhood,  in  reference  to  the  subject  of 
religion  itself.  We  have  found  in  the  hands  of  our  children  lessons  setting 
forth,  in  substance,  that,  after  all,  humane  feelings  and  actions  are  about  the 
best  religion. 

In  these  schools  you  give  them  knowledge  without  the  moderating  prin- 
ciple which  will  direct  its  use,  or  prevent  its  being  applied  to  the  worst  of 
purposes.  What  principle  do  you  inculcate  that  will  check  the  lie  that  is 
rising  to  their  lips,  or  cause  confusion  on  their  brow  when  they  have  uttered 
it  ?  None.  Religion  could  accomplish  this,  but  religion  is  excluded.  If 
you  tell  them  there  is  a  God  who  will  punish  them,  the  atheist  father,  who 
thinks  himself  an  honest  man  without  God,  and  who  thinks  his  own  opin- 
ions good  enough  for  his  child,  will  appeal  to  the  decision  of  the  Common 
Council,  and  show  that  you  violate  the  condition  of  the  grant  in  favor  of 
common  schools,  by  speaking  of  God,  or  any  thing  sectarian.  What  prin- 
ciples of  self-restraint  are  inculcated  in  this  spurious  system  of  education, 
which  leaves  the  will  of  the  pupil  to  riot  in  the  fierceness  of  unrestrained 
lusts  ?  "  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  in  which  he  should  walk,  and  when 
he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it,"  is  the  maxim  of  one  who  judged  of 
human  nature  with  more  than  human  penetration.  But  the  Common  Coun- 
cil has  reversed  it,  and  decided  that  the  child  will  train  up  itself,  provided 
you  give  it  knowledge  without  religion. 

Thus  far,  fellow-citizens,  we  have  stated  our  objections  to  the  present 
system  of  common  school  education,  not  as  they  affect  us  more  than  any 
other  denomination  of  Christians. 

We  have  stated  them  in  view  of  the  bearing  which  that  sytem  is  likely 
to  have  on  interests  in  which  you  are  concerned  as  much  as,  or  more  than, 
ourselves,  viz.,  religion,  morals,  individual  and  social  happiness,  and  the  wel- 
fare of  the  State. 

•We  believe  it  was  the  warning  voice  of  the  illustrious  Washington, 
among  the  most  soletmrwords  of  the  patriot,  breathed  into  the  ear  of  his 
beloved  country,  to  beware  of  the  man  who  would  inculcate  morality  without 
religion. 

We  now  come  to  the  statement  of  grievances  which  affect  us  in  our  civil 
and  religious  rights  as  Roman  Catholics. 

Under  the  guarantee  of  liberty  of  conscience,  we  profess  the  religion 
which  we  believe  to  be  true  and  pleasing  to  God. 

We  inherit  it  (many  of  us)  from  our  persecuted  fathers,  for  we  are  the 
sons  of  martyrs  in  the  cause  of  religious  freedom. 

Our  conscience  obliges  us  to  transmit  it  to  our  children. 

A  brief  experience  of  the  public  school  system  in  the  city  of  New  York 
convinced  us  that  we  could  not  discharge  our  conscientious  duty  to  our  off- 
spring if  we  allowed  them  to  be  brought  up  under  the  influence  of  the  irre- 
ligious principles  on  which  these  schools  are  conducted,  and  to  some  of 
which  we  have  already  alluded.  But,  besides  these,  there  were  other 
grounds  of  distrust  and  danger,  which  soon  forced  on  us  the  conclusion  that 
the  benefits  of  public  education  were  not  for  us.  Besides  the  introduction 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures  without  note  or  comment,  with  the  prevailing  theory 
that  from  these  even  children  are  to  get  their  notions  of  religion,  contrary 
to  our  principles,  there  were,  in  the  class-books  of  those  schools,  false  (as  we 
believe)  historical  statements  respecting  the  men  and  things  of  past  times, 
calculated  to  fill  the  minds  of  our  children  with  errors  of  fact,  and  at  the 


336  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

game  time  to  excite  in  them  prejudice  against  the  religion  of  their  parents 
and  guardians.  These  passages  were  not  considered  as  sectarian,  inasmuch 
as  they  had  been  selected  as  mere  reading-lessons,  and  were  not  in  favor  of 
any  particular  sect,  but  merely  against'ihe  Catholics.  We  feel  it  is  unjust 
that  such  passages  should  be  taught  at  all  in  schools  to  the  support  of 
which  we  are  contributors  as  well  as  others.  But  that  such  books  should 
be  put  into  the  hands  of  our  own  children,  and  that  in  part  at  our  own 
expense,  was,  in  our  opinion,  unjust,  unnatural,  and,  at  all  events,  to  us  in- 
tolerable. Accordingly,  through  very  great  additional  sacrifices,  we  have 
been  obliged  to  provide  schools  under  our  churches,  and  elsewhere,  in  which 
to  educate  our  children  as  our  conscientious  duty  required.  This  we  have 
done  to  the  number  of  some  thousands  for  several  years  past,  during  all 
which  time  we  have  been  obliged  to  pay  taxes ;  and  we  feel  it  unjust  and 
oppressive  that,  whilst  we  educate  our  children  as  well,  we  contend,  as  they 
would  be  at  the  public  schools,  we  are  denied  our  portion  of  the  school 
fund,  simply  because  we  at  the  same  time  endeavor  to  train  them  up  in  prin- 
ciples of  virtue  and  religion.  This  we  feel  to  be  unjust  and  unequal.  For 
we  pay  taxes  in  proportion  to  our  numbers,  as  other  citizens.  We  are  sup- 
posed to  be  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  thousand  in  the 
State. 

And  although  most  of  us  are  poor,  still  the  poorest  man  amongst  us  is 
obliged  to  pay  taxes  from  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  in  the  rent  of  his  room  or 
little  tenement.  Is  it  not,  then,  hard  and  unjust  that  such  a  man  cannot 
have  the  benefit  of  education  for  his  child  without  sacrificing  the  rights  of 
his  religion  and  conscience  ?  He  sends  his  child  to  a  school  under  the  pro- 
tection of  his  Church,  in  which  these  rights  will  be  secure.  But  he  has  to 
support  this  school  also.  In  Ireland  he  was  compelled  to  support  a  Church 
hostile  to  his  religion  ;  and  here  he  is  compelled  to  support  schools  in 
which  his  religion  fares  but  little  better,  and  to  support  his  own  school 
besides. 

Is  this  state  of  things,  fellow-citizens,  and  especially  Americans,  is  this 
state  of  things  worthy  of  you,  worthy  of  your  country,  worthy  of  our  just 
and  glorious  Constitution  ?  Put  yourselves  in  the  poor  man's  place,  and  say 
whether  you  would  not  despise  him,  if  he  did  not  labor  by  every  lawful 
means  to  emancipate  himself  from  this  bondage.  He  has  to  pay  double  tax- 
ation for  the  education  of  his  child — one  to  the  misinterpreted  law  of  the 
land,  and  another  to  his  conscience.  He  sees  his  child  going  to  school  with 
perhaps  only  the  fragment  of  a  worn-out  book,  thinly  clad,  and  its  bare  feet 
on  the  frozen  pavement ;  whereas,  if  he  had  his  rights,  he  could  improve  the 
clothing,  he  could  get  better  books,  and  have  his  child  better  taught,  than 
it  is  possible  in  actual  circumstances. 

Nothing  can  be  more  false  than  some  statements  of  our  motives  which 
have  been  put  forth  against  us. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  we  seek  our  share  of  the  school  fund  for  the 
support  and  advancement  of  our  religion. 

We  beg  to  assure  you,  with  respect,  that  we  would  scorn  to  support  or 
advance  our  religion  at  any  other  than  our  own  expense.  But  we  are  unwill- 
ing to  pay  taxes  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  our  religion  in  the  minds  of 
our  children.  This  points  out  the  sole  difference  between  what  we  seek 
and  what  some  narrow-minded  or  misinformed  journals  have  accused  us  of 
seeking. 

If  the  public  schools  could  have  been  constituted  on  a  principle  which 
would  have  secured  a  perfect  neutrality  of  influence  on  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion, then  we  should  have  no  reason  to  complain.  But  this  has  not  been 
done,  and  we  respectfully  submit  that  it  is  impossible.  The  cold  indiffer- 
ence with  which  it  is  required  that  all  religions  shall  be  treated  in  those 
schools — the  Scriptures  without  note  or  comment — the  selection  of  passages 
ns  reading-lessons  from  Protestant  and  prejudiced  authors,  on  points  in 


EXPURGATION   OF   SCHOOL   BOOKS.  337 

which  our  creed  is  supposed  to  be  involved — the  comments  of  the  teacher, 
of  which  the  commissioners  cannot  be  cognizant — the  school  libraries, 
stuffed  with  sectarian  works  against  us — form  against  our  religion  a  combi- 
nation of  influences  prejudicial,  and  to  whose  action  it  would  be  criminal  in 
us  to  expose  our  children  at  such  an  age. 

Such,  fellow-citizens,  is  a  statement  of  the  reasons  of  our  opposition  to 
the  public  schools,  and  of  the  unjust  and  unequal  grievances  of  which  we 
complain. 

You  can  judge  of  our  rights  by  your  own.    You  cannot  be  expected  to 
.  know  our  religion ;  many  of  you  have,  no  doubt,  strong  prejudices  against 
it,  which  we  are  fain  to  ascribe  precisely  to  the  circumstance  of  your  not 
having  had  an  opportunity  to  know  it. 

But,  notwithstanding  your  prejudices  and  your  disapproval  of  our  faith, 
we  have  confidence  in  your  high  principles  of  justice,  under  the  sanction  of 
our  common  Constitution,  which  secures  equal  religious  and  civil  rights  to 
all.  Put  yourselves  in  our  situation,  and  say  whether  it  is  just,  or  equal,  or 
constitutional,  that,  whereas  we  are  contributors  to  the  public  funds,  we 
shall  be  excluded  from  our  share  of  benefit  in  their  expenditure,  unless  we 
submit  to  the  arbitrary  and  irreligious  conditions  of  the  Common  Council, 
and  thereby  violate  our  rights  of  conscience  ? 

Our  religion  is  dear  to  us  ;  for  in  the  hearts  of  many  of  us  it  is  connect- 
ed with  the  history  of  our  fathers'  sufferings  and  our  own.  Education  is 
dear  to  us,  for  the  tyrants  who  wished  to  enslave  our  ancestors  and  us,  made 
it  criminal  felony  for  the  schoolmaster  to  come  among  us,  unless  he  were  the 
avowed  enemy  of  our  creed. 

We  seek  for  nothing  but  what  we  conceive  to  be  our  rights,  and  which 
can  be  granted  without  violating  or  abridging  the  privileges  of  any  other 
denomination  or  individual  breathing.  They  may  be  refused,  as  they  have 
been.  If  they  should,  neither  shall  we  yet  suffer  our  children  to  receive  the 
anti-religious  education  of  the  public  schools,  nor  shall  we  kiss  the  hand 
that  fixes  a  blot  on  the  Constitution,  by  oppressively  denying  our  just 
claims. 

What  do  we  contend  for  ?  Simply  that  our  children  shall  be  educated 
apart  from  these  influences.  We  contend,  for  liberty  of  conscience  and  freedom 
of  education.  We  hold  that  the  laws  of  nature,  of  religion,  and  the  very 
Constitution  of  the  country,  secure  to  parents  the  right  of  superintending 
the  education  of  their  own  children. 

This  right  we  contend  for,  but  we  have  hitherto  been  obliged  to  exercise 
it  under  the  unjust  disadvantages  of  double  taxation.  If  the  State,  consid- 
ering our  children  as  its  own,  grants  money  for  their  education,  are  we  not 
entitled  to  our  portion  of  it  when  we  perform  the  services  which  are  re- 
quired ? 

It  appears  not,  according  to  the  decision  of  the  Common  Council,  unless 
we  send  our  children  to  schools  in  which  our  religious  rights  are  to  be  vio- 
lated, and  our  offspring  qualified  to  pass  over  to  the  thickening  ranks  of 
infidelity.  This  shall  not  be.  Much  as  we  dread  ignorance,  we  dread  (this 
much  more. 

If  justice  were  done  us,  we  could  increase  the  number  of  our  teachers  to 
a  proportion  corresponding  with  the  number  of  children.  We  could  im- 
prove our  means  of  teaching ;  we  could  bring  our  children  out  of  the  damp 
basements  of  our  churches  into  pure  air  of  better  localities.  In  a  word, 
give  us  our  just  proportion  of  the  common  school  fund,  and  if  we  do  not 
give  as  good  an  education  apart  from  religious  instruction  as  is  given  in  the 
public  schools,  to  one  third  a  larger  number  of  children,  for  the  same  money, 
we  are  willing  to  renounce  our  just  claim.  Let  the  proper  authorities  appoint 
any  test  of  improvement  that  shall  be  general,  and  we  shall  abide  by  it. 
Neither  do  we  desire  that  any  children  shall  attend  our  schools  except  those 

22 


338  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

of  our  own  communion — although,  so  fur  as  ice  are  concerned,  they  shall  be 
open  to  all. 

In  a  country  like  this,  it  is  the  interest  of  all  to  protect  the  guaranteed 
rights  of  each.  Should  the  professors  of  some  \veak  or  unpopular  religion 
be  oppressed  to-day,  the  experiment  may  be  repeated  to-inorrow  on  some 
other.  Every  successful  attempt  in  that  -way  will  embolden  the  spirit  of 
encroachment  and  diminish  the  power  of  resistance  ;  and,  in  such  an  event, 
the  monopolizers  of  education,  after  having  discharged  the  office  of  public 
tutor,  may  find  it  convenient  to  assume  that  of  public  preacher.  The  tran- 
sition will  not  be  found  difficult  or  unnatural  from  the  idea  of  a  common 
school  to  that  of  a  common  religion,  from  which,  of  course,  in  order  to 
make  it  popular,  all  Christian  sectarianism  will  be  carefully  excluded. 

"  Resist  the  beginnings,"  is  a  wise  maxim  in  the  preservation  of  rights. 

Should  the  American  people  ever  stand  by  and  tolerate  the  open  and 
authoritative  violation  of  their  Magna,  Charta,  then  the  republic  will  have 
seen  the  end  of  its  days  of  glory. 

The  friends  of  liberty  throughout  the  civilized  world  will  fold  their 
hands  in  grief  and  despair.  The  tyrants  of  the  earth  will  point  to  the  flag 
which  your  fathers  planted,  and  cry,  Ha  !  ha  ! 

The  nations  from  afar  will  gaze  upon  it,  and  behold  with  astonishment 
its  bright  stars  faded,  and  its  stripes  turned  into  scorpions. 

The  above  address  was  unanimously  adopted  at  a  general  meeting  of  the 
Catholics  of  the  city  of  New  York,  in  the  school-room  of  St.  James'  Church, 
August  10th,  1840,  having  been  submitted  by 

t  JOHN  HUGHES,  Bishop  of  Sasileopolis, ' 
Coadjutor  and  Administrator  of  the 
Diocese  of  New  York. 
HUGH  SWEENY, 
THOMAS  O'CONNOR, 

JAMES  W.  McKEON,  J-  Committee, 

GREGORY  DILLON, 
J.  W.  WHITE, 

B.  O'CONNOR, 

JAMES  KELLY, 

JOHN  McLouGHLiN.  J 

F. 

REPLY 

'OP  THE  TRUSTEES   OF   THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY  TO   THE   ADDRESS  OP 
THE  ROMAN  CATHOLICS. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  The  Roman  Catholics  of  the  city  of  New  York,  hav- 
ing appealed  to  you  against  a  recent  decision  of  the  Common  Council  reject- 
ing their  petition  for  a  portion  of  the  school  fund  for  the  support  of  their 
church  schools,  and  having  seen  fit  to  prefer  charges  of  a  gross  and  serious 
nature  against  the  present  system  of  public  instruction  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  the  trustees  of  the  public  schools  feel  it  to  be  a  duty  which  they  owe 
to  themselves,  and  to  the  community  who  have,  for  more  than  thirty  years, 
in  great  measure  confided  to  them  the  important  subject  of  common  educa- 
tion, to  reply,  and  disabuse  the  public  mind. 

It  is  proper,  at  the  threshold,  to  remove  an  important  error  which  per- 
vades almost  every  part  of  the  address.  It  as-sunus  that  the. plan  of  with- 
holding the  proceeds  of  the  school  fund  and  other  school  moneys  from 
religious  societies,  is  peculiar  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  speaks  of  the 
late  decision  of  the  Common  Council  as  something  new ;  whereas  neither 
the  Constitution  nor  laws  of  the  State  contemplate  any  such  use  of  the  fund. 


EXPURGATION   OF   SCHOOL   BOOKS.  339 

It  never  was  so  appropriated  in  any  part  of  the  State,  except  during  a  few 
years  in  the  city  of  New  York.  This  experiment  resulted,  inconsiderable  as 
the  amount  then  was,  as  it  ever  must  result — in  producing  jealousies  and 
abuses,  which  induced  a  repeal  of  the  law  nearly  twenty  years  ago.  The 
recent  decision  of  the  Common  Council  was,  therefore,  only  in  confirmation 
of  a  previous  one,  and  was  in  strict  accordance  with  the  Constitution,  the 
laws,  and  practice  of  the  State.  And  it  is  worthy  of  special  remark,  as  evi- 
dence of  the  soundness  of  the  conclusion,  that  the  vote  was  unanimous, 
every  member  being  present. 

With  such  portions  of  the  address  as  relate  to  the  general  question, 
whether  the  school  money  shall  or  shall  not  be  given  to  religious  societies 
for  the  support  of  church  schools,  it  is  not  proposed  to  detain  you  long. 
This  question  has  been  so  conclusively  settled  by  public  opinion,  and  the 
consequent  action  of  our  legislative  bodies,  that,  to  enter  upon  a  discussion 
of  it  now,  might  be  considered  an  insult  offered  to  the  understanding  of  the 
people.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  one  axiom  connected  with  our  political  insti- 
tutions which  is  more  strongly  impressed  on  the  mind  of  an  American  than 
this :  "  Religious  establishments  must  not  be  supported  by  general  taxa- 
tion." In  the  primary  question,  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society 
have  no  interest  that  is  not  common  to  every  citizen.  In  all  that  relates  to 
the  quality  and  management  of  the, public  schools,  they  feel  a  deep  interest, 
and  bold  themselves  strictly  responsible  to  public  opinion  and  the  consti- 
tuted authorities.  It  is  proper,  therefore,  that  the  allegations  contained  in 
the  address  of  the  Roman  Catholics  be  either  admitted  or  refuted.  They 
are  of  a  grave  and  serious  character,  and  such  as  should,  i'f  true,  justly  de- 
prive the  trustees  of  the  confidence  which  has  been  so  long  reposed  in  them. 
But  they  are  not  true,  nor  is  there  even  an  attempt  made  in  the  address  to 
sustain  them  by  evidence.  Bold  assertion,  vague  generalizing,  and  mystical 
reasoning,  are  alone  relied  upon.  It  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
follow  the  address  through  all  the  forms  and  windings  it  is  made  to  assume, 
in  endeavoring  to  fasten  upon  the  public  school  system  of  education  features 
the  most  odious  to  a  moral  and  religious  people.  That  document  asserts 
that,  according  to  the  late  decision  of  the  Common  Council,  "  if  you  should 
allow  the  smallest  ray  of  religion  to  enter  the  school -room — if  you  should 
teach  the  children  that  there  is  an  eye  which  sees  every  wicked  thought, 
that  there  is  a  God,  a  state  of  rewards  and  punishments  beyond  this  life, 
then  you  would  forfeit  all  claim  to  the  bounty  of  the  State."  It  also  avers 
that  "  the  public  school  system  in  the  city  of  New  York  is  entirely  favorable 
to  the  sectarianism  of  infidelity,  and  opposed  only  to  that  of  positive  Chris- 
tianity ; "  that  "  it  prepares  the  pupil  for  initiation  into  the  mysteries  of 
Fanny-Wrightism,  or  any  other  scheme  of  infidelity  which  may  come  in 
their  way ; "  that  "  it  is  calculated  to  make  bad  and  dangerous  citizens ;  that 
no  principle  is  inculcated  that  will  check  the  lie  that  is  rising  to, the  pupil's 
lip,  or  cause  confusion  on  their  brow  when  they  have  uttered  it ;  "  that  it 
"  leaves  the  will  of  the  pupil  to  riot  in  the  fierceness  of  unrestrained  lusts." 
But  we  forbear.  These  are,  indeed,  high  and  serious  charges.  Happily  for 
the  reputation  of  the  city,  and  the  welfare  of  the  thousands  who  have  re- 
ceived and  are  receiving  their  education  in  the  public  schools,  they  are  ae 
unfounded  as  they  are  monstrous.  Even  the  authors  of  the  address  shrink 
from  a  picture  of  their  own  coloring,  and  declare  that  they  do  not  mean  to 
say  "  that  either  the  Legislature,  Common  Council,  or  School  Commission- 
ers, ever  intended  such  perversions." 

What,  then,  fellow-citizens,  do  they  mean?  The  answer  is  obvious. 
They  claim  to  have  discovered  that  the  illustrious  men  who  originated  our 
admirable  system  of  common  school  education,  the  framers  of  our  State 
Constitution,  and  the  successive  legislative  bodies  who  have  enacted  laws  on 
the  subject— in  short,  that  the  whole  people  of  the  State  of  New  York,  have 
been,  for  nearly  thirty  years,  laboring  under  a  gross  and  dangerous  delusion  ; 


340  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

and  it  follows,  by  necessary  implication,  that  the  authors  of  the  address  are 
the  exclusive  judges  of  what  constitutes  religion,  and  of  the  kind  of  educa- 
tion adapted  to  American  citizens. 

It  is  a  most  extraordinary  feature  of  this  address,  that,  with  the  school- 
books  in  their  hands,  not  a  quotation  is  made  to  sustain  their  charges ;  and 
the  only  book  objected  to  by  name  is  "  The  Holy  Scriptures  without  note  or 
comment." 

Strange  inconsistency !  They  charge  us  with  teaching  infidelity  and  a 
religion  adverse  to  Christianity,  and  yet  condemn  us  for  using,  unless  accom- 
panied by  their  own  explanation,  that  which  is  the  foundation  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  which  believers  and  unbelievers  unite  in  pronouncing  the 
most  perfect  code  of  morals  ever  presented  to  the  world. 

The  trustees  of  the  public  schools  did  suppose  that,  by  introducing  the 
Holy  Scriptures  into  the  schools,  they  would  not  only  avoid  the  charge  of 
teaching  "  infidelity  and  Fanny- Wrightism,"  but  that,  in  using  the  impres- 
sive and  sublime  language  of  the  inspired  penmen,  "  without  note  or  com- 
ment," they  would  disarm  the  jealousy  and  quiet  the  fears  of  all  who  believe 
in  the  Sacred  Volume.  Had  they  attempted  to  enforce  the  peculiar  views 
of  any  who  deduce  their  religious  doctrines  from  the  Scriptures,  they  would 
justly  have  incurred  the  charge  of  "  sectarianism."  But,  says  the  address, 
religion  is  not  taught  in  any  form.  It  is  true  that  religion  is  not  taught  in 
the  sense  that  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  geography  are,  nor  was  it 
ever  intended  that  it  should  form  a  branch  of  public  instruction.  Our  Con- 
stitution and  laws  have  wisely  omitted  to  provide  for  such  instruction  at  the 
public  expense,  and  have  left  it  where  it  belongs — to  the  parent  and  pastor, 
and  religious  seminaries,  supported  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of  its 
votaries. 

The  reading-books  used  in  the  public  schools  are  the  same  as  those  used 
in  private  schools  of  a  similar  grade  in  which  children  of  various  religious 
persuasions,  including  those  of  our  more  wealthy  fallow-citizens  of  tho 
Uoman  Catholic  Church,  are  educated. 

Many  of  them  contain  the  best,  most  sublime,  and  impressive  essays  on 
morals  and  religion  that  can  be  found  in  the  English  language,  and  are  cal- 
culated to  impress  on  the  young  mind  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  God,  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  and  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments. 
They  picture  vice  in  its  naked  deformity,  and  present  virtue  in  her  most 
pleasing  and  attractive  colors. 

Let  the  records  of  our  criminal  courts,  our  prisons,  and  the  receptacles 
for  those  who,  by  reason  of  "  rioting  in  the  fierceness  of  unrestrained  lusts," 
have  become  a  public,  charge,  be  examined  with  reference  to  the  effect  of  our 
system  of  education  on  the  mind  and  morals,  as  compared  with  any  other 
system,  and  the  result  will  be  found  highly  favorable  to  the  public  schools. 

Let  the  characters  of  the  tens  of  thousands  who  have  been  educated  at 
these  schools  be  inquired  into  with  a  view  to  ascertain  their  value  as  citizens 
and  their  love  of  truth,  as  compared  with  those  who  have  received  their 
education  by  the  opposite  system,  in  this  or  any  other  country,  and  the 
friends  of  the  "  public  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York  "  have  nothing  to 
fear  from  the  result. 

The  address  states  that  books  have  been  found  in  the  hands  of  Catholic 
children  "  setting  forth  in  substance,  that,  after  all,  humane  feelings  and 
actions  are  about  the  best  religion."  The  eminent  prelate  who  read  the 
address,  and  said  that  he  was  concerned  in  drafting  it,  on  the  same  occasion 
read  to  the  assembly,  from  one  of  the  school-books,  a  story  entitled  "  Sun- 
day Morning."  It  is  a  dialogue  between  a  father  and  son,  and  is  evidently 
intended  to  convey  a  twofold  moral :  one,  that  worship  is  a  work  of  the 
"  mind  and  spirit,"  and  that,  when  these  are  right,  it  will  be  acceptable  in 
the  Divine  sight,  however  various  in  form  and  ceremony ;  and,  by  an  acci- 
dent which  is  made  to  happen  to  a  poor  man  in  the  street,  as  the  several 


EXPURGATION  OF  SCHOOL  BOOKS. 

congregations  are  retiring  from  their  respective  places  of  -worship,  it  further 
aims  to  inculcate  the  doctrine  that  the  Christian  religion,  in  whatever  form 
professed,  leads  to  humane  feelings  and  actions."  The  story  occurs  in  the 
''  American  Popular  Lessons,"  p.  124,  and  is  certainly  any  thing  but  "  secta- 
rian." This  is  clearly  the  story  referred  to,  and  it  assumes  importance  be- 
cause it  furnishes  data  whereby  to  estimate  the  charges  against  the  public 
schools,  and  the  books  used  in  them,  of  which  the  address  is  so  prolific. 

There  are  portions  of  the  address  that  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  understand,  or  reconcile  with  other  portions.  One  objection  to  the  public 
school  system  is,  that,  in  excluding  the  "  different  creeds  of  the  various  de- 
nominations," "  the  Christian  religion  necessarily  is  banished  from  the  halla 
of  public  education."  Yet  it  declares  that  "  the  Roman  Catholics  are 
opposed  to  the  admission  of  sectarianism  of  any  and  every  kind  in  the 
schools  that  are  supported  by  the  State."  The  questions  then  occur,  Will 
they  exclude  religious  instruction  from  the  Catholic  schools  ?  and,  if  so,  in 
what  will  they  differ  from  the  public  schools  ?  If  they  teach  ^  science  with- 
out religion,"  will  it  not,  according  to  their  own  showing,  produce  "enlight- 
ened villany,"  and  be  liable  to  the  awful  consequences  which  they  predicate 
of  the  system  denounced  ?  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  mean — as  they  cer- 
tainly must — to  teach  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  how  can  they  ask  "  to 
be  supported  by  the  State  "  ? 

They  say  that  "they  could  not  discharge  their  conscientious  duty  to 
their  offspring,  if  they  allowed  them  to  be  brought  up  under  the  irreligious 
principles  on  which  the  public  schools  are  conducted ; "  and,  while  they  ask 
of  the  State  the  means  of  supporting  their  schools,  that  they  may  train  up 
their  children  "  in  principles  of  virtue- and  religion,"  they  assure  the  public 
that  they  "  would  scorn  to  support  or  advance  their  religion  at  any  other 
than  their  own  expense." 

A  solution  of  some  of  these  incongruities  may,  perhaps,  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  they  do  not  class  themselves  among  "  sectarians,"  or  "  denomina- 
tions of  Christians,"  but  claim  to  be  emphatically  "  The  Church."  However 
sincerely  and  confidently  they  may  entertain  this  view  of  the  subject,  can 
they,  fellow-citizens,  with  propriety  ask  you  to  sustain  the  Legislature  in 
giving  it  the  high  sanction  of  legal  enactment  ?  We  think  you  will  unite 
with  us  in  saying,  No  ! 

That  portion  of  the  address  which  contains  a  statement  of  the  grievances 
which  are  thought  to  affect  the  Roman  Catholics  in  their  ''  civil  and  reli- 
gious rights,"  remains  to  be  considered.  And  the  trustees  approach  it  with 
the  seriousness  which  its  importance  demands. 

The  absence  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Catholic  children  of  this  city  from 
the  public  schools  has  been  cause  of  deep  and  abiding  regret  to  the  trustees. 
At  various  times  during  the  last  ten  years,  efforts  have  been  made  to  remove 
the  obstacles  to  their  attendance.  Propositions  have  again  and  again  been 
submitted  to  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  to  institute  a  joint  examination  of 
the  books  used  in  the  public  schools,  with  a  view  to  their  expurgation  from 
every  thing  obnoxious  to  Catholic  censure ;  but  these  overtures  have  not,  the 
trustees  regret  to  say,  been  met  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  were  made. 
Within  the  present  year,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees to  "  examine  the  books  in  use  in  the  public  schools,  including  those  in 
the  libraries,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  and  report  whether  they  contain  any 
thing  derogatory  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  or  any  of  its  religious 
tenets,  with  power  to  communicate  with  such  persons  of  that  Church  as  may 
be  authorized  to  meet  them  in  reference  to  such  alterations."  An  interview 
was  accordingly  procured  with  a  dignitary  of  the  Catholic  Church,  which, 
after  a  full  and  apparently  a  frank  interchange  of  views,  resulted  in  his  con- 
senting to  receive  a  copy  of  each  book  used  in  the  public  schools,  and  an 
understanding  that  he  would  communicate  with  the  committee  when  he  had 
examined  them. 


342  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Pending  this  effort  to  reconcile  conflicting  opinions  and  views,  and  be- 
fore any  communication  is  made  to  the  committee,  the  Catholic  press  teems 
with  misrepresentations  of  the  public  schools  and  abuse  of  the  trustees, 
which  are  followed  up  by  the  address  now  under  review ;  and  that,  too, 
after  positive  assurances  had  been  given  that  every  thing  should  be  removed 
from  the  school-books  to  which  they  might  see  fit  to  object. 

It  is,  therefore',  evident  that  no  expurgation — nothing  of  a  mere  negative 
character — will  satisfy  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy.  If  the  doctrines  of  their 
Church  be  not  taught,  nothing  can  be  which  they  would  not  pronounce 
heretical,  and  "  adverse  to  Christianity."  Even  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  sec- 
tarian and  dangerous,  "  without  note  or  comment : "  and  certainly  no  com- 
ments would  be  acceptable  other  than  those  of  their  own  Church.  The 
address  does,  indeed,  declare,  that  "  if  the  public  schools  could  have  been 
constituted  on  a  principle  which  would  have  secured  a  perfect  neutrality  of 
influence  on  the  subject  of  religion,"  then  they  would  have  no  reason  to 
complain  ;  but  in  the  same  paragraph,  they  are  careful  to  declare  that  such 
consummation  is  impossible.  And  why  impossible  ?  we  would  ask,  unless 
one  of  the  parties  enters  upon  the  undertaking  with  feelings  of  exclusiteness 
which  forbid  a  compromise. 

It  is  known  that  a  large  portion  of  the  bishops  and  clergy  of  the  Estab- 
lished and  other  Protestant  Churches,  and  a  majority  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic bishops  of  Ireland,  have  agreed  upon  a  general  system  of  education,  and 
a  collection  of  extracts  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  for  the  national  schools 
of  that  country.  At  the  conference  just  referred  to,  the  question  was  dis- 
tinctly put,  whether  the  objection  of  the  Catholic  clergy  to  the  public 
schools,  so  far  as  regards  reading  the  Scriptures  without  note  or  comment, 
would  be  removed  by  the  use  of  these  extracts  in  them  ?  The  answer  was, 
that  the  dissenting  bishops  had  appealed  to  the  pope  against  the  majority 
of  their  body,  and,  as  His  Holiness  had  not  yet  settled  the  question,  he  Avas 
not  prepared  to  give  an  answer.  The  trustees  very  much  regret  that  circum- 
stances have  placed  them  in  a  situation  which  renders  this  exposition  neces- 
sary. But  they  could  not  do  less,  and  discharge  their  duty  to  themselves 
and  the  public. 

It  now  remains  to  speak  of  the  real  causes  of  complaint  which  the  Ro- 
man Catholics  have  against  the  public  schools.  The  books  selected  for  the 
children  have,  from  the  first,  been  those  used  and  most  highly  esteemed  as 
school-books.  The  passages  objected  to,  or  nearly  all  of  them,  are  histori- 
cal, and  relate  to  what  is  generally  called  the  Reformation.  The  writers 
were  Protestants,  and  took  a  view  of  the  men  and  incidents  of  that  excited 
and  eventful  period  directly  opposed  to  those  entertained  by  the  members 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  These  portions  must,  of  course,  be  offen- 
sive to  Catholics,  and  they  furnish  just  cause  of  complaint.  The  books  in 
all  other  respects  are  admirably  adapted  to  the  uses  for  which  they  were 
compiled.  The  objectionable  passages  are  not  numerous,  but  the  books  are 
not  to  be  found  without  them.  Had  the  overtures  of  the  trustees  for  a  joint 
examination  been  acceded  to,  expurgated  editions  would  long  ago  have  been 
prepared  for  the  public  schools. 

The  difficulty  of  procuring  books  entirely  exempt  from  objection  cannot, 
perhaps,  be  more  forcibly  illustrated  than  by  the  fact  that  one  work,  con- 
taining passages  as  liable  to  objection  as  almost  any  other,  is  now  used  as  a 
class-book  even  in  the  Catholic  schools.  It  is  the  intention  of  the  trustees, 
nevertheless,  to  prosecute  the  work  of  expurgation  until  every  just  cause  of 
complaint  is  removed.  The  use  of  one  very  excellent  work  has  been  recent- 
ly suspended,  until  a  few  passages,  objectionable  on  the  ground  alluded  to, 
can  be  obliterated.  The  cooperation  of  the  Catholic  clergy  is,  however, 
very  desirable,  inasmuch  as  it  is  abundantly  evident  that  the  most  careful 
and  vigilant  scrutiny  on  the  part  of  the  trustees  may  not  enable  them  to 
detect  every  thing  that  the  former  would  exclude. 


EXPURGATION   OF   SCHOOL  'BOOKS.  343 

At  the  same  time  that  the-  trustees  feel  that,  in  yielding  to  the  conscien- 
tious scruples  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  they  are  bound  to  protect  the  feelings 
and  interests  of  the  Protestant  Churches,  they  are  even  disposed  to  remove 
reading-matter  to  which  they  can  see  no  objection,  because  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  the  fertile  field  of  English  literature  will  still  furnish  an  ample 
supply. 

A  hope  still  lingers  that  every  obstacle  may  be  removed,  and  that  their 
fellow-citizens  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  may  be  induced  to  permit 
their  children  to  participate  in  the  advantages  which  the  public  schools  un- 
deniably afford.  For  the  attainment  of  this  desirable  end  the  trustees  will 
make  every  sacrifice  compatible  with  justice  and  propriety. 

They  remain  ready  and  anxious  to  join  with  the  Roman  Catholics  in 
efforts  so  to  model  the  books  and  studies  in  the  public  schools  as  to  obviate 
existing  difficulties.  They  think  that  it  may  be  done.  But  if — as  was  the 
case  in  the  Irish  national  schools — an  appeal  to  the  pope  should  be  neces- 
sary, they  are  free  to  confess,  in  the  language  of  the  address,  that  "  a  perfect 
neutrality  of  influence  on  the  subject  of  religion  "  is  indeed  "  impossible." 

The  trustees  are  strongly  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the  religious 
culture  of  the  minds  of  youth.  The  public  schools  are  open  for  ordinary 
purposes  only  thirty  hours  in  each  week.  Two  entire  days  of  each  week 
may  be  devoted  to  instruction  in  the  peculiar  religious  views  of  those  whose 
inclination  and  sense  of  duty  may  prompt  them  to  bestow  the  labor.  Most 
of  the  public  school  buildings  are  now  occupied  on  the  Sabbath  by  Sunday 
schools.  There  is  room  for  more,  and  the  Roman  Catholics  have  repeatedly 
been  told  that  the  school  buildings  were  as  open  to  them  as  to  others. 

Moreover,  fellow-citizens,  the  trustees  would  observe  that,  if  a  portion  of 
the  school  fund  is  given  to  the  Roman  Catholics  for  the  support  of  their 
Church  schools,  it  will  be  impossible  to  refuse  the  same  boon  to  other 
Churches — in  short,  to  all  who  may  object,  on  conscientious  grounds,  to  a 
general  system  of  education.  The  effect  would  inevitably  be,  to  destroy  the 
present  excellent  establishment,  and  to  introduce  in  its  place  innumerable 
small  and  inferior  schools,  in  which,  or  in  a  part  of  them  at  least,  the  public 
money  would  be  frittered  away  in  efforts  to  establish  in  the  minds  of  the 
rising  generation  the  creeds  and  dogmas  of  each  division  and  subdivision 
of  the  Christian  Church. 

In  urging  their  rights  of  conscience,  the  Roman  Catholics  appear  to  havo 
lost  sight  of  the  important  fact,  that  a  great  proportion  of  their  fellow-citi- 
zens would  think  their  own  rights  of  conscience  violated  in  being  taxed  for 
the  support  of  Catholic  schools. 

That  religion,  as  a  branch  of  study,  should  be  excluded  from  the  system 
of  common  school  instruction,  is  the  well-settled  policy  of  the  State ;  and 
even  political  men  are  agreed  that  it  is  scarcely  of  secondary  importance 
that  it  should  be  exempted  from  the  blighting  influence  of  party  politics. 
On  both  these  points  the  trustees  have,  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  guarded 
the  public  school  system. 

In  selecting  teachers,  no  regard  is  had  to  the  religious  profession  of  the 
candidate.  Moral  character  and  qualifications  for  the  important  station  are 
alone  looked  to.  Those  now  employed  embrace  a  variety  of  religious  per- 
suasions, including  six  or  seven  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith. 

In  submitting  the  foregoing  reply  to  the  "  Address  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics," the  trustees  of  the  public  schools  take  occasion  to  say,  that  the  duties 
they  have  assumed  are  as  arduous  as  they  are  responsible.  About  one  hun- 
dred of  your  fellow-citizens  are  engaged  in  this  work,  uniting  in  their  num- 
ber men  of  almost  every  religious  persuasion  and  of  every  political  party. 
Upon  a  faithful  and  judicious  discharge  of  their  duties  depends,  in  no  small 
degree,  the  future  welfare  of  the  city,  and,  to  some  extent,  the  continued 
prosperity  of  our  beloved  country.  More  than  eleven  thousand  visits  were 
made  to  the  schools  by  the  trustees  during  the  past  year.  From  these  labors 


344  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

neither  emolument  nor  honor  are  derived.     Other  and  higher  motives  have 
induced  the  sacrifice. 

Finally,  the  trustees  invite  the  public,  and  the  officers  of  Government,  to 
institute  a  rigid  examination  of  the  present  system.  If  a  better  can  be  de- 
vised, they  will  cheerfully  surrender  a  trust  which  has  afforded  them  no 
reward  other  than  a  consciousness  of  having  done  their  duty.  "Without 
such  examination,  they  feel  assured  that  nothing  will  be  done  to  disturb  its 
operation. 

An  entire  separation  between  Church  and  State  is  a  prominent  feature 
of  our  political  compact.  History  is  pregnant  with  the  awful  consequences 
of  their  union.  Even  in  the  arbitrary  governments  of  Europe,  slow  as  they 
are  to  correct  abuses,  the  bands  that  unite  them  are  becoming  weaker  and 
weaker ;  and  it  is  confidently  believed  that  the  people  of  the  State  of  New 
York  are  not  prepared  to  take  the  first  step  in  a  retrograde  course. 

ROBERT  C.  CORNELL,  President. 
A.  P.  HALSEY,  Secretary. 

NEW  YOHK,  August  27,  1840. 


G. 

September  15,  1840. 

To  THE  EIGHT  REV.  DR.  HUGHES  : 

The  committee  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  to  whom  has 
been  assigned  the  duty  of  causing  the  school-books  used  in  the  public 
schools  to  be  expurgated  of  the  passages  containing  sentiments  obnoxious 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  have  made  some  progress  in  their  labors, 
and,  having  learned  that  the  agent  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  placed  in  your 
hands,  a  short  time  since,  at  your  request,  copies  of  the  various  books  used, 
for  your  examination,  the  committee  are  desirous  of  receiving  from  you,  at 
your  earliest  convenience,  a  detailed  specification  of  every  passage  by  you 
deemed- objectionable. 

The  committee  are  anxious  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  repeating  the  labor 
and  expense  of  expurgation ;  and,  being  aware  that  many  sentiments  and 
opinions  may  be  by  you  deemed  exceptionable  that  would  not  strike  the  eye 
of  a  Protestant,  however  sincerely  desirous  of  meeting  your  views,  they  feel 
the  more  in  haste  to  be  possessed  of  the  result  of  your  labors. 

It  is  a  source  of  regret  to  the  committee  that  the  Very  Rev.  Dr.  Power, 
who  was  furnished,  some  months  since,  with  copies  of  the  books,  has  not 
communicated  the  result  of  his  examination  to  them ;  and  the  committee 
will  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting  that  your  own  labor  may  be  diminished, 
if  you  should  see  fit  to  avail  yourself  of  whatever  progress  he  may  have 
made  in  the  work. 

On  behalf  of  the  committee,  very  respectfully, 

JOSEPH  B.  COLLINS. 


H. 

NEW  YOEK,  September  15,  1840. 

To  JOSEPH  B.  COLLINS,  Esq. : 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  just  received  your  letter  of  this  date,  in  relation  to 
the  expurgation  of  the  books  used  in  the  public  schools.  I  am  at  a  loss  to 
account  for  the  supposition,  on  the  part  of  your  committee,  that  I  was 
engaged  in  the  special  examination  of  objectionable  passages,  with  a  view 
to  assist  the  committee  in  their  laudable  undertaking.  This  I  should  be 
most  willing,  however,  to  do,  if  my  many  and  incessant  duties  left  me  suffi- 
cient leisure  for  the  purpose. 

I  perceive,  by  the  "  Reply  "  of  the  trustees,  that  they  are  directing  their 
attention  to  some  of  the  principal  passages.  One  of  them,  unless  my  memory 
fails  me,  I  designated  to  one  of  your  board  more  than  eighteen  months  ago 


EXPURGATION    OF   SCHOOL   BOOKS.  345 

— viz.,  the  article  about  Huss,  in  "  Putnam'3  Sequel ;  "  and  it  has  remained 
untouched  up  to  this  time. 

With  regard  to  the  books  which  your  agent  had  the  kindness  to  send,  I 
requested  them  through  Dr.  Hogan,  without  mentioning  for  what  object, 
and  never  dreaming  that  the  fact  would  have  produced  the  impression  that 
I  was  about  to  undertake  the  labor  of  a  critical  investigation  of  their  con- 
tents. The  committee,  indeed,  profess  their  willingness  to  reject  whatever  I 
shall  find  objectionable.  But  do  they  not  promise  too  much  ?  Now,  the 
fact  is,  that  I  wished  to  have  the  books  in  order  to  see  on  what  ground  the 
trustees  of  the  public  schools  could,  consistently  with  facts,  state,  as  they 
did  before  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen,  that  the  Catholics  had  no  rea- 
son to  object  to  the  system  so  far  as  "  relates  to  books  or  exercises  of  any 
kind  in  the  public  schools."  This  I  should  perhaps  have  stated,  but  the 
omission  was  purely  accidental. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect, 

t  JOHN  HUGHES,  Bishop,  &c. 

I. 

Resolved,  That  it  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Arts  and  Sciences,  &c., 
to  confer  with  the  Commissioners  of  the  Public  Schools,  and  ascertain  from 
them,  and  report  to  this  board,  whether  any  books  of  a  sectarian  character, 
or  any  books  that  contain  any  thing*  to  the  prejudice  of  any  particular  reli- 
gious sect,  either  as  to  faith  or  church  discipline,  are  permitted  in  the  public 
schools. 

NEW  YOEK,  May  25,  1840. 

DEAR  SIR  :  By  direction  of  the  Committee  on  Arts  and  Sciences  and 
Schools,  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  to  you  (as 
above)  a  copy  of  a  resolution  offered  by  Alderman  Chamberlain,  and  adopted 
at  the  last  meeting  of  the  Board,  and  to  request  that  you  will,  at  your  earli- 
est convenience,  communicate  to  me,  as  chairman  of  the  committee,  a  list  of 
the  books  used  in  the  schools  established  by  the  Public  School  Society. 
Very  respectfully  yours, 

DAVID  GRAHAM,  JR., 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Arts  a?ul  Sciences  and  Schools,  of  the  Board  of 

Aldermen. 
B.  C.  CORNELL, 

President  of  Public  School  Society. 


J. 

To  DAVID  GRAHAM,  JR.,  Esq.,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Arts  and  Sci- 
ences and  Schools,  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen.        . 

The  communication  addressed  to  R.  C.  Cornell,  President  of  the  Public 
School  Society  of  New  York,  under  date  of  May  25,  was  laid  before  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  at  its  monthly  meeting  held 
on  June  4,  and  then  referred  to  a  committee  appointed  at  a  previous  meet- 
ing on  the  very  subject  referred  to  by  you.  This  is  mentioned  in  order  to 
account  for  what  might  otherwise  appear  to  be  an  unnecessary  delay  in  re- 
sponding to  your  note.  I  would  premise  that  it  has  ever  been  the  intention 
of  the  trustees  of  the  public  schools  to  divest  them,  as  far  as  practicable,  of 
every  thing  of  a  sectarian*  character ;  and  we  are  not  aware  that  any  of  the 
books  used  in  them  have  been  deemed  objectionable  by  any  Church  or  soci- 
ety of  religious  purposes  except  the  Roman  Catholics. 

It  has  been  known  and  lamented  for  years  that  the  clergy  of  this  Church 
have  discouraged  the  attendance  of  the  children  of  its  members  at  the  pub- 


346  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETT. 

lie  schools ;  and  in  1834,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  wait  on  Bishop 
Dubois  for  the  purpose  of  removing  any  reasonable  objection  he  might  have 
to  the  course  of  studies  pursued  and  the  books  used  in  the  public  schools, 
and  to  assure  him  of  the  wish  of  the  trustees  to  alter  or  discontinue  the  use 
of  any  book  against  which  a  reasonable  objection  may  lay,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  invite  the  cooperation  in  the  management  of  the  public  schools  of 
any  lay  member  of  the  Catholic  Church  who  feels  an  interest  in  the  literary 
and  moral  culture  of  youth.  This  committee  made  a  full  report,  embracing 
all  the  points  insisted  on  by  the  bishop  as  necessary  to  induce  him  to  recom- 
mend the  attendance  of  Catholic  children  at  the  public  schools.  Your  com- 
mittee will  be  furnished  with  a  copy  of  this  report,  if  desired  ;  but  it  may 
be  sufficient  to  remark,  that,  to  comply  with  all  his  propositions,  would 
have  been  to  divest  the  schools  of  their  neutral  character,  and  make  them 
such  as  would  necessarily  have  excluded  the  children  of  Protestant  parents. 
To  this,  of  course,  the  trustees  could  not  assent. 

Desirous  of  doing  all  they  could  to  induce  the  attendance  of  Catholic 
children,  a  teacher  professing  that  faith  was  employed  as  principal  of  school 
No.  5,  which  is  located  near  the  cathedral  in  Mott  street.  This  experiment 
did  not,  however,  answer  the  expectations  of  the  trustees.  The  subject  was 
again  brought  before  the  board  by  a  verbal  communication  from  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Varela,  through  one  of  the  trustees.  Whereupon  the  following  proceed- 
ings were  had,  as  appears  by  the  minutes,  from  which  the  following  are 
extracts : 

"The  Vice-President  stated  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Varela,  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  had  sent  a  request  to  be  furnished  with  a  set  of  the  read- 
ing-books used  in  the  public  schools  ;  whereupon  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  the  secretary  be  requested  to  send  a  copy  of  eacli  of  said 
books  to  Mr.  Varela,  for  his  inspection.  It  was  also  unanimously  Resolved, 
That  this  board  continues  to  entertain  an  anxious  desire  to  remove  every 
objection  which  the  members  of  the  Catholic  Church  may  have  to  the  books 
used,  or  the  studies  pursued,  in  the  public  schools,  and  that  the  secretary  be 
requested  to  renew  the  assurance  given  on  a  former  occasion,  that  any  sug- 
gestion or  remarks  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Varela  may  deem  it  right  to  make  on 
his  own  behalf,  and  that  of  his  associates,  after  said  book's  have  been  ex- 
amined, shall  receive  the  most  serious  and  respectful  consideration  of  this 
board. 

"Resolved,  further,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  with  the 
books  referred  to." 

After  a  full  opportunity  to  examine  the  books,  a  letter,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  copy,  was  received  from  the  above-named  gentleman  : 

NEW  YORK,  April  8,  1840. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  received*  the  books  you  had  the  kindness  of  sending  to  me, 
according  to  a  resolution  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Common  Schools, 
in  consequence  of  an  information  given  by  one  of  them  as  to  my  wish  of 
examining  said  books.  I  thank  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  this  mark  of  good 
feeling,  and,  in  order  to  comply  with  their  request,  I  will  express  my  opinion 
on  the  subject. 

The  "Scripture  Lessons"  present,  in  the  very  title-page,  an  attack 
against  the  Catholic  Church  ;  for  it  is  expressly  stated  that  they  are  without 
note  or  comment,  so  as  to  call  the  attention  of  a  child,  and  to  tell  him,  "  Your 
Church  is  wrong  in  giving  the  Bible  always  with  notes ;  disregard  her,  and 
read  the  Scriptures  without  any  note  or  comment,  and  find  out  a  religion  for 
yourself."  This  is  to  establish  at  once  the  Protestant  fundamental  principle, 
and  to  make  the  public  schools  completely  sectarian. 

In  the  Geography  (p.  143),  it  is  said  "  that  the  Catholic  clergy,  who  have 


EXPURGATION   OF   SCHOOL   BOOKS.  347 

vast  influence,  oppose  the  diffusion  of  general  knowledge  ;  "  and  in  the  very 
next  page  it  is  said  that  "  Catholics  pay  very  great  reverence  to  the  priests." 
It  is  very  easy  to  perceive  that  a  child  will  think  very  little  of  such  a  rever- 
ence, and  lose  every  regard  for  such  a  ministry. 

There  are  also,  in  the  description  of  Italy,  some  passages  which  evidently 
tend  to  diminish  the  consideration  that  a  Catholic  child  has  for  the  Catholic 
Church.  I  also  noticed  in  the  reading-book  the  description  of  the  character 
of  Luther,  with  some  expressions  which,  no  doubt,  will  please  the  Protes- 
tants, but  imply  an  attack  against  the  Catholic  Church.  By  making  these 
few  observations,  I  do  not  allude  to  the  question*  as  to  the  petition  made  by 
the  Catholics  to  obtain  a  part  of  the  school  funds,  but  I  merely  respond  to 
the  kindness  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  in  sending  me  the  books  for  examina- 
tion. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient 

FELIX  VARELA. 
To  A.  P.  HALSET,  Secretary,  &c. 

Your  committee  will  be  enabled  to  estimate  the  importance  he  attempts 
to  attach  to  the  notes  on  the  title-page  of  the  "  Scripture  Lessons."  We 
can  only  say  that  the  trustees  had  not  the  most  remote  intention  of  convey- 
ing the  ideas  or  suggestions  intimated  in  Dr.  Varela's  letter. 

The  next  objectionable  passage  occurs  in  Maltebrun's  Geography,  and  it 
is  certainly  obnoxious  to  the  charge  made,  as  there  is  no  way  of  removing 
this  passage  effectually,  except  by  printing  an  edition  expressly  for  the  pub- 
lic schools  ;  and  as  this  Geography  is,  in  all  other  respects,  much  preferable 
to  any  other  extant,  the  trustees  have  permitted  the  use  of  the  present  edi- 
tion without  having,  in  several  years,  thought  of  applying  a  remedy.  By 
way  of  apology,  or  at  least  in  extenuation  of  this  neglect,  it  may  not  be  im- 
proper to  state  that  the  same  book,  with  the  passage  objected  to,  is  now 
used  in  the  Catholic  schools  in  this  city.  As  the  remaining  objections  re- 
ferred to  by  Dr.  Varela  are  too  general  and  indefinite  to  admit  of  a  specific 
note  here,  we  will  proceed  to  state  that  the  whole  subject  was  again  brought 
before  the  Board  of  Trustees  at  a  meeting  held  last  month,  when  the  follow- 
ing proceedings  took  place : 

"  The.  secretary  read  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Varela,  in  reply  to  a  com- 
munication made  to  him  by  order  of  the  board,  with  a  set  of  the  books 
used  in  the  schools,  whereupon  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed,  to  examine  the  books 
in  use  in  the  public  schools,  including  those  in  the  libraries,  with  a  view  to 
ascertain  and  report  whether  they  contain  any  thing  derogatory  to  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church  or  any  of  its  religious  tenets,  with  power  to  communi- 
cate with  such  persons  of  that  Cburch  as  may  be  authorized  to  meet  them 
in  reference  to  such  alterations. 

"  Messrs.  J.  S.  Rogers,  Collins,  Mott,  J.  F.  Depeyster,  and  Hogan,  were 
appointed  as  the  committee." 

At  an  early  day  after  its  appointment,  the  committee  addressed  a  note 
to  Dr.  Power,  the  Vicar-General,  requesting  an  interview  with  himself  and 
others,  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  subject  referred  to  the  committee. 
Such  an  interview  took  place  on  the  14th  of  last  month,  and  resulted,  after 
an  open  and  frank  interchange  of  views,  in  a  request  on  the  part  of  Dr. 
Power,  that  he  might  be  furnished  with  a  copy  of  each  book  used  in  the 
public  schools.  This  request  was  promptly  complied  with. 

The  books  are  now  undergoing  the  careful  review  of  a  well-qualified 
member  of  the  committee ;  but  inasmuch  as  there  are  doubtless  passages 
which  might  not  appear  objectionable  to  the  committee,  but  which  the  jeal- 
ous watchfulness  and  the  religious  duty  of  the  Vicar-General  would  alike 


348  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

prompt  him  to  detect,  and  as  the  committee  is  sincerely  desirous  of  remov- 
ing every  obstacle  to  the  attendance  of  Catholic  children  at  the  public 
schools,  it  was  thought  best  to  omit  reporting  to  the  board  till  ample  time 
is  afforded  the  objectors  for  investigation. 

That  the  committee  of  the  Common  Council  may  be  placed  in  possession 
of  every  fact  and  circumstance  connected  with  this  deeply  interesting  sub- 
ject, it  may  be  proper  to  add  that,  among  the  works  passed  upon  and  sanc- 
tioned by  the  Book  Committee,  the  Executive  Committee,  and  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  as  being  suitable  for  the  school  library,  was  a  collection  of  enter- 
taining and  highly  moral  stories  entitled,  "  Temperance  Tales."  These  tales 
proved  so  popular,  that  the  publishers  were  induced  to  issue  volume  after 
volume ;  and  the  gentleman  charged  with  the  duty  of  procuring  for  the 
library  all  books  ordered  by  the  board,  supposing  that  he  was  authorized  to 
purchase  the  volumes  issued  subsequently  to  the  date  of  the  order,  intro- 
duced into  the  library  one  volume  which  was  afterward  found  to  contain  a 
story  that  is  deemed  objectionable  by  the  Catholic  clergy.  This  volume  has 
been  removed  from  all  the  school  libraries. 

In  conclusion,  the  committee  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  take  occasion  to 
renew  the  assurance,  that  every  thing  in  their  power  shall  be  done  to  divest 
the  public  schools  of  a  sectarian  character  or  bias. 

The  committee  accompanied  their  report  to  the  Board  of 
Trustees  with  a  specification  of  some  of  the  passages  which  they 
deemed  exceptionable.  They  are  as  follows  : 

New  York  Reader. — Page  205,  erase  last  paragraph. 

English  Reader. — Page  51,  strike  out  paragraph,  "  the  Queen's  bigoted 
zeal,"  &c.,  to  "  eternal  -welfare."  Page  152,  erase,  "  the  most  credulous  monk' 
in  a  Portuguese  convent." 

Sequel,  Murray*s. — The  whole  article,  "  Life  of  Luther."  Pages  84  and 
85,  paste  up  "  Execution  of  Cranmer."  Page  279,  erase,  "  and  anon  in  pen- 
ance, planning  sins  anew." 

Putnam's  Sequel. — Erase  the  article,  "  John  Huss." 

Maltebruri's  Geography. — Page  111,  erase  first  five  lines.  Page  123,  erase 
last  paragraph,  chapter  134.  Page  140,  erase  five  lines  from  the  top,  "  and 
there  is  no  doubt  the  lower  classes  of  Ireland  are  so."  Page  145,  erase, 
"  inflict  the  most  horrible  tortures."  Page  148,  erase,  "  Italy  to  be  submit- 
ted to  the  Catholic  bishop."  Page  155,  erase,  "  from  their  religion,"  down 
to  "  ceremonies." 

Halt's  History  of  the  United  States. — Page  11,  erase,  "  from  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  Catholics,"  section  22. 

Scripture  Lessons. — Erase,  in  the  title-page,  the  words,  "  without  note  or 
comment." 

The  revision  and  expurgation  of  the  books  was  continued 
under  the  direction  of  the  board,  and  all  the  objectionable  pas- 
sages were  either  stamped  with  ink  from  a  wooden  block,  or  the 
leaves  pasted  together  or  removed,  or  a  volume  discontinued  as 
a  text-book  or  library-book.  This  course,  however,  on  the  part 
of  the  trustees,  was  not  satisfactory,  and  did  not  in  the  least 


EXPURGATION    OF   SCHOOL   BOOKS.  349 

abate  the  demands  of  the  applicants  for  a  separate  provision  to 
be  made  for  their  schools  from  the  school  fund,  and  the  contro- 
versy subsequently  became  more  animated  than  ever  before. 
The  mutilated  volumes  were  gradually  worn  out  and  rendered 
unfit  for  use,  and  were  replaced  by  new  books,  which  were  per- 
mitted to  go  into  the  schools  without  change  or  expurgation,  and 
the  discussion  in  reference  to  the  text-books  subsided.  The 
action  of  the  trustees  was  understood  by  a  large  portion  of  the 
public  to  have  been  in  obedience  to  the  direction  and  demands 
of  the  Catholic  clergy ;  and  at  the  meeting  of  the  Society  held 
November  6,  1840,  the  following  declaration  was  submitted  for 
adoption  by  the  board  : 

In  consequence  of  unfounded  rumors  prevalent  in  the  city,  the  Trustees 
of  the  New  York  Public  School  Society  deem  it  proper  to  state  that  {.he 
obliterations  in  the  books  used  in  the  public  schools  have  been  made  under 
their  direction,  from  an  earnest  desire  to  remove,  as  far  as  possible,  all  obsta- 
cles to  the  cooperation  of  every  portion  of  the  community  with  them  in  the 
business  of  public  education.  They  further  deem  it  proper  to  state,  that 
this  matter  of  expurgation  has  been  long  a  subject  of  consideration  with 
them,  and  has  only  been  delayed  for  the  reasons  set  forth  in  their  address 
now  before  the  public. 

After  some  discussion  had  upon  this  declaration,  it  was  laid 
upon  the  table,  where  it  was  allowed  to  remain,  and  the  agita- 
tion ceased. 


350  PHE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  SCHOOL  CONTROVERSY  OF  1841-1842. 

Meeting  of  Roman  Catholics  at  Washington  Hall — Addresses  by  Rev.  Dr.  Power  and 
Bishop  Hughes — Central  Committee  Appointed — Ward  Meetings  and  Committees 
— Petitions  to  the  Legislature— Hon.  John  L.  O'Sullivan's  Bill — Action  of  the 
House  of  Assembly — Action  in  the  Senate — Governor  Seward's  Message — Re- 
monstrance from  the  City  of  New  York — Hon.  John  C.  Spencer — Report  on  the 
•School  Question — The  Committee  on  Literature — Speech  of  Hiram  Ketchum — 
Memorial  and  Remonstrance  of  the  Public  School  Society — Proceedings  in  the 
Senate — Speech  of  Bishop  Hughes — Public  Meetings  of  Catholics — Election  of 
Members  of  the  Legislature — Roman  Catholic  Ticket  Nominated.  NOTE. — The 
Journal  of  Commerces-Review  by  one  of  its  Contributors — Roman  Catholic  Ex- 
communications— Bishop  Hughes — Tristam  Shandy. 

THE  proceedings  before  the  Common  Council  relative  to  the 
claims  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  were  terminated  by  the  vote 
adopting  the  report  of  the  committee,  submitted  on  the  llth  of 
January,  1841.  The  result,  although  foreseen,  \vas  so  decided 
in  its  character — only  one  member  of  the  board  having  voted  in 
the  negative — that  it  gave  little  ground  for  expectation  that  the 
grievances  complained  of  would  be  removed  by  that  body.  The 
committee  of  the  Catholics,  to  whom  the  general  care  of  the 
whole  matter  had  been  entrusted,  accordingly  called  a  meeting 
at  Washington  Hall,  in  Broadway,  comer  of  Reade  street,  to  be 
lield  on  the  llth  of  February. 

A  crowded  auditory  assembled  on  the  occasion,  when  THOMAS 
O'CONNOR,  Esq.,  was  called  to  the  chair,  Francis  Cooper  and 
Gregory  Dillon  were  named  as  vice-presidents,  and  B.  O'Con- 
nor and  Edward  Shortill,  secretaries. 

Rev.  Dr.  Power  made  the  opening  address,  followed  by 
Bishop  Hughes,  at  the  close  of  which,  on  motion  of  Dr.  Hogan, 
it  was 

Resohed,  That  it  is  expedient  to  form  a  Central  Committee,  to  be  called 
"  The  Central  Executive  Committee  on  Common  Schools." 

James  "W.  McKeon,  Hugh  Sweeney,  M.D.,  Robert  Hogan, 


ROMAN   CATHOLIC   COMMITTEE   ORGANIZED,  351 

M.D.,  James  W.  White,  and  Thomas  O'Connor,  were  named  as 
the  committee. 

On  motion  of  James  W.  White,  it  was 

Itesolved,  That  it  is  expedient  to  call  meetings  in  each  ward,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  public  expression  to  our  sentiments  in  disapprobation  of  the 
public  school  system  as  at  present  existing  in  New  York. 

On  motion,  of  T.  L.  Danaher,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  the  ward  meetings  be  respectfully  recommended  to  ap- 
point committees  in  their  respective  wards,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  sig- 
natures to  a  memorial  to  the  honorable  the  Legislature,  praying  for  such 
modification  in  the  school  system  of  this  city  and  county  as  will  afford  to 
persons  of  every  denomination,  without  violation  of  their  conscience,  the 
advantages  of  the  common  school  education  provided  by  the  bounty  of  the 
State. 

On  motion  of  Hugh  Sweeney,  M.D.,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  two  shall  be  appointed  by  the  meetings 
in  each  ward,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  communicate  with  and  to  carry  into 
effect  in  their  respective  wards  the  measures  which  may  be  recommended  by 
the  Central  Executive  Committee. 

The  resolutions  were  approved  and  adopted  with  great  en- 
thusiasm ;  and  a  resolution  tendering  the  thanks  of  the  meeting 
to  Alderman  Peritz,  for  his  "  independent  and  honorable  conduct 
in  voting  against  the  report  of  the  committee,"  was  received 
with  the  most  lively,  and  earnest  demonstrations  of  applause.  - 

The  movement  on  the  part  of  the  Boman  Catholics  was  thus 
fully  organized,  and  the  committees  proceeded  with  great  zeal 
and  unanimity  in  the  discharge  of  their  several  duties.  Meet- 
ings were  held,  petitions  were  circulated,  and  signatures  obtained 
to  the  number  of  about  seven  thousand.  Mr.  Joseph  O'Connor, 
on  behalf  of  the  committee,  proceeded  to  Albany,  and  placed 
the  memorial  in  the  hands  of  Hon.  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  a 
member  of  the  New  York  delegation  in  the  Senate,  who  prom- 
ised to  present  it  to  that  body  at  the  earliest  day.  Subsequent 
conferences  between  influential  parties  led  to  the  adoption  of  an- 
other course,  as  the  presentation  of  the  memorials  from  Roman 
Catholics  as  a  religious  body  was  deemed  inexpedient.  They 
were  returned  to  the  committees  of  the  Catholics,  amended,  and 
again  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Senator  in  the  form  of  petitions 
from  "  CITIZENS  OF  NEW  YORK." 


352  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

On  Saturday,  March  13,  Mr.  John  L.  O'Sullivan,  a  member 
of  the  Assembly  from  New  York,  gave  notice  that  he  would,  on 
some  future  day,  ask  leave  to  introduce  a  bill,  entitled,  "  An  Act 
to  Extend  and  Improve  the  Benefits  of  Common  School  Educa- 
tion in  the  City  of  New  York."  On  Monday  following,  he 
asked  and  obtained  leave  to  introduce  his  bill,  which  was  read 
the  first  time,  and,  by  unanimous  consent,  was  read  the  second 
time.  Mr.  O'Sullivan  then  moved  that  the  bill  be  referred  to  a 
select  committee,  consisting  of  the  members  of  the  House  repre- 
senting the  city  of  New  York.  Mr.  Bryson  moved  that  it  be 
referred  to  the  Standing  Committee  on  Colleges,  Academies,  and 
Schools ;  and,  debate  arising  on  the  several  motions,  the  subject 
was  laid  on  the  table  under  the  rules. 

On  Saturday,  the  20th  of  March,  Mr.  O'Sullivan  called  up 
the  question,  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Bryson,  to  refer  his  bill*  to 
the  Committee  on  Colleges,  &c.,  upon  which  some  discussion 
was  had,  when  the  Speaker  put  the  question  whether  the  House 
would  agree  with  the  motion  of  Mr.  Bryson,  and  it  was  decided 
in  the  affirmative,  and  the  bill  was  accordingly  referred.  The 
committee  consisted  of  "William  Duer,  of  Oswego,  William  B. 
Maclay,  of  New  York,  Levi  Hubbell,  of  Tompkins,  Isaac  N. 
Stoddard,  of  Genesee,  and  Edmund  Eltnendorf,  of  Dutchess. 

On  Tuesday,  March  30,  Mr.  O'Sullivan  offered  a  resolution 
that  the  Standing  Committee  on  Colleges,  Academies,  and 
Schools  be  discharged  from  the  consideration  of  the  bill  relative 
to  common  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  that  the  same 
be  referred  to  a  select  committee.  Mr.  Shaw  moved  to  amend 
the  resolution,  by  adding,  at  the  end,  the  words,  "  consisting  of 
the  delegation  attending  this  House  from  the  city  and  county  of 
New  York."  Mr.  Culver  moved  to  amend  the  amendment,  by 
striking  out  all  after  the  words  "  consisting  of,"  and  inserting 
the  words,  "  the  mover  of  this  resolution."  Mr.  W.  F.  Brod- 
head  moved  to  lay  the  whole  question  oh  the  table,  which  was 
lost,  and  a  long  debate  ensued,  pending  which  the  House  ad- 
journed. 

On  Thursday,  April  1,  Mr.  O'Sulliyan  called  up  his  resolu- 
tion of  reference  to  a  select  committee.  The  resolution  was 
read,  together  with  the  amendments,  when  Mr.  Culver  withdrew 
his  amendment,  and  the  Speaker  put  the  question  on  the  amend- 
ment of  Mr.  Shaw,  to  refer  to  the  members  of  the  New  York 


GOVERNOR  SEWARD'S  MESSAGE.  353 


delegation,  which  was  agreed  to' by  the  House.  The  gentlemen 
comprising  the  delegation  at  that  session  were  the  following : 
William  B.  Maclay,  Paul  Grout,  Norman  Hickok,  Edmund  J. 
Porter,  Cornelius  H.  Bryson,  Solomon  Townsend,  George  Weir, 
David  E.  Floyd  Jones,  Absalom  A.  Miller,  Conrad  Swackhamer, 
William  McMurray,  Abraham  B.  Davis,  and  John  L.  O'Sullivan. 

On  the  21st  of  the  same  month,  the  remonstrance  of  citi- 
zens of  New  York,  against  diverting  the  school  fund  from  its 
legitimate  objects'was  received  from  the  Senate,  and  referred  to 
the  same  committee.  The  House  adjourned  without  hearing  any 
report  on  the  matter,  and  the  narrative  of  proceedings  in  the  Sen- 
ate will  not  be  interrupted  by  the  action  of  the  Assembly. 

After  the  organization  of  the  Senate,  the  various  topics  of 
the  message  of  Hon.  William  H.  Seward,  the  Governor,  were 
referred  to  appropriate  committees,  and  so  much  as  related  to 
colleges,  academies,  and  common  schools,  the  school  fund,  the 
literature  fund,  and  the  United  States  deposit  fund,  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Literature.  This  committee  was  composed 
of  Erastus  Root,  of  Delaware,  John  Huntery  of  Westchester, 
and  Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Seward's  recommendations  are  contained  in  the  follow- 
ing extract  from  his  message  : 

Previous  to  1802,  no  foreigner  could  be  naturalized  until  after  a  resi- 
dence of  fourteen  years.  No  one  has  better  understood  the  tendency  of 
republican  institutions,  or  entertained  more  just  views  of  the  principles  upon 
which  they  were  founded,  than  the  illustrious  citizen  who  in  that  year 
recommended  to  Congress  an  amelioration  of  the  naturalization  laws.  "  Con- 
sidering the  ordinary  chances  of  human  life,"  he  observed,  "a  denial  of 
citizenship  under  a  residence  of  fourteen  years  is  a  denial  to  a  great  portion 
of  those  who  ask  it,  and  controls  a  policy  pursued  from  their  first  settle- 
ment by  many  of  the  States,  and  still  believed  to  be  of  consequence  to  their 
prosperity.  And  shall  we  refuse  the  unhappy  fugitives  from  distress  that 
hospitality  which  the  savages  of  the  wilderness  extended  to  our  fathers 
arriving  in  this  land  ?  Shall  oppressed  humanity  find  no  asylum  on  the 
globe  ?  The  Constitution  has  wisely  provided  that,  for  admission  to  certain 
offices  of  trust,  a  residence  shall  be  required  sufficient  to  develop  character 
and  design.  But  might  not  the  general  character  and  capabilities  of  a  citi- 
zen be  safely  communicated  to  every  one  manifesting  a  Txmd-fide  purpose  of 
embarking  his  life  and  fortunes  with  us  ?  "  In  concurrence  with  these  sug- 
gestions, Congress  passed  the  act  now  in  force  concerning  naturalization. 
Probably  half  a  million  of  persons  have,  since  that  time,  complied  with  its 
provisions,  and  secured  to  themselves  the  rights  of  citizenship ;  and  there 
23 


354:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

cannot  now  be  less  thau  half  that  number  of  electors  of  foreign  birth  in  the 
United  States.  This  class  is  largely  increasing.  The  number  of  emigrants 
arriving  at  the  port  of  New  York,  iu  1828,  was  about  twenty  thousand. 
The  number  in  1840  was  sixty-one  thousand.  Although  the  liberal  and 
enlightened  opinions  of  Jefferson  have  been  the  settled  policy  of  the  coun- 
try for  almost  forty  years,  yet  an  issue  is  still  maintained  upon  those  opin- 
ions between  a  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens  and  those  to  whom  the  law, 
passed  in  conformity  with  those  sentiments,  has  given  a  full  participation  in» 
our  political  rights  and  privileges.  Hence  arise  mutual  jealousies.  The  con- 
sequences of  these  jealousies  are  seen  in  the  separation  and  alienation  of 
classes  having  common  interests;  in  the  misfortunes  of  the  weaker,  in  appre- 
hensions of  insecurity  on  the  part  of  the  stronger,  and  in  the  demoralization 
of  portions  of  both ;  in  frauds  at  elections,  and  fraudulent  proceedings 
under  the  naturalization  laws.  The  policy  and  measures  which  I  have 
recommended  have  heretofore  had  for  their  object  the  elevation  of  the  social 
condition  of  emigrants,  and  the  assimilation  of  their  habits,  principles,  and 
opinions  with  our  own. 

Not  much,  however,  can  be  accomplished  by  legislation  to  affect  the  rela- 
tions between  masses  of  adult  citizens,  and  the  change  desired  in  this  respect 
must  be  left  chiefly  to  time  and  the  operation  of  our  institutions.  But  it  is 
not  so  in  regard  to  the  rising  generation.  The  census  of  the  United  States 
Js  said  to  show  that  there  are  forty-three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-one white  persons  in  this  State  who  have  passed  the  age  of  twenty-one 
jears  without  having  learned  to  read  and  write.  Let  us  make  any  allow- 
ance for  any  portion  of  adult  foreigners,  and  there  yet  remains  a  large  num- 
ber of  uneducated  native  citizens.  The  number  of  children  now  growing 
up  in  the  same  manner  does  not  fall  short  of  thirty  thousand.  These  are 
the  offspring,  not  of  prosperity  and  affluence,  but  of  poverty  and  misfor- 
tune. Knowing,  from  the  records  of  our  penitentiaries,  that,  of  this  neg- 
lected class,  those  are  often  most  fortunate  who,  from  precocity  in  vice,  secure 
admission  into  the  House  of  Refuge  or  the  State  Prison,  through  the  ways 
of  crime ;  and  knowing,  too,  that  almost  every  application  for  pardon  is 
urged  on  the  ground  of  neglected  education,  I  have  felt  it  an  imperative 
•duty  to  appeal  to  the  Legislature  to  render  our  system  of  education  as  com- 
prehensive as  the  purposes  for  •which  it  was  established.  Of  one  thousand 
and  fifty-eight  children  in  the  Almshouse  of  the  city  of  New  York,  one 
sixth  part  is  of  American  parentage,  one  sixth  part  was  born  abroad,  and 
the  remainder  are  the  children  of  foreigners ;  and  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
children  in  the  House  of  Refuge,  more  than  one  half  were  either  born 
abroad,  or  of  foreign  parents.  The  poverty,  misfortunes,  accidents,  and 
prejudices  to  which  foreigners  are  exposed,  satisfactorily  account,  to  my 
mind,  for  the  undue  proportion  of  their  children  in  the  neglected  class  to 
which  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  was  called.  Although  the  excellent 
public  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York  are  open  to  all,  and  .have  -long 
afforded  gratuitous  instruction  to  all  who  seek  it,  nevertheless  the  evil  there 
exists  in  its  greatest  magnitude.  Obviously,  therefore,  something  more  is 
necessary  to  remove  it  than  has  yet  been  done,  unless  we  assume  that  society 


GOVERNOR  SEWAKD'S  MESSAGE.  355 

consents  to  leave  it  without  a  remedy.  These  circumstances  led  me  to  the 
reflection,  that  possibly  a  portion  of  those  whom  other  efforts  had  failed  to 
reach  might  be  brought  within  the  nurture  of  the  schools,  by  employing  for 
their  instruction  teachers  who,  from  their  relations  toward  them,  might  be 
expected  to  secure  their  confidence.  When  the  census  of  1850  shall  be 
taken,  I  trust  it  will  show  that,  within  the  borders  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  there  is  no  child  of  sufficient  years  who  is.  unable  to  read  and  write. 
I  am  sure  it  will  then  be  acknowledged,  that  when,  ten  years  before,  there 
were  thirty  thousand  children  growing  up  in  ignorance  and  vice,  a  sugges- 
tion to  seek  them  wherever  found,  and  win  them  to  the  ways  of  knowledge 
and  virtue  by  persuasion,  sympathy,  and  kindness,  was  prompted  by  a  sin- 
cere desire  for  the  common  good.  I  have  no  pride  of  opinion  concerning 
the  manner  in  which  the  education  of  those  whom  I  have  brought  to  your 
notice  shall  be  secured,  although  I  might  derive  satisfaction  from  the  reflec- 
tion that,  amid  abundant  misrepresentations  of  the  method  suggested,  no 
one  has  contended  that  it  would  be  ineffectual,  nor  has  any  other  plan  been 
proposed.  I  observe,  on  the  contrary,  with  deep  regret,  that  the  evil  remains 
as  before :  and  the  question  recurs,  not  merely  how,  or  by  whom,  shall  in- 
struction be  given,  but  whether  it  shall  be  given  at  all,  or  be  altogether 
withheld.  Others  may  be  content  with  a  system  that  erects  free  schools  and 
offers  gratuitous  instruction  ;  but  I  trust  I  shall  be  allowed  to  entertain  the 
opinion,  that  no  system  is  perfect  which  does  not  accomplish  what  it  pro- 
poses ;  that  our  system,  therefore,  is  deficient  in  comprehensiveness  in  the 
exact  proportion  of  the  children  that  it  leaves  uneducated  ;  that  knowledge, 
however  acquired,  is  better  than  ignorance ;  and  that  neither  error,  acci- 
dent, nor  prejudice,  ought  to  be  permitted  to  deprive  the  State  of  the  edu- 
cation of  her  citizens.  Cherishing  such  opinions,  I  could  not  enjoy  the  con- 
sciousness of  having  discharged  my  duty,  if  any  effort  had  been  omitted 
which  was  calculated  to  bring  within  the  schools  all  who  are  destined  to 
exercise  the  rights  of  citizenship  ;  nor  shall  I  feel  that  the  system  is  perfect, 
or  liberty  safe,  until  that  object  be  accomplished.  Not  personally  concerned 
about  such  misapprehensions  as  have  arisen,  but  desirous  to  remove  every 
obstacle  to  the  accomplishment  of  so  important  an  object,  I  verily  declare 
that  I  seek  the  education  of  those  whom  I  have  brought  before  -you,  not  to 
perpetuate  any  prejudices  or  distinctions  which  deprive  them  of  instruction, 
but  in  disregard  of  all  such  distinctions  and  prejudices.  I  solicit  their  edu- 
cation less  from  sympathy,  than  because  the  welfare  of  the  State  demands  it, 
and  cannot  dispense  with  it.  As  native  citizens,  they  are  born  to  the  right 
of  suffrage.  I  ask  that  they  may  at  least  be  taught  to  read  and  write  ;  and, 
in  asking  this,  I  require  no  more  for  them  than  I  have  diligently  endeavored 
to  secure  to  the  inmates  of  our  penitentiaries,  who  have  forfeited  that  inesti- 
mable franchise  by  crime,  and  also  to  an  unfortunate  race  which,  having 
been  plunged  by  us  into  degradation  and  ignorance,  has  been  excluded  from 
the  franchise  by  an  arbitrary  property  qualification  incongruous  with  all  our 
institutions.  I  have  not  recommended,  nor  do  I  seek,  the  education  of  any 
class  in  foreign  languages  or  in  particular  creeds  or  faiths ;  but  fully  believ- 
ing, with  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  even  error 


356  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

.    X 

may  be  safely  tolerated  where  reason  is  left  free  to  combat  it,  and  therefore 
indulging  no  apprehensions  from  the  influence  of  any  language  or  creed 
among  an  enlightened  people.  I  desire  the  education  of  the  entire  rising 
generation  in  all  the  elements  of  knowledge  we  possess,  and  in  that  tongue 
which  is  the  common  language  of  our  countrymen.  To  me,  the  most  inter- 
esting of  all  our  republican  institutions  is  the  common  school.  I  seek  not 
to  disturb  in  any  manner  its  peaceful  and  assiduous  exercises,  and,  least  of 
all,  with  contentions  about  faith  or  forms.  I  desire  the  education  of  all  the 
children  in  the  commonwealth  in  morality  and  virtue,  leaving  matters  of 
conscience  where,  according  to  the  principles  of  civil  and  religions  liberty 
established  by  our  Constitution  and  laws,  they  rightfully  belong. 

On  February  24th,  the  President  laid  before  the  Senate  a 
remonstrance  from  citizens  of  New  York,  against  any  diversion 
of  the  school  fund  from  its  legitimate  objects,  which  was  read, 
and  laid  on  the  table. 

Petitions  were  put  in  circulation  among  the  citizens  of  New 
York,  by  those  favorable  to  an  alteration  of  the  school  system, 
and,  a  respectable  number  of  signatures  having  been  obtained, 
the  memorial  was  forwarded  to  Mr.  Yerplanck,  who  presented 
the  same  to  the  Senate,  on  the  29th  of  March.  The  paper  was 
read,  and  referred  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  Hon.  John  C.  Spen- 
cer, who  was  also  at  that  time,  by  law,  Superintendent  of  Com- 
mon Schools. 

The  Secretary  gave  immediate  attention  to  the  important 
subject  committed  to  his  care,  and,  on  April  26th,  his  report  was 
laid  before  the  Senate,  read,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Literature.  The  following  is  the  report : 

In  SEXATE,  April  26, 1WL 
REPORT 

Of  tlie  Secretary  of  State  upon  Memorial*  from  ike  City  of  New  York,  respect- 
ing the  Distribution  of  the  Common  School  Moneys  in  that  City,  referred  to 
Mm  "by  the  Senate. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Senate : 

The  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  have  been  referred  by  the  Senate,  during 
the  last  and  present  sessions,  numerous  petitions  on  the  subject  of  the  appli- 
cation of  that  portion  of  the  public  school  moneys  which  is  distributed  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  RESPECTFULLY  REPORTS  : 

The  memorials  presented  at  the  present  session  represent,  that  the  legis- 
lative enactments  on  the  subject  of  public  instruction  in  the  city  of  New 
York  require  a  fundamental  alteration  to  bring  the  benefits  of  common 
school  education  within  the  reach  of  all  classes  of  the  population ;  that  the 
original  intent  of  these  enactments  was  to  enable  every  school,  which  should 


MR.  SPENCER'S  REPORT.  357 

I 

comply  with  the  law,  to  share  in  the  common  school  fund  ;  that  this  design 
has  been  defeated  by  the  construction  put  upon  the  statutes  by  the  Common 
Council  of  the  city,  in  designating  the  Public  School  Society  to  receive 
nearly  the  whole  amount  of  the  fund  belonging  to  the  city ;  that  this  Soci- 
ety, being  a  corporation,  has  acquired  the  entire  control  of  the  system  of 
public  education ;  that  the  taxpayers,  who  contribute  to  the  fund,  have  no 
voice  in  the  selection  of  those  who  administer  the  system,  or  control  over 
the  application  of  the  public  moneys.  They  deprecate  the  influence  of  such 
a  corporation,  and  consider  it  dangerous  and  detrimental  to  the  public  inter- 
ests, while  it  is  wanting  in  responsibility  to  the  people.  They  complain  also 
of  injustice  to  those  whose  conscientious  scruples  they  allege  have  been  dis- 
regarded in  the  system  of  instruction  adopted  by  that  Society.  They  repre- 
sent that  there  are  other  schools  in  the  city  equally  entitled  to  partake  in 
the  bounty  of  the  State,  but  which,  with  nearly  eight  thousand  children, 
are  excluded  from  any  of  its  benefits  under  the  present  system.  They  pray 
that  every  school  established  by  the  taxable  inhabitants  of  the  city  may  be 
entitled  to  a  distributive  share  of  the  public  school  moneys ;  and  that  the 
persons  to  control  and  administer  the  system  of  public  instruction  in  the 
city  may  be  appointed  by  the  electors  and  taxable  inhabitants. 

At  the  last  session,  memorials  of  a  similar  character  from  a  large  number 
of  Roman  Catholic  citizens  of  New  York  were  referred  to  the  undersigned, 
upon  which  he  was  unable,  during  that  session,  to  report.  Although  these 
citizens  have  the  same  equal  and  common  rights  with  all  other  citizens  to 
submit  their  grievances  to  the  Legislature  and  ask  for  redress,  yet  the  cir- 
cumstance of  presenting  themselves  in  the  character  of  a  religions  denomi- 
nation is,  in  itself,  unfavorable  to  that  impartial  consideration  of  the  subject 
which  its  importance  demands.  The  hazard  is  incurred  of  giving  to  a  ques- 
tion broad  as  the  whole  territory  of  our  State,  and  comprehending  all  its 
inhabitants,  an  aspect  of  peculiarity,  as  if  it  concerned  only  those  who  pre- 
sented their  complaints.  But  great  injustice  would  be  done  to  the  subject 
by  this  mode  of  considering  it.  It  embraces  interests  vital  to  the  well-being 
of  the  whole  community ;  it  involves  the  destiny  of  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  the  children  of  the  republic,  who  are  hereafter  to  take  their  share 
in  the  management  of  its  affairs,  and  are  to  become  good  citizens  or  miser- 
able outcasts— rwho  are  to  sustain  the  laws  and  assist  in  the  preservation  of 
peace  and  good  order,  or  to  fill  our  dungeons  and  prisons,  and  occupy  our 
scaffolds.  In  the  contemplation  of  such  results,  the  denominations  and  par- 
ties into  which  society  is  divided  cannot  be  regarded,  except  so  far  as  a  just 
and  well-ordered  government  is  bound  to  protect,  equally  and  impartially, 
the  civil  and  political  rights  of  all. 

It  is  essential  to  the  proper  consideration  of  the  subject,  to  understand 
the  history  of  the  legislation  that  has  been  had  in  reference  to  it ;  and  par- 
ticularly in  relation  to  the  Public  School  Society  of  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  first  law  relating  to  that  portion  of  the  school  moneys  apportioned 
to  and  raised  in  the  city  of  New  York,  was  passed  in  1813,  and  will  be 
found  in  the  first  .volume  of  the  Revised  Laws  of  that  year,  at  p.  267.  It 
directed  those  moneys  to  be  distributed  "  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Free-School 


358  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Society,  the  Orphan  Asylum  Society,  the  Economical  School,,  the  African 
Free  School,  and  the  trustees  of  such  incorporated  religious  societies  in  said 
city  as  now  support,  or  hereafter  shall  establish,  charity  schools  within  the 
said  city,  who  may  apply  for  the  same." 

The  act  directed  that  the  sum  thus  distributed  should  be  applied  to  the 
payment  of  the  wages  of  the  teachers,  and  to  no  other  purpose  whatever. 
As  these  were  all  charity  schools,  it  is  obvious  that  the  Legislature  intended 
that  the  school  moneys  apportioned  to  the  city,  as  well  as  those  raised  by 
tax,  should  be  consecrated  to  the  education  exclusively  of  the  indigent. 
Under  this  act,  apportionments  were •  annually  made  to  the  schools  enume- 
rated, and  to  those  established  by  some  eight  or  ten  of  the  religious  denomi- 
nations, until  the  year  1824.  By  chapter  276  of  the  Session  Laws  of  that 
year,  the  above-mentioned  act  was  repealed,  and  the  Common  Council  of  the 
city  was  authorized  to  designate  "  the  societies  or  schools  which  should  be 
entitled  to  receive  a  share  of  the  school  moneys,  and  prescribe  the  rules  and 
restrictions  under  which  such  moneys  shall  be  received  by  such  societies  or 
schools  respectively."  Pursuant  to  this  act,  the  Common  Council  have 
designated  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  six  or  eight  other 
schools,  to  which  all  the  public  moneys  have,  since  1826,  been  distributed, 
with  some  variations  in  different  years  as  to  the  other  schools.  From  the 
annual  reports  and  other  documents,  a  statement  has  been  compiled,  from 
which  it  appears  that  more  than  one  million  dollars  has  been  paid  to  the 
trustees  of  the  Society,  under  its  different  names,  since  1813,  out  of  the 
public  moneys  appropriated  by  the  State,  and  raised  by  tax  on  the  city  for 
school  purposes,  and  that  $125,248.57,  have  been  paid  to  the  other  schools 
before  mentioned. 

The  Public  School  Society  was  originally  incorporated  in  1805,  by  chap- 
ter 108  of  the  laws  of  that  session,  which  is  entitled  "  An  Act  to  Incorporate 
the  Society  instituted  in  the  City  of  New  York,  for  the  establishment  of  a 
free  school  for  the  education  of  poor  children  who  do  not  belong  to,  orxare 
not  provided  for  by,  any  religious  society."  In  1808,  its  name  was  changed 
to  "The  Free-School  Society  of  New  York,"  and  its  powers  were  extended 
"  to  all  children  who  are  the  proper  subject  of  a  gratuitous  education."  By 
chapter  25  of  the  laws  of  1826,  its  name  was  changed  to  "  The  Public 
School  Society  of  New  York,"  and  the  trustees  were  authorized  to  provide 
for  the  education  of  all  children  in  the  city  of  New  York  not  otherwise  pro- 
vided for,  "  whether  such  children  be  or  be  not  the  proper  subjects  of  gra- 
tuitous education ; "  and  to  require  from  those  attending  the  schools  a 
moderate  compensation ;  but  no  child  to  be  refused  admission  on  account 
of  inability  to  pay. 

Thus,  by  the  joint  operation  of  the  acts  amending  the  charter  of  the 
Society,  of  the  statutes  in  relation  to  the  distribution  of  the  school  moneys, 
and  of  the  ordinance  of  the  Common  Council,  designating  the  schools  of 
the  Society  as  the  principal  recipients  of  those  moneys,  the  control  of  the 
public  education  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  disbursement  of  nine 
tenths  of  the  public  moneys  raised  and  apportioned  for  schools  were  vested 
in  this  corporation.  It  is  a  perpetual  corporation,  and  there  is  no  power 


MR.  SPENCER'S  REPORT.  359 

reserved  by  the  Legislature  to  repeal  or  modify  its  charter.  It  consists  of 
members  who  have  contributed  to  the  funds  of  the  Society  ;  and,  according 
to  the  provisions  of  the  last  act,  the  payment  of  ten  dollars  constitutes  the 
contributor  a  member  for  life.  The  members  annually  choose  fifty  trustees, 
who  may  add  to  their  number  fifty  more. 

In  the  last  report  of  the  Commissioners  for  School  Money  in  the  City 
and  County  of  New  York,  dated  in  July,  1840,  it  is  stated  that  "  the  num- 
ber of  schools  subject  to  the  visitation  of  the  commissioners  has  increased  to 
one  hundred  and  fifteen ;  of  these,  ninety-eight  are  under  the  direction  of 
the  Public  School  Society."  The  same  report  states  that  the  average  num- 
ber of  scholars  on  the  registers  of  these  schools  during  the  year  was  22,955, 
and  the  average  number  of  scholars  attending  them  during  the  year  was 
13,189.  This  great  dissparity  between  the  number  registered  and  the  num- 
ber attending  is  accounted  for  by  the  absences  and  irregular  attendance  of 
the  pupils. 

Although  the  undersigned  cannot  find  any  provision  by  which  the 
schools  of  the  Society  are  placed  under  the  visitation  and  supervision  of  the 
Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  yet  he  would  have  undertaken  a  per- 
sonal examination  of  them,  if  the  pressure  of  his  public  duties  and  other 
circumstances  beyond  his  control,  would  have  permitted. 

Several  gentlemen  of  the  city,  eminently  qualified,  were,  however,  select- 
ed for  that  purpose  ;  and  they  have  diligently  conducted  a  laborious  inquiry, 
and  submitted  to  the  undersigned  a  mass  of  valuable  information.  The 
results  of  these  examinations  show  very  satisfactorily  that  commodious 
houses  and  good  teachers  are  provided  by  the  Public  School  Society ;  that 
the  system  of  instruction  is  well  devised  and  faithfully  executed ;  that  an 
efficient  plan  of  visitation  and  inspection  is  prescribed  by  the  trustees ;  and, 
although  he  has  not  positive  information  on  the  subject,  he  has  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  such  plan  is  carried  into  practical  execution.  Certain  it  is,  that 
the  trustees  of  the  Society  have  exhibited  the  most  praiseworthy  zeal  and 
devotion  in  the  discharge  of  the  great  trust  devolved  on  them ;  and  many, 
if  not  all  of  them,  have  spared  no  exertions  to  bring  into  their  schools  the 
destitute  children  of  the  city. 

The  undersigned  has  supposed  that,  for  the  purpose  of  this  report,  this 
general  view  of  the  condition  of  the  schools  of  that  Society  would  be  more 
useful  than  to  encumber  it  with  the  large  amount  and  great  variety  of  de- 
tails which  have  been  collected.  To  the  gentlemen  who  visited  the  schools 
and  obtained  the  desired  information,  and  to  the  officers  of  the  Society, 
who  have  cheerfully  rendered  every  assistance,  he  would  take  this  occasion 
to  express  the  obligations  of  the  public,  and  his  own. 

Notwithstanding  these  favorable  results  of  the  efforts  of  the  Public 
School  Society,  the  memorials  referred  to  the  undersigned  complain  of  the 
operation  of  a  system  which,  in  fact,  devolves  upon  any  private  corporation 
the  discharge  of  one  of  the  most  important  functions  of  the  government, 
without  that  responsibility  to  the  people  which  is  provided  in  all  other 
cases.  They  allege  that,  in  its  administration,  the  conscientious  opinions 
and  feelings  of  large  classes  of  citizens  are  disregarded  ;  that  other  schools, 


360  TUB   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

maintained  for  the  same  objects  and  accomplishing  the  same  benevolent 
results,  are  arbitrarily  excluded  from  all  participation  in  a  common  fund 
collected  by  the  joint  contributions  of  all ;  and  that  a  fearfully  large  portion 
of  the  indigent  children  are  not  reached,  or  in  any  way  benefited  by  the 
system  of  public  education  which  now  prevails.  These  are  objections  of  the 
most  weighty  character,  and  cannot  be  overlooked  by  those  whose  duty  and 
inclination  alike  prompt  them  to  regard  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest 
number.  The  merits  of  the  Public  School  Society,  the  devotion  and  energy 
of  its  trustees,  and  the  success  of  its  schools,  cannot  and  ought  not  to  pre- 
vent an  investigation  to  ascertain  whether  it  is  necessarily  limited  in  its 
operation ;  whether  it  accomplishes  the  main  purposes  of  its  organization ; 
or  whether  its  continuance  violates  essential  and  fundamental  principles,  and 
thus  presents  a  perpetual  source  of  irritation  and  complaint.  The  question 
to  be  determined  is  far  more  broad  and  comprehensive  than  the  merits  of 
uny  particular  society.  It  involves  the  inquiry  whether  the  intentions  of 
the  Legislature  have  been  fulfilled,  to  furnish  the  means  of  education  "  to 
all  those  who  are  destined  to  exercise  the  rights  of  citizenship." 

There  are  numerous  other  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York,  founded  by 
voluntary  associations,  in  which  many  thousands  of  the  children  of  poverty 
and  distress  receive  their  education,  imperfect  and  deficient  as  it  may  be  in 
many  instances.  By  a  participation  in  the  funds  intended  for  the  benefit  of 
all,  their  means  of  extending  the  sphere  of  their  usefulness  will  be  aug- 
mented ;  and  by  extending  to  aii  who  desire  to  exercise  it,  the  right  of  par- 
ticipating in  the  same  means,  new  schools  may  be  established,  and  temples 
of  education  made  as  numerous  as  the  nurseries  of  vice. 

It  can  scarcely  be  necessary  to  say  that  the  founders  of  these  schools, 
and  those  who  wish  to  establish  others,  have  absolute  rights  to  the  benefits 
of  a  common  burden ;  and  that  any  system  which  deprives  them  of  their 
just  share  in  the  application  of  a  common  and  public  fund,  must  be  justi- 
fied, if  at  all,  by  a  necessity  which  demands  the  sacrifice  of  individual  rights 
for  the  accomplishment  of  a  social  benefit  of  paramount  importance. 

It  is  presumed  no  such  necessity  can  be  urged  in  the  present  instance. 
On  the  contrary,  the  views  which  will  be  subsequently  presented,  afford 
strong  ground  for  the  belief  that  the  education  of  a  much  larger  number 
than  now  are,  or  under  any  circumstances  may  be  expected  to  be,  provided 
for  by  the  'Public  School  Society,  or  any  one  society,  will  be  secured  by  in- 
viting the  cooperation  and  stimulating  the  exertions  of  all  who  are  disposed 
to  engage  in  the  enterprise. 

The  Gpmplaint  that,  in  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  the 
conscientious  opinions  and  feelings  of  large  classes  of  our  fellow-citizens 
are  disregarded,  may,  at  first,  appear  unreasonable.  But  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  the  best  of  men  adhere,  with  a  tenacity  proportioned  to  the 
strength  and  sincerity  of  their  convictions,  to  those  principles  of  religious 
faith  upon  which,  in  their  estimation,  their  present  and  eternal  welfare  de- 
pends, and  that  they  regard  as  the  most  sacred  of  duties  the  inculcation  of 
those  principles  in  the  minds  of  their  children,  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised 
at  their  anxiety  to  exclude  all  that  is  hostile  to  their  views  from  the  estab- 


MR.  SPENCER'S  REPORT.  361 

lishments  to  whose  care  they  are  invited  to  commit  the  education  of  their 
offspring.  With  many,  the  transmission  of  their  own  creeds  to  these  objects 
of  their  affection  is  a  part,  and  a  most  essential  part,  of  their  own  religious 
professions ;  and  any  influences  which  interrupted  it,  would  be  deemed  by 
such  an  invasion  of  their  most  sacred  rights. 

Sonic  of  the  memorialists  complain  that  the  tendency  of  the  instruction 
received  in  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  is  unfavorable,  if  not 
hostile,  to  those  principles  of  faith  which  they  hold  dearer  than  life  itself; 
and  they  allege  that,  consistently  with  their  views  of  religious  duty  to  their 
children,  they  cannot  send  them  to  such  schools. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  oppose  any  change  in  the  present  system 
express  their  apprehensions  that,  by  allowing  to  all  schools  a  free  and  equal 
participation  in  the  school  moneys,  the  public  funds  will  be  applied  indi- 
rectly, if  not  directly,  to  the  inculcation  of  religious  dogmas  of  all  descrip- 
tions; and  some  are  peculiarly  apprehensive  of  the  possible  extension  of 
certain  doctrines  which  they  deem  erroneous  and  injurious.  Thus  the  ques- 
tion of  sectarian  influences  is  mutually  raised,  with  its  usual  aggravations. 
This  is  a  question  from  the  consideration  of  which  some  may  feel  disposed 
to  shrink,  from  a  vague  and  indefinite  terror  of  the  consequences  of  its  dis- 
cussion. But  it  is  believed  there  is  a  mode  of  considering  it  without  par- 
ticipating in  the  feelings  of  any  side,  but  viewing  all  as  having  common  and 
equal  rights,  and  animated  by  the  same  spirit  of  beneficence,  which  will 
avoid  conflict  with  every  thing  but  prejudice,  and  conduct  to  safe  and  salu- 
tary conclusions. 

According  to  the  principles  of  our  institutions,  no  one  has  the  authority 
to  determine  whether  the  religious  doctrines  and  sentiments  of  any  class  of 
our  citizens  be  right  or  wrong.  The  immunity  of  the  Constitution,  and  of 
an  unequivocal  public  sentiment,  is  thrown  around  "  the  religious  faith  and 
profession  "  of  all  our  citizens  ;  and  whether  a  particular  creed  is  professed 
by  a  humble  minority,  or  a  powerful  majority,  can  make  no  other  difference 
than  to  excite,  in  the  first  case,  the  generous  forbearance  of  those  who  may 
temporarily  have  the  physical  power  to  oppress,  and  to  animate  them  to  the 
strictest  fidelity  to  their  obligations.  The  only  object  which  our  fellow- 
citizens  can  have,  is  the  education  of  all  the  children  of  the  commonwealth, 
in  literature,  morality,  and  virtue.  "No  system  is  perfect,  nor  can  liberty 
be  safe,  until  all  who  are  destined  to  exercise  the  rights  of  citizenship,  are 
brought  within  the  schools."  "  Knowledge,  however  acquired,  is  better 
than  ignorance  ;  and  neither  error,  accident,  nor  prejudice,  ought  to  be  per- 
mitted to  deprive  the  State  of  the  education  of  her  citizens." 

These  principles,  recently  promulgated  by  the  highest  executive  authority 
in  our  State,  have  received  the  cordial  approbation  of  our  fellow-citizens. 
In  approaching  the  subject  in  the  same  spirit  which  dictated  them,  and  in 
endeavoring  to  reconcile  prejudice,  we  must  not  ourselves  commit  the  error 
of  ascribing  improper  designs  or  erroneous  principles  to  others.  If  there  be 
error,  let  reason  be  enlightened  to  combat  it ;  if  there  be  prejudice,  let  the 
humanizing  and  liberalizing  influences  of  education  be  brought  to  beat 


362  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

upon  it.  Let  not  error  and  prejudice  be  perpetuated,  by  being  shut  up  and 
excluded  from  the  light  of  science. 

The  object,  then,  being  to  procure  education  at  all  events — if  not  the 
best  we  could  desire,  at  the  first,  yet  to  have  education  extended  to  all 
classes,  in  the  assured  hope  of  its  continual  improvement — we  are  to  main- 
tain the  perfect  equality  of  all  our  citizens  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  rights 
in  determining  the  religious  character  of  such  instruction.  Hence,  the  first 
inquiry  to  be  made  is,  whether  these  rights  can  be  maintained  under  a  sys- 
tem which  rests  in  any  permanent  body,  or  set  of  men,  the  control  of  the 
education  of  a  city  ? 

The  great  object  to  be  attained  is  the  education  of  the  greatest  number 
possible.  If  we  cannot  at  once  have  that  education  in  the  most  perfect 
form,  or  in  the  highest  degree,  still  much  is  accomplished  in  having  the 
good  seed  sown.  It  will  not  only  fructify,  ripen,  and  expand,  but  it  will 
enrich  the  soil  in  which  it  is  cast,  and  each  successive  harvest  will  be  more 
rich  and  abundant  than  its  predecessor.  If  the  alternative  be  presented  of 
having  a  limited  number  of  schools,  in  which  instruction  of  the  highest 
grade  is  imparted,  but  from  which  one  half  the  proper  subjects  of  educa- 
tion are  absent,  or  of  having  a  large  number  of  lower  pretensions  and  less 
efficiency,  but  so  organized  and  situated  that  all  may  attend,  and  affording 
strong  grounds  for  the  belief  that  nearly  all  will  be  gathered  within  them, 
it  would  seem  that  there  ought  to  be  no  hesitation  in  the  choice,  and  that 
the  portals  of  knowledge  ought  to  be  at  once  thrown  open  as  widely  as  pos- 
sible, with  the  certainty  that  improvement  will  follow  the  very  first  elements 
of  instruction. 

It  is  very  true  that  the  Government  has  assumed  only  the  intellectual 
education  of  the  children  of  the  State,  and  has  left  their  moral  arid  reli- 
gious instruction  to  be  given  at  the  fireside,  at  the  places  of  public  worship, 
and  at  institutions  which  the  piety  of  individuals  may  establish  for  the  pur- 
pose. But  it  is  believed  that,  in  a  country  where  the  great  body  of  our 
fellow-citizens  recognize  the  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity,  public 
sentiment  would  be  shocked  by  the  attempt  to  exclude  all  instruction  of  a 
religious  nature  from  the  public  schools ;  and  that  any  plan  or  scheme  of 
education,  in  which  no  reference  whatever  was  had  to  moral  principles 
founded  on  these  truths,  would  be  abandoned  by  all.  In  the  next  place,  it 
is  believed  such  an  attempt  would  be  wholly  impracticable.  No  books  can 
be  found,  no  reading-lessons  can  be  selected,  which  do  not  contain  more  or 
less  of  some  principles  of  religious  faith,  either  directly  avowed  or  indirectly 
assumed.  Religion  and  literature  have  become  inseparably  interwoven,  and 
the  expurgation  of  religious  sentiments  from  the  productions  of  orators, 
essayists,  and  poets,  would  leave  them  utterly  barren. 

Viewing  the  subject,  then,  practically,  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  settled 
axiom  in  all  schemes  of  education  intended  for  the  youth  of  this  country, 
that  there  must  be,  of  necessity,  a  very  considerable  amount  of  religious  in- 
struction. The  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  have  probably  no 
more  in  their  schools  than  could  be  well  avoided,  while  they  profess— and 
doubtless  sincerely — their  readiness  to  omit  every  thing  that  may  be  justly 


MR.  SPENCER'S  REPORT.  363 

regarded  as  offensive,  they  yet  maintain — and  properly — that  education  is 
imperfect,  without  inculcating  moral  and  religious  principles ;  and  hence 
they  allow  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  or  portions  of  them,  and  inculcate 
the  leading  principles  of  Christianity.  But  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  how 
even  those  principles  can  be  taught,  so  as  to  be  of  any  value,  without  incul- 
cating what  is  peculiar  to  some  one  or  more  denominations,  and  denied  by 
others.  For  it  unfortunately  happens  that,  in  the  infinite  diversity  of  opin- 
ion among  those  claiming  to  be  Christians,-there  are  but  few  articles  of  faith 
received  by  one  denomination  which  are  not  rejected  by  another.  Even  the 
reading  of  the  text  of  our  common  translation  of  the  Scriptures  is  objected 
to  by  many,  on  account  of  its  being,  as  they  allege,  erroneous  and  imperfect  > 
while  others  deem  its  perusal  by  children,  without  explanation,  positively 
injurious.  Even  the  moderate  degree  of  religious  instruction  which  the 
Public  School  Society  imparts  must,  therefore,  be  sectarian  ;  that  is,  it  must 
favor  one  set  of  opinions  in  opposition  to  another,  or  others ;  and  it  is  be- 
lieved that  this  always  will  be  the  result  in  any  course  of  education  that  the 
wit  of  man  can  devise. 

If  these  views  are  sound,  this  dilemma  is  produced :  that,  while  some 
degree  of  religious  instruction  is  indispensable,  and  will  be  had  under  all 
circumstances,  it  cannot  be  imparted  without  partaking,  to  some  extent,  of  a 
sectarian  character,  and  giving  occasion  for  offence  to  those  whose  opinions 
are  thus  impugned.  But,  fortunately,  there  is  a  mode  of  escape  from  the 
difficulty.  That  mode  will  be  found  in  a  recurrence  to  the  fundamental 
principles  engrafted  on  our  constitutions,  by  which  no  law  can  be  passed 
"  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof,"  and  by  which  "  the  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  religious  pro- 
fession and  worship,  without  discrimination  or  preference,  shall  forever  be 
allowed  in  this  State,  to  all  mankind."  Those  by  whom  our  governments 
have  hitherto  been  administered,  have  found  that  practical  effect  could  be 
given  to  these  principles  only  by  scrupulously  abstaining  from  all  legislation 
whatever  on  those  subjects  which  involved,  or  were  in  any  way  connected 
with,  religious  faith,  profession,  or  instruction ;  and  in  this  course  of  pro- 
ceeding the  people  have  found  such  a  safeguard  against  oppression,  such  a 
security  against  the  dissensions  and  animosities  of  intolerance  and  bigotry, 
and  such  a  guarantee  of  peace  and  tranquillity,  that  it  has  been  constantly, 
and  under  all  vicissitudes,  unanimously  approved  by  them. 

On  this  principle  of  what  may  be  termed  absolute  non-intervention,  may 
we  rely  to  remove  all  the  apparent  difficulties  which  surround  the  subject 
under  consideration.  In  the  theory  of  the  common  school  law  which  governs 
the  whole  State,  except  the  city  of  New  York,  it  is  fully  and  entirely  main- 
tained ;  and  in  the  administration  of  that  law,  it  is  sacredly  observed.  No 
officer,  among  the  thousands  having  charge  of  our  common  schools,  thinks 
of  interposing  by  any  authoritative  direction,  respecting  the  nature  or  extent 
of  moral  or  religious  instruction  to  be  given  in  the  schools.  Its  whole  con- 
trol is  left  to  the  free  and  unrestricted  action  of  the  people  themselves,  in 
their  several  districts.  The  law  provides  for  the  organization  of  districts, 
the  election  of  officers,  and  the  literary  and  moral  qualification  of  teachers, 


364  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

and  leaves  all  else  to  the  regulation  of  those  for  whose  benefit  the  system  is 
devised.  The  practical  consequence  is,  that  each  district  suits  itself,  by 
having  such  religious  instruction  in  its  school  as  is  congenial  to  the  opinions 
of  its  inhabitants ;  and  the  records  of  this  department  have  been  searched 
in  vain  for  an  instance  of  a  complaint  of  any  abuse  of  this  authority,  in  any 
of  the  schools  out  of  the  city  of  New  York.  To  those  who  will  reflect  on 
the  multitude  of  denominations  in  our  State  widely  differing  from  each 
other  on  subjects  of  such  exciting  interest,  this  result  will  not  be  more 
astonishing,  than  it  will  be  convincing,  of  the  wisdom  of  the  principle  of 
non-intervention  by  the  State  or  its  agents. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  great  source  of  the  difficulties  in  the  city  of  New 
York  arises  from  a  violation  of  this  principle.  The  practical  operation  of 
the  school  laws  is  to  constitute  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  the 
officers  and  agents  of  the  Government  in  the  administration  of  the  system 
of  primary  instruction  in  that  city.  That  Society,  in  effect,  engrosses  the 
public  education  of  the  city ;  and  instead  of  operating  on  small  masses,  as 
in  the  interior,  embraces  the  whole.  In  such  a  system  the  principle  of  non- 
intervention can  be  applied  only  by  the  total  abandonment  of  all  religious 
instruction.  For,  as  is  supposed  to  have  been  already  shown,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  prescribe  any  amount  of  such  instruction  for  a  population  of  three 
hundred  and  thirteen  thousand  souls,  without  offending  the  religious  princi- 
ples of  many.  But  if  the  degree  and  kind  could  be  left  to  the  choice  of 
parents,  in  small  masses,  then  the  object  would  be  obtained,  with  the  con- 
currence of  all,  religious  instruction  would  be  imparted  to  the  young,  with- 
out encountering  the  feelings,  prejudices,  or  conscientious  views  of  any. 
The  defect  is  one  which,  so  far  from  being  peculiar  to  the  Public  School 
Society,  is  necessarily  inherent  in  every  form  of  organization  which  places 
under  one  control  large  masses  of  discordant  materials,  which,  from  the 
nature  of  things,  cannot  submit  to  any  control.  If  that  Society  had  charge 
.of  the  children  of  one  denomination  only,  there  would  be  no  difficulty.  It 
is  because  it  embraces  children  of  all  denominations,  and  seeks  to  supply  to 
them  all  a  species  of  instruction  which  is  adapted  only  to  a  part,  and  which, 
from  its  nature,  cannot  be  moulded  to  suit  the  views  of  all,  that  it  fails,  and 
ever  .must  fail,  to  give  satisfaction  on  a  subject  of  all  others  the  most  vital 
and  the  most  exciting.  If  there  is  not  entire  fallacy  in  all  these  views— if 
the  experience  of  twenty-five  years,  derived  from  the  school  districts  of  the 
interior,  is  not  wholly  worthless,  then  the  remedy  is  plain,  practical,  and 
simple.  It  is  by  adopting  the  principle  of  the  organization  that  prevails  in 
the  other  parts  of  the  State,  which  will  leave  such  parents  as  desire  to  exer- 
cise any  control  over  the  amount  and  description  of  religious  instruction 
which  shall  be  given  to  their  children,  the  opportunity  of  doing  so.  This 
can  be  effected  by  depriving  the  present  system  in  New  York  of  its  charac- 
ter of  universality  and  exclusiveness,  and  by  opening  it  to  the  action  of 
smaller  masses,  whose  interests  and  opinions  may  be  consulted  in  their 
schools,  so  that  every  denomination  may  freely  enjoy  its  "  religious  profes- 
sion "  in  the  education  of  its  youth. 

To  this  plan  objections  have  been  made,  that  it  would  enable  different 


MR.  SPENCER'S  REPORT.  365 

religious  denominations  to  establish  schools  of  a  sectarian  character,  and 
that  thereby  religious  dissensions  would  be  aggravated,  if  not  generated. 
The  first  objection  has  already  been  partially  considered.  It  is  believed  to 
have  been  satisfactorily  shown,  that  there  must  be  some  degree  of  religious 
instruction,  and  that  there  can  be  none  without  partaking  more  or  less  of  a 
sectarian  character ;  and  that  even  the  Public  School  Society  has  not  been 
able,  and  cannot  expect  to  be  able,  to  avoid  the  imputation.  In  this  respect, 
then,  matters  cannot  well  be  in  a  worse  condition  than  they  are  at  present. 
The  objection  itself  proceeds  on  a  sectarian  principle,  and  assumes  the 
power  to  control  that  which  it  is  neither  right  nor  practicable  to  submit  to 
any  denomination.  Religious  doctrines  of  vital  interest  will  be  inculcated, 
not  as  theological  exercises,  but  incidentally,  in  the  course  of  literary  and 
scientific — and  who  will  undertake  to  prohibit  such  instruction  ? 

It  is  not  perceived  how  religious  dissensions  will  be  aggravated.  The 
objection  supposes  a  particular  school  to  belong  to  a  particular  denomina- 
tion ;  of  course,  it  will  be  in  unison  with  it.  The<  founders,  teachers,  and 
pupils  of  the  different  schools  will  act  separately  and  independently  in  their 
respective  spheres,  and  will  not  come  in  contact  or  collision  with  each  other. 
A  rivalry  may,  and  probably  will,  be  produced  between  them,  to  increase 
the  number  of  pupils.  As  an  essential  means  to  such  an  object,  there  will 
be  a  constant  effort  to  improve  the  schools  in  the  mode  and  degree  of  in- 
struction, and  in  the  qualifications  of  the  teachers.  Thus,  not  only  will  the 
number  of  children  brought  into  the  schools  be  incalculably  augmented,  but 
the  competition  anticipated  will  produce  its  usual  effect  of  providing  the 
very  best  material  to  satisfy  the  public  demand.  These  advantages  will 
more  than  compensate  for  any  possible  evils  that  may  be  apprehended  from 
having  schools  adapted  to  the  feelings  and  views  of  the  different  denomina- 
tions. The  undersigned  cannot  but  think  those  evils  are  magnified,  and 
that  the  experience  derived  from  the  operation  of  the  system  in  the  other 
parts  of  the  State  effectually  dispels  all  apprehensions  of  that  nature.  Be- 
sides, a  peculiar  remedy  will  be  found,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  from  the 
proximity  of  the  schools,  and  the  opportunity  thus  afforded  to  become 
acquainted  with  any  abuses  by  which  the  public  moneys  should  be  pervert- 
ed to  theological  instruction,  in  place  of  those  literary  studies  which  should 
be  pursued  during  the  hours  allotted  to  common  school  education.  The 
watchfulness  of  those  who  apprehend  the  abuse  may  be  relied  on  to  detect 
it  promptly,  and  to  seek  the  needful  remedy,  by  application  to  those  having 
the  power  to  apply  it. 

It  is  believed  to  be  an  error  to  suppose  that  the  absence  of  all  religious 
instruction,  if  it  were  practicable,  is  a  mode  of  avoiding  sectarianism.  On 
the  contrary,  it  would  be  in  itself  sectarian,  because  it  would  be  consonant 
to  the  views  of  a  particular  class,  and  opposed  to  the  views  of  other  classes. 
Those  who  reject  creeds,  and  resist  all  efforts  to  infuse  them  into  the  minds 
of  the  young  before  they  have  arrived  at  a  maturity  of  judgment  which 
may  enable  them  to  form  their  own  opinions,  would  be  gratified  by  a  system 
which  so  fully  accomplishes  their  purposes.  But  there  are  those  who  hold 
contrary  opinions,  and  who  insist  on  guarding  the  young  against  the  influ- 


366  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

ences  of  their  own  passions,  and  the  contagion  of  vice,  by  implanting  in 
their  minds  and  hearts  those  elements  of  faith  which  are  held  by  this  class 
to  be  the  indispensable  foundations  of  moral  principles.  This  description 
of  persons  regard  neutrality  and  indifference  as  the  most  insidious  forms  of 
hostility.  It  is  not  the  business  of  the  undersigned  to  express  any  opinion 
on  the  merits  of  these  views.  His  only  purpose  is,  to  show  the  mistake  of 
those  who  suppose  they  may  avoid  sectarianism  by  avoiding  all  religious 
instruction. 

But  the  schools  and  houses  of  the  Public  School  Society  ought  not  to  be 
abandoned ;  and  the  inestimable  benefits  of  its  admirable  arrangements  and 
constant  supervision  should  not  be  lost.  Let  them  also  be  retained,  and 
placed  on  the  same  footing  with  other  organized  schools,  and  allowed  to 
participate  in  the  public  contributions  in  the  same  ratio.  The  character  of 
their  schools  will  secure  them  a  preference  with  an  intelligent  public  where 
no  obstacles  of  a  religious  character  interpose ;  and  if  all  their  houses  can- 
not be  filled,  under  teachers  of  their  own  selection,  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  the  same  benevolent  spirit  which  has  hitherto  actuated  the  trustees, 
would  induce  them  to  permit  their  occupation  by  others,  for  a  reasonable 
rc-nt,  or  to  transfer  them  to  such  associations  as  should  desire  to  purchase 
them.  The  precious  gems  which  now  stud  the  city  would  thus  be  multi- 
plied to  an  extent  that  can  scarcely  be  calculated ;  all  conscientious  objec- 
tions would  be  removed  ;  the  people  themselves  would  become  interested  in 
(he  subjects  of  their  own  care  and  protection  ;  a  public  spirit  in  the  cause 
of  primary  education,  and  a  desire  for  its  improvement,  would  be  excited 
and  extended ;  a  generous  rivalry  would  be  promoted ;  while  the  Public 
School  Society  would  find  ample  scope  for  its  benevolence  in  educating  the 
children  of  those  who  approve  its  system,  and  in  pursuing  the  original 
object  of  its  institution— the  gathering  into  its  schools  those  who  were  not 
otherwise  provided  with  the  means  of  instruction. 

Another  prominent  objection  made  by  the  memorials  referred  to  by  the 
undersigned  is,  that  the  existing  system  in  New  York  devolves  upon  a  pri- 
vate corporation  the  discharge  of  an  important  function  of  government; 
without  a  direct  and  immediate  responsibility  to  the  people.  It  is  certainly 
an  anomaly  wholly  unknown  in  any  other  department  of  the  public  service, 
that  a  private  corporation,  existing  independently,  not  amenable  in  any  form 
to  the  laws  or  to  the  Legislature,  should  be  charged  with  what  those  laws 
regard  as  a  part  of  the  functions  of  the  Government — the  disbursement  of 
the  public  moneys  at  its  own  will  and  pleasure,  the  selection  of  teachers,  of 
•whose  qualification  it  is  the  sole  judge,  and  the  establishment  and  mainte- 
nance of  a  system  of  public  education  according  to  its  own  ideas  of  pro- 
priety. It  is  not  subject  to  the  supervision  of  the  State  authorities,  to  whom 
all  other  parts  of  the  system  of  public  instruction  are  committed.  Educa- 
tion cannot  be  considered  a  subject  of  local  interest  in  the  city  of  New  York 
more  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  State,  although  it  has  come  to  be  so 
regarded  by  many,  in  consequence  of  the  Legislature  having  devolved  its 
own  power  upon  the  Common  Council.  But  it  is  a  public  and  common  con- 
cern, of  which  the  Government  has  taken  cognizance,  and  which,  for  the 


ME.  SPENCER'S  BEPOKT.  367 

common  good  of  all,  it  is  bound  to  see  equally  and  fairly  administered.  The 
interest  of  the  State  is  not  only  pecuniary,  arising  from  the  expenditure  of 
more  than  $34,000,  annually  contributed  from  its  own  funds,  but  it  is  of  a 
high  social  and  political  character ;  and  every  reason  which  should  induce 
its  guardianship  and  care  over  other  portions  of  its  territory,  apply  with 
equal  force  to  the  city  of  New  York.  Experience  has  shown  the  necessity 
for  its  interposition  heretofore,  without  the  application  of  the  local  authori- 
ties, to  prevent  the  misapplication  and  waste  of  the  school  moneys. 

The  only  species  of  control  to  which  the  Public  School  Society  is  sub- 
ject, is  that  which  may  be  found  in  the  power  of  the  Common  Council  to 
omit  the  designation  of  the  schools  of  the  Society  to  receive  the  funds  raised 
for  common  school  purposes.  But,  in  the  present  condition  of  things,  this 
power  can,  probably,  never  be  exercised.  That  Society  owns  in  fee,  or  has 
perpetual  leases  of,  the  numerous  school-houses  erected  by  means  of  the  pub- 
lic school  moneys,  and  the  contributions,  comparatively  unimportant,  of  its 
members.  If  these  houses  should  not  be  occupied,  there  would  be  a  total 
want  of  the  accommodations  necessary  for  the  public  schools.  The  abuses 
must  be  flagrant,  and  wholly  intolerable,  which  would  justify  the  Common 
Council  in  driving  into  the  streets  the  multitude  of  children  who  now 
occupy  these  houses,  by  withholding  the  public  school  moneys  from  the 
Society  ;  and  it  may  well  be  considered  not  the  least  among  the  evil  conse- 
quences of  the  present  system,  that  a  private  corporation  should  thus  have 
acquired  the  title  of  what  is  substantially  public  funds  and  should  be  pub- 
lic property,  and  thus  be  enabled  effectually  to  prevent  the  exercise  of  even 
the  only  semblance  of  control  over  its  proceedings  provided  by  law. 

However  acceptable  the  services  of  such  a  Society  may  have  been  in  the 
first  imperfect  effort  to  establish  common  schools,  however  willing  the  peo- 
ple may  have  been  to  submit  to  an  institution  which  promised  immediate 
benefit,  and  however  praiseworthy  and  successful  may  have  been  its  efforts, 
yet  it  involves  a  principle  so  hostile  to  the  whole  spirit  of  our  institutions, 
that  it  is  impossible  it  should  be  long  sustained  amid  the  increased  intelli- 
gence which  its  own  exertions  have  contributed  to  produce,  especially  when 
other  and  more  congenial  means  of  attaining  the  same  objects  have  been 
pointed  out,  and  when,  therefore,  the  necessity  which  called  it  into  existence 
has  ceased.  The  public  attention  is  now  roused  to  the  subject,  and  many 
thousands  of  the  citizens  of  New  York  demand  the  right  of  controlling, 
through  responsible  public  agents,  the  education  of  their  children,  and  the 
application  of  common  funds  to  which  they  have  contributed  for  a  common 
object.  We  must  forget  that  we  live  under  a  government  of  the  people, 
before  such  a  demand  can  be  effectually  resisted.  Procrastination  and  delay 
will  only  increase  its  urgency,  render  it  more  exacting,  and  multiply  the 
difficulties  of  satisfying  it  consistently  with  a  just  regard  to  the  useful  pur- 
poses to  which  the  Public  School  Society  may  be  applied.  It  must  succeed, 
sooner  or  later ;  and  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  and  duty  to  yield  to  that 
which  is  just  in  itself,  promptly,  and  before  agitation  and  excitement  de- 
prive acquiescence  of  all  merit.  We  are  not  at  liberty  to  say  that  our  fel- 
low-citizens who  make  this  claim  are  incapable  of  performing  the  duty 


368  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

•which  they  would  undertake.  Our  constitutions  admit  their  competency  to 
manage  all  the  affairs  of  government ;  and  the  foundation  of  our  whole  sys- 
tem must  be  overturned,  before  we  can  deny  to  them  the  capacity  to  deter- 
mine on  the  mode,  manner,  and  extent  of  instruction  to  be  given  to  their 
offspring.  Besides,  the  example  of  a  sister  city — Boston — where  the  man- 
agers of  the  public  schools  are,  and  for  years  have  been,  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple in  their  respective  wards — whose  schools  are  equal,  if  not  superior,  to 
any  others  in  our  country — furnishes  the  most  effectual  answer  to  any  appre- 
hensions that  might  be  indulged,  from  trusting  the  people  with  the  selection 
of  the  agents  to  administer  a  system  that  so  nearly  concerns  them.  And  yet 
in  this,  as  in  every  other  public  business,  the  energies  of  the  people  require 
a  system  to  regulate  and  conduct  them  to  the  best  results.  Such  a  system, 
emanating  from  agents  of  their  own  selection,  and  maintained,  controlled, 
and  superintended  by  them,  will  command  the  confidence  and  invite  the 
cooperation  of  the  constituents.  This  may  be  accomplished  by  the  choice 
of  commissioners  of  common  schools  in  each  ward  of  the  city,  who  should 
form  a  board,  to  which  some  degree  of  permanency  may  be  given  by  allow- 
ing the  election  of  one  third  each  year,  which  board  should  take  the  entire 
charge  of  the  common  schools  of  the  city,  receiving  and  disbursing  the 
public  funds,  establishing  schools  and  a  system  for  their  government  and 
inspection,  and  providing  the  means  of  testing  the  qualifications  of  teach- 
ers. They  might  be  aided  by  a  city  superintendent,  with  such  compensa- 
tion as  should  secure  the  best  talent  and  the  whole  time  of  the  incumbent ; 
and  then  leave  the  schools  to  the  management  of  trustees  chosen  by  those 
who  established  them,  and  to  the  general  laws  of  the  State. 

Considering  the  various  feelings  and  interests  that  would  be  called  into 
action  by  such  a  system,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  one  of  its  immediate 
effects  would  be,  to  bring  into  the  schools  a  large  portion,  if  not  the  whole, 
of  those  who  are  now  utterly  destitute  of  instruction.  With  all  the  com- 
mendable and  vigorous  efforts  of  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society, 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  less  than  one  half  the  children  between  4  and  16 
years  of  age,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  are  receiving  the  benefits  of  any  edu- 
cation whatever.  From  the  statements  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Superin- 
tendent of  Common  Schools  for  the  present  year  (Assembly  Document  No. 
100),  it  appears  that  the  whole  number  of  white  children  in  New  York,  in 
1840,  over  5  and  under  16  years  of  age,  was  62,952,  and  that  30,758  only  are 
returned  as  attending  some  school,  leaving  32,194  who  were  not  in  attend- 
ance on  any  school  whatever.  In  a  memorial  of  the  Public  School  Society 
presented  to  the  Legislature  at  its  present  session,  it  is  stated  that  "  multi- 
tudes are  entirely  destitute  of  the  necessary  means  of  acquiring  the  first 
rudiments  of  education,  and  must,  unless  specially  provided  for,  grow  up  in 
gross  ignorance."  In  the  same  memorial,  it  is  alleged  "  that  the  whole  ex- 
tent of  existing  accommodations  for  the  purpose  of  imparting  school  learn- 
ing is  sufficient  for  but  about  35,000,  as  well  in  private  as  in  public  schools." 
The  fact  seems,  then,  undeniable,  that  the  paramount  obligation  of  impart- 
ing instruction  to  the  mass  of  children  has  not  been  accomplished  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  That  accommodations  exist  for  a  larger  number  than 


MR.  SPENCER'S  REPORT.  369 

attend  the  schools,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  already  mentioned,  that, 
while  the  Public  School  Society  has  registered,  on  its  books  the  names  of 
children  who  have  entered  its  schools  to  the  number  of  22,955,  the  average 
actual  attendance  of  pupils  amounts  only  to  13,189.  The  same  inference 
may  be  drawn  from  the  fact  of  the  efforts  made  by  the  trustees  to  bring  in  a 
larger  number  of  children  than  those  who  were  registered — efforts  which 
could  not  have  been  made  if  there  were  no  room  for  their  accommodation. 

A  comparison  of  the  results  obtained  from  statistical  returns,  between 
the  numbers  educated  in  New  York  and  those  instructed  in  the  schools  in 
the  other  parts  of  the  State,  will  exhibit  in  a  more  striking  manner  the 
lamentable  deficiency  of  the  former.  It  appears,  from  the  report  of  the 
Superintendent  before  referred  to,  that,  while  there  are  592,000  children  out 
of  the  city  of  New  York  between  the  ages  of  5  and  16,  there  are  549,000 
returned  as  attending  the  common  schools.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  the 
proportions  were,  as  before  stated,  62,952  children  Jjetween  the  same  ages, 
and  80,758  attending  all  schools,  public  as  well  as  private.  In  that  city,  less 
than  one  tenth  of  the  population  are  receiving  the  benefit  of  any  instruc- 
tion ;  while  in  the  interior,  more  than  one  fourth  of  the  whole  population 
are  returned,  as  being  in  the  public  schools,  without  any  enumeration  of 
those  placed  in  select  schools.  The  like  proportion  must  exist  in  the  city 
and  in  the  interior,  of  those  who  have  already  received  all  the  education 
they  or  their  parents  desire,  or  who  are  engaged  as  apprentices,  or  in  other 
employments  preventing  them  from  attending  at  any  place  of  instruction. 
It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  the  number  not  receiving  education  in  the  city 
cannot  be  accounted  for  in  that  manner.  The  probability  is,  that  the  num- 
ber of  those  under  5  and  over  16  who  attend  the  schools,  both  in  the  city 
and  out  of  it,  is  very  nearly,  if  not  quite,  equal  to  the  number  between  those 
ages  who  have  received  all  the  education  they  intend  to  attain. 

With  these  facts  before  us,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  Public  School 
Society  has  not  accomplished  the  principal  purpose  of  its  organization,  and 
for  which  the  public  funds  have  been  so  freely  bestowed  upon  it — the  edu- 
cation of  the  great  body  of  the  children  of  the  city.  From  the  remarks 
already  made,  it  would  seem  to  be  manifest  that  the  cause  of  this  failure  is 
not  to  be  ascribed  to  the  want  of  accommodations  for  the  pupils  ;  and  there 
certainly  has  been  no  lack  of  exertion  to  induce  their  attendance.  The  trus- 
tees personally,  and  visitors  appointed  by  them,  have  repeatedly  traversed 
the  city,  to  seek  out  the  parents  of  the  neglected  children,  and  persuade 
them  to  avail  themselves  of  the  benefits  of  the  schools.  Tracts  have  been 
Circulated,  and  handbills  posted  in  every  direction,  for  the  same  purpose. 
The  city  authorities  have  passed  resolutions  urging  this  imperative  duty 
upon  parents,  and  declaring  that  those  who  neglected  to  send  their  children 
to  the  schools  at  least  some  portion  of  the  time,  could  not  be  considered 
proper  objects  of  public  charity.  And  yet  the  result  is  the  same ;  the  streets 
are  infested  with  vagrant  children,  and  "  multitudes "  of  the  youth  are 
brought  up  in  ignorance,  and  probably  in  vice.  That  there  is  a  defect  some- 
where, is  certain.  In  addition  to  the  causes  of  dissatisfaction  already  men- 
tioned, particularly  that  arising  from  religious  feelings,  it  is  believed  that  a 
24 


370  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

great  obstacle  to  the  efforts  of  the  Society  is  to  be  found  in  the  idea  preva- 
lent among  the  people,  that  an  attempt  is  made  to  coerce  them,  directly  or 
indirectly,  to  do  something  -which  others  take  a  great  interest  in  having 
done.  They  are  not  left,  or  called  on,  to  act  spontaneously — to  originate  any 
thing,  or  take  any  part  in  matters  which  they  are  told  most  deeply  concern 
themselves.  It  is  not  a  voluntary  system,  in  the  fullest  and  broadest  meaning 
of  the  term.  To  illustrate  the  idea  intended  to  be  communicated,  the  pres- 
ent system  may  be  compared  to  the  religious  establishments  formed  and 
supported  by  the  governments  of  Europe,  upon  the  plea  that  they  are  neces- 
sary to  the  moral  instruction  of  the  people ;  and  that,  without  them,  their 
subjects  would  degenerate  into  heathenism.  It  was  reserved  for  the  Ameri- 
can people  to  prove  the  fallacy  of  this  position.  An  experience  of  fifty 
years  has  shown  that  religious  worship  has  been  better  provided  for,  and 
attendance  upon  it  has  been  more  general,  by  being  left  to  the  free  and  vol- 
untary action  of  the  people,  without  the  aid  of  any  legal  establishment ;  in 
other  words,  without  any  attempt  to  coerce  the  support  of  religious  institu- 
tions, or  to  compel  any  one  to  participate  in  their  advantages.  This  remark 
is  equally  true  of  the  city  and  of  the  country. 

It  is  not  intended  to  assert  that  the  system  of  the  Public  School  Society 
is  like  the  religious  establishments  of  Europe  ;  but  the  comparison  between 
those  establishments  and  the  practical  operation  of  our  principle  of  non- 
intervention, is  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  clearly  and  distinctly 
the  advantage  of  a  voluntary  system,  particularly  among  a  people  governed 
by  republican  institutions.  The  plan  of  the  Public  School  Society  is,  in 
some  measure,  antagonist  to  this  system.  It  provides  an  educational  estab- 
lishment, and  solicits  the  charge  of  children,  to  be  placed  under  its  exclu- 
sive control,  without  allowing  to  the  parents  of  the  pupil  the  direction  of 
the  course  of  studies,  the  management  of  the  schools,  or  any  voice  in  the 
selection  of  teachers;  it  calls 'for  no  action  or  cooperation  on  the  part  of 
those  parents,  other  than  the  entire  submission  of  their  children  to  the  gov- 
ernment and  guidance  of  others,  probably  strangers,  and  who  are  in  no  way 
accountable  to  these  parents.  Such  a  system  is  so  foreign  to  the  feelings, 
habits,  and  usages  of  our  citizens,  that  its  failure  to  enlist  their  confidence, 
and  induce  a  desire  to  place  their  children  under  its  control,  ought  not  to 
excite  surprise. 

Since,  then,  the  experiment  which  has  been  made  for  fifteen  years,  under 
such  favorable  auspices,  has  not  accomplished  its  main  purpose,  of  bringing 
under  the  control  of  any  one  private  corporation  the  great  mass  of  the  indi- 
gent children  of  the  city ;  and  since  it  is  obvious  there  are  inherent  difficul- 
ties, which  will  constantly  accumulate,  to  prevent  the  success  of  such  an 
experiment,  is  it  not  the  dictate  of  wisdom,  if  not  of  duty,  to  vary  the 
mode,  and  ascertain  whether,  by  engaging  the  people  themselves,  actively 
and  personally,  in  the  care  of  the  schools,  a  deeper  and  more  extensive  inter- 
est may  not  be  awakened,  and  a  larger  number  of  children  brought  to  the 
school-room  ?  This,  it  is  conceived,  may  be  effected  by  the  plan  already 
suggested,  of  having  schools  organized,  -wherever  required,  under  the  juris- 
diction of  elected  commissioners,  authorized  to  participate  in  the  public 


MK.  SPENCER'S  REPORT.  371 

contributions  in  a  just  proportion.  For  reasons  heretofore  given  by  the  un- 
dersigned, in  his  reports  as  Superintendent,  he  thinks  these  schools  ought  to 
be  deemed  public  charities ;  and  least  of  all  should  they  have  the  character 
of  a  forced  or  compulsory  charity.  The  same  principle  of  apportionment 
which  exists  generally,  may  safely  be  applied  to  them,  in  proportion  to  the 
actual  number  of  children  between  5  and  16  years  of  age.  As,  in  a  city 
without  regular  territorial  districts,  that  number  could  be  ascertained  only 
from  the  attendance  at  the  schools,  let  such  actual  attendance  form  the  basis 
of  distribution.  Let  the  schools  be  considered,  like  those  of  the  State  at 
large,  as  furnishing  a  just  equivalent  for  moderate  charges,  adequate  for  the 
expense  incurred  beyond  the  public  contributions;  and  apply  the  same  prin- 
ciple which  prevails  in  them,  of  authorizing  the  exemption  from  the  ex- 
penses of  the  schools  of  those  whose  circumstances  render  it  proper. 

From  the  inquiries  made  by  the  gentlemen  appointed  for  that  purpose, 
the  undersigned  is  satisfied  that  a  large  proportion — probably  more  than  one 
half — of  the  pupils  attending  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  are 
children  of  those  who  are  as  able  to  pay  for  tuition  as  those  persons  who 
generally  send  to  schools  in  the  interior  of  the  State.  Mechanics,  men  who 
live  by  their  daily  labor,  farmers,  and  others  of  very  moderate  property,  con- 
stitute the  great  majority  of  those  who  pay  the  rate-bills  for  teachers'  wages 
in  the  common  schools.  It  may  be  justly  urged  as  a  cause  of  complaint, 
that,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  funds  destined  particularly  for  the  benefit 
of  the  indigent  are  applied  to  the  education  of  the  children  of  those  who 
are  able  to  pay  it  themselves.  The  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society 
have  made  the  effort  to  obtain  from  these  persons  payment  of  tuition 
charges.  In  the  opinion  of  the  undersigned,  the  principal  reason  for  their 
failure  is,  that,  with  them,  payment  is  an  exception  to  the  rule,  instead  of 
being  the  rule  itself.  Being  declared  to  be  free  schools  and  charities,  or 
being  understood  .to  be  such,  the  individual  called  on  for  payment  considers 
himself  oppressed,  in  being  singled  out  from  others,  whom  he  regards  as 
equally  bound  to  pay.  It  is  probable,  also,  that  an  impression  prevails  that 
an  adequate  fund  is  provided  by  the  State,  and  by  city  taxation,  for  the 
education  of  all.  It  is  believed  that,  if  the  schools  of  the  Society  are  placed 
on  the  footing  already  indicated,  their  superiority  over  most,  if  not  all,  of 
those  that  may  be  established  by  other  associations,  will  enable  the  trustees 
to  supply  any  diminution  in  the  number  of  pupils  caused  by  the  establish- 
ment of  other  schools,  from  those  classes  of  citizens  who  are  able,  and 
would  prefer,  to  pay  for  the  instruction  of  their  children ;  and  thus  would 
the  whole  number  of  instructed  children  in  the  city  be  multiplied,  and  the 
funds  of  the  Public  School  Society  would,  in  all  probability,  be  augmented, 
and  rendered  adequate  to  the  highest  grade  and  the  most  approved  methods 
of  instruction.  If,  however,  contrary  to  those  expectations,  it  should  be 
found  that  the  pay  system  cannot  be  relied  on  for  the  support  of  the  schools, 
there  can  be  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  same  liberal  and  enlightened  spirit, 
which  has  heretofore  induced  the  citizens  of  New  York,  and  the  Common 
Council,  voluntarily  to  add  to  their  public  burdens  for  the  great  purposes 
of  education,  would  continue  to  influence  them,  and  would  provide  all  the 


372  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

means  necessary  to  render  that  city  as  distinguished  for  its  care  of  the  intel- 
lectual condition  of  its  children,  as  for  its  wealth,  enterprise,  and  benevo- 
lence. 

The  outlines  of  the  plan  submitted  are  as  follows : 

1.  The  election  of  a  commissioner  of  common  schools  in  each  ward  of 
the  city. 

2.  The  extension  of  the  general  school  laws  of  the  State  to  the  city,  with 
the  modifications  herein  mentioned. 

3.  The  commissioners  to  adopt  and  take  under  their  charge  the  schools 
of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  the  schools  of  the  other  associations  and 
asylums  now  receiving  the  public  money,  as  schools  under  their  general 
jurisdiction,  leaving  the  immediate  government  and  management  of  them 
to  their  respective  trustees  and  directors. 

4.  The  commissioners  to  organize  and  establish  schools  in  other  parts  of 
the  city,  wherever  they  can  find  a  sufficient  number  o£  inhabitants  to  main- 
tain them,  as  district  schools,  with  the  usual  officers,  to  be  chosen  by  such 
inhabitants,  and  with  the  usual  power  of  districts,  to  hire  school-rooms,  pro- 
vide teachers,  and  defray  expenses  by  rate-bills. 

5.  The  public  school  moneys  to  be  paid  directly  to  the  commissioners  by 
the  Chamberlain  of  the  city.     Out  of  the  amount,  the  compensation  of  a 
city  superintendent,  and  of  a  clerk  to  the  commissioners,  and  their  necessary 
expenses,  to  be  paid,  the  balance  to  be  apportioned  and  distributed  to  the 
different  schools  under  their  jurisdiction,  and  to  be  applied  exclusively  to 
the  payment  of  teachers'  wages ;  such  apportionment  to  be  made  upon  accu- 
rate lists,  verified  by  oath,  of  the  whole  number  of  children  between  the 
ages  of  5  and  16  actually  attending  the  schools,  to  be  ascertained  by  keep- 
ing an  exact  account  of  the  number  of  pupils  present  the  whole  day,  which, 
being  added  together  and  divided  by  261 — the  number  of  school-days  in  a 
year,  excluding  Saturdays  and  Sundays— shall  be  deemed  the  average  of 
attending  scholars.     The  number  of  children  exempted  from  paying  tuition 
money  and  school  expenses  to  be  reported  to  the  commissioners,  with  their 
average  attendance,  ascertained  as  before  mentioned,  and  a  sufficient  sum  to 
be  apportioned  in  the  first  instance  to  the  school  in  which  they  have  attend- 
ed, to  make  up  to  them  respectively  the  amount  of  such  exemption,  if  the 
funds  be  sufficient  for  that  purpose ;  and  if  not,  then  such  funds  to  be  ap- 
portioned wholly  among  the  exempt  pupils,  in  proportion  to  their  attend- 
ance.    If  there  be  a  surplus,  then  to  apportion  it  among  the  remaining 
pupils  not  included  in  the  first  distribution.    Provision  to  be  made  to  detect 
and  prevent  improper  exemptions ;   against  which,  however,  an  effectual 
safeguard  will  be  found  in  the  desire  of  the  trustees  to  diminish  the  amount 
chargeable  to  pay  scholars.     If  the  public  money  appropriated  in  the  first 
instance  to  the  education  of  the  indigent  should  not  be  adequate,  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  the  citizens  of  New  York  would  consent  to  raise  the 
additional  sum  required ;  and,  at  all  events,  the*  paramount  object  of  pro- 
viding for  the  destitute  to  the  greatest  possible  extent  will  have  been 
attained. 

If,  after  all  that  has  been  urged,  the  apprehension  should  still  be  in- 


SPEECH   OF   ME.    E.ETCHTJM.  373 

dulged  that  any  schools  would  be  perverted  to  the  purposes  of  a  narrow  and 
exclusive  sectarianism  during  the  hours  allotted  to  instruction,  instead  of 
the  proper  subjects  of  a  common  school  education,  a  remedy  may  be  found 
by  giving  authority  to.  the  Board  of  Commissioners  to  investigate  complaints 
of  such  an  abuse,  and,  upon  satisfactory  evidence,  dissolve  the  offending 
school,  or  withhold  from  it  any  share  in  the  public  school  moneys. 

The  undersigned  has  thus  endeavored  to  perform  a  duty  unsought  by 
him,  and  of  which  the  difficulty  and  delicacy  were  fully  appreciated.  In  its 
discharge,  he  is  conscious  of  no  other  motive  or  object  than  the  promotion, 
to  the  utmost  possible  extent,  of  that  cause  which,  by  official  obligations  as 
well  as  personal  feeling,  he  is  bound  to  promote.  Much  of  time  and  anxious 
consideration  have  been  bestowed,  in  the  hope  of  presenting  the  subject  in 
such  a  manner  as  should,  at  all  events,  place  its  prominent  features  in  full 
view  of  the  Legislature,  and  thus  assist  in  arriving  at  such  conclusions  as 
may  secure  the  rights  of  all,  maintain  existing  institutions  in  all  their  vigor 
and  usefulness,  enlist  the  public  feeling  in  the  success  of  schools,  and  open 
them  to  the  destitute  of  all  classes. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

JOHN  C.  SPENCER,  Secretary  of  State. 

ALBANY,  April  26,  1841. 

After  the  report  had  been  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Lit- 
erature, Governor  Seward  and  Mr.  Spencer  visited  the  city  for 
the  purpose  of  personal  consultation  with  the  trustees  of  the 
Public  School  Society,  and  their  opponents,  on  the  subject  of  the 
proposed  alteration  in  the  system.  Several  interviews  were  had, 
at  which  the  bill  was  made  the  subject  of  earnest  discussion. 

The  Committee  on  Literature,  in  the  Senate,  appointed  ^ft 
meeting  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  the  contending  parties,  and 
affording  them  an  opportunity  to  present  their  view.  James  W. 
l^cKeon  and  "Wright  Hawks  appeared  for  the  Catholics,  and 
Hiram  Ketchum  for  the  Society,  May  8th. 

Mr.  KETCHTJM  rose,  and  addressed  the  committee  as  follows  : 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  :  As  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Public  Schools  of  the  city  of  New  Tork,  and  in  behalf  of  the 
Public  School  Society,  I  now  appear  here  ;  and  I  will,  by  leave  of  the  com- 
mittee, make  a  few  remarks  upon  the  report  which  has  been  referred  to  it. 
The  subject  discussed  in  this  report  is  one  of  great  interest  to  the  city  of 
New  York. '  It  affects  the  cause  of  education,  and  especially  of  the  educa- 
tion of  the  poor ;  and  as  the  Public  School  Society  has  long  had  the  princi- 
pal charge  of  that  matter,  and  as  they  believe  that  the  statements,  the  infer- 
ences, and  the  reasoning  contained  in  this  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State, 
are  calculated  to  affect  injuriously  that  cause,  they  have  prayed  that  their 
views  might  be  laid  before  the  Senate,  and  sent  in  their  memorial  to  that 
effect.  The  Senate  having  appointed  a  committee  to  hear  the  Public  School 


374  THE   I'UBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Society,  I  now  appear  to  make  such  remarks  as  occur  to  me;  premising 
that,  probably,  at  no  very  late  day,  the  Society,  by-way  of  memorial  or  re- 
monstrance, will  lay  their  objections  to  this  report  before  the  Senate  and  the 
public  in  a  more  permanent  form,  than  they  will  now  be  presented  to  the 
committee. 

In  this  report,  drawn  up  with  great  ability,  as  every  paper  and  docu- 
ment emanating  from  the  Secretary  of  this  State  is  drawn  up — in  this  report,- 
I  say,  there  is  contained  a  brief  history  of  the  legislation  upon  the  subject 
of  the  distribution  of  the  school  moneys  in  the  city  of  New  York.  As  this 
passage  occupies  but  a  short  space,  I  will  take  leave  to  read  it.  At  page  2, 
the  Secretary  says : 

It  is  essential  to  the  proper  consideration  of  the  subject,  to  understand 
the  history  of  the  legislation  that  has  been  had  in  reference  to  it ;  and  par 
ticularly  in  relation  to  the  Public  School  Society  of  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  first  law  relating  to  that  portion  of  the  school  moneys  apportioned 
to  and  raised  in  the  city  of  New  York,  was  passed  in  1813,  and  will  be 
found  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Revised  Laws  of  that  year,  at  page  267.  It 
directed  those  moneys  to  be  distributed  "  to  the  trustees  of  the  Free-School 
Society,  the  Orphan  Asylum  Society,  the  Economical  School,  the  African 
Free  School,  and  the  trustees  of  such  incorporated  religious  societies  in  said 
city  as  now  support,  or  hereafter  shall  establish,  charity  schools  within  the 
said  city,  who  may  apply  for  the  same."  The  act  directed  that  the  sum 
thus  distributed  should  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  wages  of  the 
teachers,  and  to  no  other  purposes  whatever.  As  these  were  all  charity 
schools,  it  is  obvious  that  the  Legislature  intended  that  the  school  moneys 
apportioned  to  the  city,  as  well  as  those  raised  by  tax,  should  be  consecrated 
to  the  education  exclusively  of  the  indigent.  Under  this  act,  apportion- 
ments were  annually  made  to  the  schools  enumerated,  and  to  those  estab- 
lished by  some  eight  or  ten  of  the  different  religious  denominations,  until 
the  year  1824.  By  chapter  276  of  the  Session  Laws  of  that  year,  the  above- 
mentioned  act  was  repealed,  and  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  was  au- 
thorized to  designate  "  the  societies  or  schools  which  should  be  entitled  to 
receive  a  share  of  the  school  moneys,  and  prescribe  the  rules  and  restric- 
tions, under  which  such  moneys  shall  be  received  by  such  societies  or  schools 
respectively."  Pursuant  to  this  act,  the  Common  Council  have  designated 
the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  six  or  eight  other  schools,  to 
which  all  the  public  moneys  have,  since  1826,  been  distributed,  with  some 
variations  in  different  years,  as  to  the  other  schools.  From  the  annual  re- 
ports and  other  documents,  a  statement  has  been  compiled,  from  which  it 
appears  that  more  than  one  million  of  dollars  has  been  paid  to  the  trustees 
of  the  Society,  under  its  different  names,  since  1813,  out  of  the  public 
moneys  appropriated  by  the  State,  and  raised  by  tax  on  the  city  for  school 
purposes,  and  that  $125,248.57,  have  been  paid  to  the  other  schools  before 
mentioned. 

The  Public  School  Society  was  originally  incorporated  in  1805,  by  chap- 
ter 108  of  the  laws  of  that  session,  which  is  entitled,  "  An  Act  to  Incorpor- 
ate the  Society  instituted  in  the  City  of  New  York,  for  the  establishment  of 
a  free  school  for  the  education  of  poor  children,  who  do  not  belong  to,  or 
are  not  provided  for  by,  any  religious  society."  In  1808  its  name  was 
changed  to  "  The  Free  School  Society  of  New  York,"  and  its  powers  were 
extended  "  to  all  children  who  are  the  proper  subjects  of  a  gratuitous  edu- 
cation." By  chapter  25  of  the  laws  of  1826,  its  name  was  changed  to  "The 
Public  School  Society  of  New  York,"  and  the  trustees  were  authorized  to 
provide  for  the  education  of  all  children  of  New  York,  not  otherwise  pro- 
vided  for,  "  whether  such  children  be  or  be  not  the  proper  subjects  of 


SPEECH    OF   ME.    KETCIIUM.  375 

gratuitous  education ;  and  to  require  from  those  attending  the  schools,  a 
moderate  compensation ;  but  no  child  to  be  refused  admission  on  account 
of  inability  to  pay." 

This  brief  history  of  the  distribution  of  the  school  moneys  in  the  city 
of  New  York  (continued  Mr.  Ketchum)  is  accurate  so  far  as  it  goes ;  but 
the  Secretary  has  left'  out  some  particulars  which  -we  deem  of  some  import- 
ance in  this  discussion. 

In  the  first  place,  these  moneys  were  originally  appropriated  to  the  pay- 
ment of  teachers,  and  to  no  other  purpose ;  but  after  the  Lancastrian  sys- 
tem of  education  had  been  introduced  into  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the 
Free-School  Society  had  been  established,  it  was  found  that,  under  the 
monitorial  system,  so  great  was  the  number  of  children  attending  these 
schools,  that  a  larger  amount  of  money  was  drawn  from  the  public  school 
fund  than  was  necessary  to  pay  the  teachers ;  and  in  the  year  1817,  the 
surplus  was  permitted  by  the  Legislature  to  be  appropriated  by  the  Public 
School  Society  for  the  purchase  of  books  and.  stationery,  and  other  inci- 
dental expenses  attending  the  education  of  children ;  so  that,  from  that 
time,  the  Public  School  Society  drew  its  quota,  and  applied  it  not  only  to 
the  payment  of  teachers,  but  also  to  those  other  purposes  which  I  have 
named.'  This  privilege  was  at  tkat  time  enjoyed  exclusively  by  the  Public 
School  Society  ;  and  I  suppose  that  the  principle  upon  which  the  exclusive 
privilege  was  granted,  was,  that  the  Free-School  Society — for  so  it  was  then 
called — was  incorporated  exclusively  for  the  purposes  of  education,  and  of 
educating  poor  children ;  and  there  was,  therefore,  in  the  constitution  of 
the  Society  itself,  in  the  act  of  its  incorporation,  no  inducement  or  motive 
for  mal-application  or  misappropriation  of  the  funds ;  and  hence  it  was,  I 
presume,  that  the  Legislature,  in  its  wisdom,  saw  no  danger  in  trusting 
whatever  funds  were  drawn  by  that  institution,  to  be  applied  not  only  to 
the  payment  of  teachers,  but  for  the  general  purposes  of  education. 

This,  then,  is  one  omission  which  the  Secretary  has  made. 

The  second  omission  is,  that  the  Secretary  has  not  attempted  to  account 
(as  I  think  he  should  have  done)  for  the  reason  why  the  public  school 
moneys  in  the  city  of  New  York  were  differently  applied  from  those  in  the 
country.  In  the  country,  as  the  committee  well  know,  the  amount,  as  in  the 
city,  received  from  the  common  school  fund  is  paid  over  to  the  proper  officer 
in  the  county.  The  county  has  to  raise  by  tax  an  amount  equivalent  to  the 
sum  thus  received,  and  then  it  passes  into  the  hands  of  commissioners  chosen 
by  the  people  in  their  respective  districts.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  how- 
ever, no  legislation  of  that  description  was  provided.  The  money  was  paid 
over  to  the  chamberlain,  and  the  chamberlain  was  directed  to  pay  it  to  cer- 
tain designated  societies— of  which  the  School  Society  was  one,  and  all 
religious  societies  maintaining  charity  schools ;  the  Orphan  Asylum  and 
some  others  being  specified. 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  that,  in  order  to  have  presented  the  subject  fairly 
and  fully,  the  Secretary  should  Have  accounted  for  this  difference.  I  will 
attempt  to  account  for  it  now.  In  the  country,  that  portion  of  the  com- 
mon school  fund  which  goes  to  each  county,  is  paid  as  a  sort  of  premium, 


376  '     THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

or  advance,  to  induce  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  common  schools. 
The  State  says  to  the  respective  counties,  We  will  give  you  so  much ;  and 
this  is  given  as  an  adtance,  or  premium,  or  bonus,  for  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  these  common  schools  throughout  the  country.  In  the 
country,  the  schools  so  established  and  so  participating  in  this  fund  are  the 
schools  in  -which  the  children  of  the  county — the  children  of  the  poor  of 
the  county — as  well  as  the  offspring  of  persons  of  property,  generally  re- 
ceive their  elementary  education.  The  tax-paying  part  of  the  community 
— those  who  are  called  upon  to  raise  this  equivalent  tax  (in  the  first  place, 
in  order  to  receive  the  fund  from  the  State,  and,  in  the  second  place,  to 
provide  for  the  erection  of  school-houses  in  the  respective  school  districts) 
— this  tax-paying  part  of  the  community,  I  say,  have,  for  the  most  part, 
Ihcir  own  sons  and  daughters  educated  in  these  very  schools  which  are  es- 
tablished and  maintained  by  this  money.  Therefore,  it  will  be  plainly  seen 
that  this  tax-paying  community  which,  and  which  alone,  elects  the  com- 
missioners in  towns — which  alone  elects  the  trustees  in  districts,  have  a 
direct  personal  interest  in  electing  suitable  persons ;  because  those  very  per- 
sons are  to  take  charge  of  the  education  of  their  children.  There  is  prob- 
ably very  little  danger  that  any  thing  like  party  politics  will  mingle  up  in 
the  election  of  these  officers ;  because  these  very  officers  are  to  perform  a 
most  important  and  interesting  duty  to  the  children  of  the  very  men  who 
are  called  upon  to  pay  the  tax.  Not  so  in  the  city  of  New  York.  There, 
by  the  law  enacted  in  the  year  1813,  this  fund  was  originally  expressly  ap- 
propriated to  the  education  of  the  indigent — of  the  poor — of  the  children 
of  those  who  do  not  pay  tax — to  those  who  are  the  proper  subjects  of  gratui- 
tous education  ;  and  none  but  charity  schools,  none  but  the  children  of  the 
poor,  none  but  the  proper  subjects  of  a  gratuitous  education,  were  to  be 
benefitted  at  all  by  this  portion  of  the  fund  so  received  from  the  State,  and 
by  the  equivalent  portion  so  raised  by  tax.  To  this  the  tax-payers  in  the 
city  of  New  York  consented ;  because,  if  the  first  objection  to  such  a  law 
had  been  made  on  the  part  of  that  city,  it  would  not  have  passed  in  this 
form.  This  was  undoubtedly  a  matter  made  to  fall  in  or  acquiesce  with  the 
wishes  of  the  delegation  from  the  city  of  New  York  ;  because  the  Legisla- 
ture never  would  have  undertaken,  without  such  acquiescence,  to  have  made 
that  distinction ;  therefore  I  say,  that  the  citizens  of  New  York,  through 
their  representatives  here,  consented  that  the  bread  which  the  State  had 
provided  for  their  own  children  should  be  given  to  the  poor ;  they  volun- 
tarily parted  with  it,  and  gave  it  to  the  indigent  among  them. 

Thus,  then,  we  sse  that  the  fund  was  given  to  the  indigent  by  those  who 
spoke  for  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  Legislature ;  and  I 
have  but  this  hour  heard  that  a  man,  whose  name  is  dear  to  us  all — De 
Witt  Clinton — was  the  man  who  principally  represented  the  wishes  of  the 
city  of  New  York  at  that  time.  It  was  De  Witt  Clinton  that  spoke  in  be- 
half of  the  city  of  New  York — who  made  this  provision. 

And  inasmuch  as  this  was  a  gratuity,  a  charity  for  the  poor  people  of 
that  city,  she  chose  that  the  money  should  pass  through  the  hands  of  cer- 
tain almoners  of  her  own  choice.  She  chose  that  the  Free-School  Society, 


SPEECH   OF   MR.    KETCIIUM.      •  377 

the  Orphan  Asylum  Society,  the  religious  bodies  which  maintained  schools 
there  at  that  time,  should  be  her  almoners.  Suppose,  at  that  day,  it  had 
been  proposed,  as  it  is  now  proposed  by  the  Secretary,  that  the  people 
should  choose  commissioners — that  the  tax-paying  portion  of  this  people 
(because  none  others  then  were,  or  now  are,  entitled  to  vote  on  these  mat- 
ters in  the  country)  should  choose  commissioners,  there  was  lacking  that 
powerful  motive  which  would  influence  freeholders,  and  the  tax-paying 
portion  of  the  community,  to  elect  proper  men  for  the  performance  of  this 
duty — the  motive  which  was  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  their  own  children 
were  to  be  educated  by  these  very  persons.  This  probably  may  account 
very  sensibly  for  the  fact  that,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  portion  of  the 
school  fund  allotted  to  her  was  to  be  distributed  by  those  almoners  of  her 
charity  whom  her  representatives  thought  proper  to  designate.  Now,  I  ask, 
was  there  any  thing  inconsistent  with  sound  principle  in  this  ?  Is  there 
any  thing  in  it  which  violates  the  principle  of  the  largest  liberty  and  the 
purest  democracy,  of  which  we  hear  something  in  this  report  ?  In  the  city 
of  New  York,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  show  by  and  by — and  more  or  less, 
I  suppose,  it  is  so  in  all  the  States  of  Christendom — there  are  voluntary 
associations,  charitable  associations,  associations  composed  of  men,  incor- 
porated or  otherwise,  who  are  willing  to  proffer  their  services  to  feed  the 
hungry,  to  clothe  the  naked,  to  visit  the  destitute,  and  to  see  to  the  applica- 
tion of  funds  set  apart  for  their  relief.  Such  men  are  always  to  be  found . 
in  large  cities — men  of  fortune,  men  of  leisure,  men  of  benevolence,  who 
are  willing  to  associate  together  for  benevolent  objects,  and  who  are  usually 
rnade  the  almoners  of  the  charity  of  others.  Such  is  the  case  in  the  city 
of  New  York.  That  is  the  usual  mode—  (as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  show, 
though  it  can  scarcely  be  necessary  to  do  it  before  this  intelligent  com- 
mittee)— that  is  the  usual  mode  of  distributing  funds  there,  and  experience 
has  demonstrated  that  it  has  been  attended  with  good  and  wholesome  re- 
sults. The  city  of  New  York  chose,  therefore,  to  adopt  this  mode  of  dis- 
tributing her  moneys ;  and  this,  probably,  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  this 
•  distinction  between  the  city  and  the  country  was  incorporated  in  the  act  of 
1813.  Another  reason  undoubtedly  was,  that,  in  a  city  such  as  New  York, 
there  is  more  or  less  political  excitement  mingling  in  every  public  measure. 
All  who  have  lived  there  know  that,  especially  within  a  few  years  past,  we 
have'had  a  degree  of  political  excitement  which  has  been  very  inconvenient ; 
and  that  at  all  times,  in  a  close  and  dense  population,  more  of  that  excite- 
ment and  heat  are  felt  than  prevails  amongst  the  more  sparse  population  of 
the  country,  and,  probably,  possibly  it  entered  into  the  consideration  of  the 
wise  men  (for,  if  they  were  like  him  whom  I  have  named,  they  deserve  that 
appellation  in  its  highest  sense)  in  the  Legislature  of  that  day,  that,  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  this  matter  out  of  the  vortex  of  party  and  political  ex- 
citement, this  money  should  be  paid  over  to,  and  distributed  under,  the 
superintendence  of  agents  consisting  of  these  respective  societies.  This, 
then,  it  seems  to  me,  is  another  omission  in  this  report  of  the  Secretary.  I 
speak  with  deference.  And  the  third  omission  is,  that  the  Secretary  has 
failed  to  tell  us  why  the  act  of  1824  was  passed,  which  gives  the  money 


378  TIJE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

provided  by  the  State  to  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New  York,  to 
be  distributed  by  them  as  they  might  think  proper.  I  will  supply  the 
omission.  . 

Anterior  to  the  year  1824,  the  Legislature  designated  the  institutions  and 
schools  which  should  participate  in  this  fund.  These  were,  the  Free-School 
Society,  and  religious  societies  supporting  charity  schools,  and  some  others. 
About  the  year  1822 — (I  would  premise,  however,  that  the  religious  societies, 
and  all  except  the  Public  School  Society,  were  restricted  in  the  use  of  these 
funds  to  the  payment  of  teachers) — about  the  year  1822,  a  society,  called 
the  Bethel  Church  of  the  City  of  New  York,  obtained  a  privilege  similar 
to  that  which  had  been  granted  to  the  Public  School  Society,  and  applied 
the  surplus,  after  the  payment  of  teachers,  to  the  purchase  of  stationery 
and  the  erection  of  buildings.  The  operation  of  that  plan  was  this :  in- 
asmuch as  that  society,  in  common  with  all  others,  drew  per  head  for  the 
number  of  children  taught  in  the  schools,  or,  rather,  for  the  number  of  chil- 
dren placed  on  the  register  of  the  schools,  to  be  taught,  this  Bethel  Church, 
under  the  direction  of  Johnson  Chase,  at  that  time  their  pastor,  gave  small 
presents  and  rewards,  to  induce,  children  to  come  in.  They  came  in,  and 
their  names  were  put  on  the  register ;  and  when  the  yearly  account  came 
to  be  made  out,  they  drew  for  the  number  of  children  on  the  register,  and 
the  consequence  was,  that  a  large  portion  of  the  fund  was  appropriated  to 
.the  erection  of  buildings  belonging  to  the  Bethel  Church;  thus  using  the 
common  school  fund  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  equivalent  tax  paid 
there,  to  the  erection  of  religious  temples  to  be  used  by  a  particular  de- 
nomination of  Christians.  Before  this  law  of  1822  was  passed,  and  while 
the  sum  received  was  specifically  appropriated  to  the  payment  of  teachers, 
the  Bethel  Church,  or,  rather,  their  pastor,  evaded  the  law  in  the  following 
manner  :  The  teacher  was  employed  at  a  large  salary  ;  he  received  the  salary 
with  the  understanding  that,  while  he  received  it  in  one  hand,  with  the 
other  he  should  make  over  a  portion  to  the  church ;  so  that  the  church 
received,  after  all,  a  portion  of  the  funds  paid  to  teachers. 

This  alarmed  the  Public  School  Society  and  the  community  of  the  city 
of  New  York,  and  the  Society  and  the  Corporation  immediately  sent  a 
memorial  up  here,  praying  that  the  provision  of  the  law  giving  peculiar 
privilege  to  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church  might  be  repealed.  Hence  ensued 
a  contest  which  lasted  two  or  three  years  before  the  Legislature,  in  which 
the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York  took  great  interest,  and  which  was  a 
very  exciting  contest  even  here,  in  the  city  of  Albany.  Here  was  seen  to  be 
an  attempt  made  to  take  away  the  public  school  fund  of  the  city  of  New 
York  for  the  purposes  of  the  Bethel  Church  ;  and  the  city  authorities,  and 
the  associations  participating  in  the  fund,  all  became  alarmed. 

We  came  here  and  discussed  this  matter ;  and  our  proposition  was,  then, 
to  restrict  these  religious  societies  to  the  poor  children  of  parents  statedly 
worshipping  with  those  societies.  This  was  thought  to  be  a  fair  proposal. 
The  subject  was  discussed  on  various  successive  occasions,  until,  at  length, 
it  was  seen,  by  those  who  examined  it,  that  this  matter  of  paying  the  school 
fund. to  religious  societies,  whereby  the  doctrines  of  particular  religious 


SPEECH   OF  ME.    KETCHUM.  379 

sects  should  be  sustained  and  supported  by  this  fund,  was  a  violation  of  a 
great  fundamental  principle.  It  was  the  union  of  Church  and  State,  which 
the  laws  and  the  institutions  of  this  country  abhor.  It  was  taking  the  funds 
of  the  people — the  tax  received  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  people — and  ap- 
plying it  to  the  establishment  and  promotion  of  religious  societies.  Well, 
although,  it  is  a  good  thing  to  have  these  religious  societies,  yet  it  was  seen 
that  a  vital  principle  was  here  violated.  Hence,  after  many  discussions  in 
the  Assembly  chamber  (discussions  at  which  all  the  members  were  invited 
to  attend  —and  almost  all  of  them  did  attend,  for  we  had  generally  a  quorum, 
although  it  was  before  a  committee  night  after  night),  the  committee  of  the 
Assembly  at  length  made  a  report  favorable  to  the  prayer  of  the  memorial ; 
but  suggesting,  in  that  very  report,  whether  even  so  much  as  was  granted  in 
the  proposition  referred  to  was  not  a  violation  of  sound  principle  ;  wheth- 
er, in  fact,  religious  societies  ought  to  participate  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
fund  at  all,  because,  by  such  participation,  the  Jew  might  be  made  to  sup- 
port the  doctrine  of  the  Christian ;  and,  vice-versa,  the  Christian  that  of  the 
Jew,  the  Catholic  of  the  Protestant,  the  Protestant  of  the  Catholic,  and  so 
on.  After  much  discussion,  after  the  subject  had  been  agitated  before  the 
Legislature  week  after  week — (as  a  member  of  the  Public  School  Society,  I 
attended  here  six  weeks) — after  a  great  contest,  in  which  we  had  to  contend 
against  the  Bethel  Church,  the  Episcopal  Church,  the  Dutch  Church,  the 
Methodist  Church,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  the  bill  came  from  the 
other  House  to  the  Senate,  and  there  was  discussed  before  a  committee  by 
the  gentleman  who  is  now  Bishop  of  the  State — Dr.  Onderdonk— ,  on  the  one 
side,  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Public  Schools  on  the  other.  This  was 
at  the  adjourned  session  of  the  Legislature,  in  the  fall  of  1824,  the  session 
having  been  continued  over  from  the  spring  to  the  fall.  Iii  this  fall  session 
of  1824,  I  say,  it  was  that  this  discussion  was  had.  The  committee  of  the 
Senate,  seeing  that  the  subject  was  involved  in  difficulties,  and  that  it  re- 
quired a  knowledge  of  local  feelings  which  they  did  not,  and  could  not, 
possess  here  in  the  Legislature,  inserted  an  amendment  in  the  bill  of  the 
House,  declaring  that  they  would  refer  the  matter  to  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  that  the  Corporation  should  dispose  of  the  school  fund  apportioned  to 
that  city  as  they  might  please.  And  here  I  ask  leave  to  say  to  the  commit- 
tee, that  this  power  never  had  been  asked  for  by  the  Corporation— that  it 
never  had  been  asked  for  by  the  Public  School  Society ;  but  that  the  com- 
mittee of  the, -Senate — (and  a  most  intelligent  committee  it  was :  1  do  not 
recollect  all  the  names  at  the  moment,  but  I  know  that  Mr.  Suydam  was 
one)— that  committee  decided  that  they  were  so  ignorant  of  the  peculiarities 
of  the  New  York  population  with  reference  to  this  question,  that  they  were 
incompetent  to  decide  it  rightly ;  and  they  therefore,  of  their  own  motion, 
incorporated  this  section  in  the  act,  giving  power  to  the  Corporation  of  the 
city  of  New  York  to  dispose  of  this  fund  as  they  thought  best.  Thus  the 
power  was  granted.  Now,  the  proposition  of  the  Secretary  in  this  report  is, 
that  the  Legislature  shall  resume  this  power ;  that  that  which  the  Legisla- 
ture of  1824  thought  proper  to  give  of  their  own  motion,  as  I  have  said — 
for  in  behalf  of  the  Public  School  Society  no  such  grant  was  asked  ;  and  I 


380  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

felt  great  hesitation  on  the  part  of  the  Common  Council,  -whose  memorial  I 
bore,  whether  we  should  accept  the  grant — whether  it  would  not  be  better 
to  leave  the  disposition  of  the  school  fund  here.  We  were  fearful  of  local 
difficulty.  We  did  not  want  the  power  vested  in  the  Corporation  ;  the  Cor- 
poration did  not  want  it ;  and  I  never  gave  my  consent  to  it  until  after  con- 
sultation with  the  President  of  the  Free-School  Society  at  that  time,  De 
Witt  Clinton,  then  residing  here,  and  who  said  it  was  more  proper  that  the 
Corporation  should  exercise  this  power.  It  was  then  accepted.  Now,  I 
maintain,  that  if  the  proposition  of  the  Secretary,  that  the  Legislature 
should  resume  this  power,  is  to  be  adopted,  it  is  incumbent  on  him  to  show 
that  the  power  thus  delegated  to  the  Corporation  has  been  abused.  I  say, 
it  is  incumbent  upon  him  to  prove  this  fact.  Here  is  the  Legislature  dele- 
gating a  power — granting  it  to  agents  selected  by  the  people,  composed  of 
the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New  York.  Before  this  grant,  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York  in  this  Legislature  un- 
questionably had  the  sole  power  of  indicating  the  course  of  legislation  as  to 
the  disposition  of  the  fund  apportioned  to  that  city.  The  Legislature  never 
would  have  undertaken  to  say  that  these  funds  should  be  used  in  one  way 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  in  another  way  in  the  country,  except  so  far 
as  they  were  authorized  to  say  it  by  the  consent  of  members  representing 
the  city  and  country  respectively. 

This  is  according  to  the  usual  course  of  legislation — local  in  its  opera- 
tion. "  Well,  then,"  said  the  committee  of  the  Senate,  in  1824,  "  instead  of 
having  this  matter  indicated  to  us  by  twelve  or  thirteen  gentlemen  who  rep- 
resent the  city  of  New  York  in  the  Assembly,  and  one  or  two  that  may  rep- 
resent them  in  this  body,  we  will  say  to  the  Common  Council  of  that  city, 
selected  by  the  people — the  chosen  agents  of  the  people — that  they  may  dis- 
tribute this  fund  as  they  think  proper  ;  and  the  question  now-is,  Have  these 
agents  abused  that  power  so  as  to  make  it  requisite  that  the  Legislature 
should  resume  it  ? "  Sir,  I  submit,  with  great  deference,  whether,  in  this 
matter,  the  onus  of  proof  does  not  lie  upon  those  who  ask  the  Legislature  to 
resume  it  ?  I  submit  if  the  burden  of  showing  that  there  has  been  an 
abuse  of  power — that  the  agent  has  been  an  unfaithful  agent — does  not 
devolve  upon  those  who  desire  to  take  the  power" away  ?  Now,  has  it  been 
abused  ?  I  ask,  has  the  Corporation  abused  the  power  thus  voluntarily — 
without  any  request  on  their  part — granted  to  them  ?  That  is  a  question 
which  I  now  propose  to  discuss. 

Immediately  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  or  as  soon  as,  in  the  course  of 
public  business,  it  could  be  attended  to — namely,  on  the  llth  of  April,  1825 
(for  it  was  anterior  to  that  that  the  committee  was  appointed) — this  matter 
was  taken  up  by  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New  York,  it  was 
referred  by  them  to  the  Law  Committee,  and  this  is  the  preamble  to  the 
report  made  on  the  day  above  mentioned  : 

The  Committee  on  Laws,  to  whom  were  referred  the  4th  section  of  the 
act  of  the  Legislature  of  this  State  relating  to  common  schools  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  passed  the  19th  of  November,  1824 ;  the  memorials  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Charity  School  attached  to  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch 


SPEECH   OF   MK.    KETCHUM.  38] 

Church  of  the  city  of  New  York ;  of  the  trustees  of  the  First  Protestant 
Episcopal  Charity  School  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  of  the  trustees  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  praying  respectively  for  a  participation  in 
the  common  school  fund ;  and  also  the  report  of  a  committee  of  the  trus- 
tees of  the  Free-School  Society,  on  the  distribution  of  the  said  fund,  pro- 
posing a  change  in  the  constitution  of  that  Society,  so  as  to  admit  children 
of  all  classes  to  their  schools,  for  a  compensation  not  exceeding  fifty  cents 
per  quarter,  with  power  to  remit  in  proper  cases,  Report. 

The  committee  consisted  of  Samuel  Cowdrey,  Elisha  W.  King,  and 
Thomas  Bolton,  Esqs. 

They  patiently  heard  all  parties  (continued  Mr.  Ketchum).  I  believe  the, 
hearing  occupied  one  or  two  evenings.  The  Methodists  were  represented, 
the  Dutch  were  represented,  the  Episcopalians  were  represented,  and  the 
Public  School  Board  was  represented.  The  whole  matter  was  fully  and  frank- 
ly discussed,  and  this  principle  :  whether  or  not  religious  societies  ought  to 
participate  in  this  fund,  was  fully  gone  into ;  and  so  far  as  the  churches 
were  represented,  and  so  far  as  my  learned  associate  was  concerned  (the 
Hon.  Peter  A.  Jay),  these  various  questions  were  discussed  with  great 
ability. 

The  report  of  the  Law  Committee  is  long ;  it  sets  forth  the  arguments 
on  both  sides,  and  the  conclusion  contains  the  following  passage  : 

In  the  performance  of  this  duty,  they  have  felt  all  the  importance  and 
responsibility  of  the  task  assigned  to  them ;  and  while  they  would  will- 
ingly have  retired  from  the  appointment,  and  do  each  individually  wish 
that  the  Legislature  had  passed  the  necessary  law  on  this  subject,  on  the 
recent  application  to  them  for  that  purpose,  yet  your  committee  cannot  per- 
mit themselves  to  hesitate  or  falter  in  the  course  of  public  duty,  when  that 
course  is  plainly  manifest  to  their  understandings.  Your  committee  will  not 
conceal  either  their  own  private  and  personal  wishes,  at  the  commencement 
of  their  duties,  that  the  well-organized  churches  and  religious  societies  in 
our  city  might  be  permitted  to  continue  in  the  reception  of  a  part  of  this 
fund,  as  heretofore.  But  the  weight  of  the  argument  as  urged  before  them, 
and  which  they  have  endeavored  to  condense  in  this  report,  and  the  estab- 
lished constitutional  and  political  doctrines  which  have  a  bearing  on  this 
question,  and  the  habits  and  modes  of  thinking  of  the  constituents  at  large 
of  this  board,  require,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  that  the  common 
school  fund  should  be  distributed  for  civil  purposes  only,  as  contradistin- 
guished from  those  of  a  religious  or  sectarian  description. 

This  report  was  adopted  by  the  Common  Council  with  entire  unanimity, 
it  is  believed.  • 

That  conclusion  was  ratified  by  their  constituents ;  and  I  believe  that 
every  one  of  the  religious  societies,  or  nearly  so,  excepting  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics, acquiesced  in  that  decision.  But  that  society,  year  after  year,  has 
come  before  the  Common  Council,  and  renewed  their  request  for  a  separate 
portion  of  the  school  fund.  With  the  best  feelings  for  the  applicants,  in  a 
spirit  of  kindness,  with  every  disposition  to  do  whatever  could  be  done  for 
them,  year  after  year,  and  without  respect  to  politics,  whether  the  one  party 
was  in  the  ascendant  or  the  other  party  was  in  the  ascendant,  the  Common 
Council  have,  with  almost  entire  unanimity,  disallowed  that  request ;  and  I 
believe  that  never,  in  either  board,  since  the  division  of  that  body  into  two 


382  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

boards,  has  there  been  but  one  dissenting  voice  raised  against  the  ratifica- 
tion of  that  decision.  Now,  if  the  committee  please,  "who  have  complained  ? 
The  Roman  Catholics.  .  Our  fellow-citizens,  the  Roman  Catholics,  are  as 
much  entitled  to  be  heard  there,  and  here,  as  any  other  citizens;  for,  when 
acting  in  a  political  capacity,  we  know  no  difference  of  religion.  The  re- 
quest which  was  made  and  urged  by  them,  conjoined  with  many  powerful 
Protestant  sects  and  denominations  of  Christians,  and  which  was  refused  to 
them  jointly,  has  been  over  and  over  again  refused  to  them  separately. 

No  disrespect  was  intended  then.  The  Common  Council,  and  every  per- 
son engaged  in  the  discussion  of  the  question  on  behalf  of  the  Common 
School  Society,  took  great  care  to  say,  "  "We  do  not  reject  you  because  you 
are  Roman  Catholics ;  and,  as  evidence  of  this  truth,  we  give  you  the  fact 
that  we  have  rejected  similar  applications  from  powerful  Protestants ;  but 
we  reject  your  request  because  we  believe  that  a  sound  general  principle  will 
not  allow  us  to  grant  it." 

I  say,  that  the  Corporation  have  been  desirous,  so  far  as  that  body  possi- 
bly could,  so  far  as  they  felt  themselves  at  liberty,  consistently  with  the 
maintenance  of  a  sound  general  principle,  to  accommodate  these  parties. 
They  have  granted  a  privilege  out  of  this  fund  to  the  Roman  Catholic  de- 
nomination, which  has  not  been  granted  to  any  other.  The  Sisters  of  Char- 
ity, so  called,  under  direction  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  connected 
with  it  (I  believe  I  am  right ;  if  not,  I  should  be  happy  to  be  corrected), 
established  a  most  benevolent  institution  in  the  city  of  New  York,  called 
the  Orphan  Asylum — the  Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum.  They  took  into 
this  institution  poor  and  destitute  orphans.  They  fed  them  and  clothed 
them  most  meritoriously,  and  they  thus  relieved  the  city  of  New  York  of 
the  maintenance  of  many  who  would  otherwise,  probably,  have  been  a 
charge  upon  it.  After  long  discussion,  and  with  some  hesitancy,  yet  over- 
come by  the  desire  to  oblige,  and  aware  of  the  limitation  arising  from  the 
very  nature  of  that  institution,  the  Corporation  did  permit  the  Catholic 
Orphan  Asylum  to  receive  money  from  this  fund  ;  and,  during  the  last  year, 
it  received  some  §1,462  for  the  education  of  about  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  children — in  common  with  the  Institution  for  the  Blind,  and  the  Deaf 
and  Dumb,  and  those  other  benevolent  and  Christian  institutions  which  are 
altogether  of  a  Catholic  character,  in  the  most  comprehensive  acceptation 
of  that  term,  as  they  are  under  no  sectarian  influence  or  government.  Thus 
this  society,  under  the  direction  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity*— ladies  devoted 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  who  are  themselves  Roman  Catholics,  and 
given  up  to  the  service  of  that  Church — this  society,  I  say,  has  been  permit- 
ted to  draw  this  sum  of  $1,462  in  one  year.  But  when  the  question  came, 
"  Shall  their  schools  be  permitted  to  draw  from  the  fund  ?  "  the  Corporation 
had  to  say — and  they  have  said,  over  and  over  again,  though  most  reluc- 
tantly— "  We  cannot  grant  you  that."  Upon  the  last  application  made  for 
this  purpose,  the  subject  underwent  thorough  and  prolonged  discussion 
before  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and  the  argument  was  conducted,  on  the 
side  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  with  signal  ability,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
Hughes,  of  that  Church.  The  hall  of  the  Common  Council  was  crowded 


SPEECH   OF   ME.    KETCHUM.  383 

to  overflowing;  the  avenues  were  crowded,  and  crowded,  I  believe  I  may 
say,  without  any  intention  of  saying  what  is  erroneous,  by  persons  belong- 
ing to  that  denomination. 

The  subject,  I  repeat,  underwent  a  very  full  and  free  discussion ;  and, 
after  that  had  terminated,  the  Board  of  Aldermen  gravely  considered  and 
discussed  the 'subject,  and  at  length,  after  some  delay,  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  they  would  go  and  visit  the  schools.  Some  of  the  members  of  the 
Board  of  Public  Schools,  feeling  sensibly  alive  on  the  subject,  expressed  to 
me  an  apprehension  that  this  was  a  mere  evasion,  and  they  feared  that  the 
question  had  now  become  mingled  with  politics.  But  I  said,  "  Wait,  gen- 
tlemen ;  let  them  go  and  see  your  schools ;  it  is  a  natural  desire.  They 
ought  to  go.  It  is  a  great  and  delicate  question,  and  they  ought  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  it  in  all  its  details."  They  went  and  visited  the  public 
schools  and  the  Roman  Catholic  schools,  and  they  incorporated  the  result  of 
their  deliberations  in  a  report  which  I  have  before  me,  and  from  which  I 
shall  quote  by  and  by.  It  is  drawn  up  with  great  ability,  and  the  decision 
was,  with  but  one  dissenting  voice,  that  the  prayer  of  the  petition  should 
be  rejected  ;  and  it  was.  rejected.  Who,  then,  complain  of  the  operation  of 
this  system  ?  Our  fellow-citizens,  the  Roman  Catholics.  Failing  to  accom- 
plish their  purpose  through  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
they  come  and  ask  it  here.  Failing  in  their  application  to  a  body  of  repre- 
sentatives to  whom  they  have  applied  year  after  year,  and  who  represent  a 
population  in  which  is  intermingled  a  greater  mass  of  Roman  Catholic 
voters  than  in  any  other  district  of  the  State  of  New  York — failing  to  get, 
from  the  hands  of  a  body  thus  constituted,  the  redress  for  the  grievance 
which,  they  complained  of,  they  come  here  and  ask  it  of  you.  1  say,  they 
come  here,  because  I  will  presently  show  you,  from  their  memorials,  that 
none  J>ut  they  come  here. 

Now,  I  beg  leave  again  to  refer  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary.     He  says : 

The  memorials  presented  at  the  present  session  represent  that  the  legisla- 
tive enactments  on  the  subject  of  public  instruction,  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  require  a  fundamental  alteration  to  bring  the  benefits  of  the  common 
school  education  within  the  reach  of  all  classes  of  the  population  ;  that  the 
original  intent  of  those  enactments  was  to  enable  every  school,  which  should 
comply  with  the  law,  to  share  in  the  common  school  fund ;  that  this  design 
has  been  defeated  by  the  construction  put  upon  the  statutes  by  the  Common 
Council  of  the  city,  in  designating  the  Public  School  Society  to  receive 
nearly  the  whole  amount  of  that  fuud  belonging  to  the  city  ;  that  this  Soci- 
ety, being  a  corporation,  has  acquired  the  entire  control  of  the  system  of 
public  education ;  that  the  taxpayers  who  contribute  to  the  fund  have  no 
voice  in  the  selection  of  those  who  administer  the  system,  or  control  over 
the  application  of  the  public  moneys. 

That  is  to  say  (continued  Mr.  Ketchum),  that,  at  the  last  session,  memo- 
rials were  presented  by  the  Roman  Catholics,  as  such.  The  present,  we  are 
left  to  infer,  are  presented  by  citizens  generally,  not  as  Roman  Catholics. 
Let  us  see  how  the  truth  of  the  matter  stands.  Here  is  the  first  memorial : 

To  the  Honorable  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  : 

The  memorial  of  the  undersigned,  residents  of  the  city  of  New  York, 


THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

respectfully  showeth :  That  yonr  memorialists,  being  members  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church,  and  connected  with  the  several  Catholic  congregations  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  would  respectfully  represent  to  your  honorable  body,  &c. 

This  (continued  Mr.  Ketchum)  is  from  the  first  memorial  presented  by 
them  as  Catholics.  It  was  presented  in  the  session  of  1840,  and  referred  to 
the  honorable  Secretary  last  year.  He  did  not  think  prop'er  to  make  a 
report  upon  that ;  but  then  comes  a  second  memorial  from  citizens  generally, 
and  on  that  he  makes  a  report.  The  second  is  a  memorial  presented  the 
22d  of  February,  1841.  It  says  : 

That  your  memorialists  are  deeply  interested  in  extending  the  advan- 
tages of  education  to  every  child  in  the  commonwealth,  regarding  it  as  the 
best  means  of  perpetuating  the  blessings  of  our  republican  institutions,  and 
of  correcting  those  evils  in  society  which  are  beyond  the  sphere  of  legisla- 
tion. 

It  is  alleged  by  thousands  of  our  population,  that  their  conscientious 
scruples  have  been  disregarded  in  the  formation  of  the  system  of  instruction 
adopted  by  the  Public  School  Society.  The  confidence  of  this  class  of  our 
citizens  has  been  entirely  withdrawn  from  the  institution,  and  they  com- 
plain of  the  severity  of  the  oppression  which  compels  them  to  submit  to 
the  decision  and  government  of  agents  irresponsible  to  the  public,  and  in 
whose  appointment  the  electors  are  not  permitted  to  participate,  &c. 

Among  the  first  signatures  to  this  memorial  (remarked  Mr.  Ketchum)  are 
those  of  Joseph  O'Connor,  James.  B.  O'Donnell,  Patrick  Leach,  and  others. 
I  never  saw  this  memorial  until  this  morning,  but  I  perceive  one  name 
attached  to  it,  as  a  sort  of  family  name — PATRICK  FARRELL — three  times  in 
succession ;  and,  what  is  very  singular,  the  handwriting  seems  to  be  very 
much  alike.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  am  satisfied,  from  what  I  have  seen,  that 
this  is  as  much  a  memorial  from  Roman  Catholics  as  the  other  was.  The 
Secretary,  in  his  report,  in  the  passage  which  I  have  read,  admits  that  the 
first  memorial  came  in  a  shape  not  calculated,  probably,  to  be  very  impres- 
sive. He  says : 

At  the  last  session,  memorials  of  a  similar  character  from  a  large  number 
of  Roman  Catholics,  citizens  of  New  York,  were  referred  to  the  undersigned, 
upon  which  he  was  unable,  during  that  session,  to  report.  Although  these 
petitioners  have  the  same  equal  and  common  rights,  with  all  other  citizens, 
to  submit  their  grievances  to  the  Legislature  and  ask  for  redress,  yet  the 
circumstance  of  presenting  themselves  in  a  character  of  a  religious  denomi- 
nation is,  in  itself,  unfavorable  to  that  impartial  consideration  of  the  subject 
which  its  importance  demands. 

Probably  (continued  Mr.  Ketchum)  that  circumstance  was  discovered  by 
the  Secretary's  sagacity,  between  1840  and  1841 ;  and  this  second  memorial, 
therefore,  is  from  citizens  of  New  York.  But  I  believe  I  may  safely  affirm 
that,  if  not  exclusively,  it  is  almost  altogether  signed  by  Roman  Catholics. 
As  the  Secretary  justly  remarks,  however,  they  have  a  righ4:  to  apply  here  ; 
they  have  a  right  to  ask  the  Legislature  to  overrule  the  decision  of  the  Cor- 
poration, although  it  may  be  supposed  that  in  that  Corporation  they  would 
have  as  fair  a  chance  of  being  heard,  and  of  having  the  merits  of  the  con- 
troversy rightly  adjudicated,  as  here;  still,  they  have  the  right  to  come. 


SPEECH    OF   MR.    KETCH  UM.  385 

Now,  what  do  they  complain  of?  One  of  their  complaints  is,  that  the  peo- 
ple are  not  represented  in  this  Public  School  Society  ;  that  here  is  an  agency 
used  for  a  great  public  purpose  which  the  people  do  not  directly  choose ; 
and  they  complain  of  the  Public  School  Society  being  a  close  corporation. 

I  suppose  that,  if  the  Corporation  had  granted  the  prayer  of  their  me- 
morial, to  allow  their  societies — that  is  to  say,  St.  Patrick's  Church,  and  all 
such  churches  as  belong  to  the  Roman  Catholic  denomination  in  the  city  of 
New  York — to  participate  in  this  fund,  I  suppose  they  would  not  have  seen 
precisely  that  such  great  evils  and  dangers  to  liberty  were  to  be  apprehend- 
ed from  the  distribution  of  the  funds  to  these  churches  and  the  Public- 
School  Society.  I  think  it  fair  to  conjecture,  that  if  thek  corporations,  be 
they  close  or  be  they  open,'  could  have  participated  in  that  fund,  we,  should 
not  have  heard  any  thing  of  their  extreme  regard  for  the  liberties  of  the 
people.  But,  no  mattes  whether  we  should  or  should  notr  they  have  a  right 
to  be  heard,  whatever  their  motives  may  be ;  no  matter  what  might  have 
deterred  them  from  coming  here,  they  have  a  right  to  be  heard,  and  their 
arguments  must  be  met  and  answered  here,  or  else  they  must  receive  the 
action  of  the  Legislature  in  their  favor.  All  that  I  admit.  But  what  is 
their  complaint  ?  As  will  appear  by  these  memorials,  and  from  the  sum- 
mary contained  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary,  they  complain  that  this 
money  is  paid  to  a  close  corporation — that  the  religious  scruples  of  a  large 
portion  of  our  fellow-citizens  are  violated  by  this  distribution  of  funds. 

Now,  I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  the  committee  to  the  fact  now  to  be 
stated :  there  is  no  complaint  in  these  memorials,  nor  will  you  hear  any  from 
any  source,  that  the  Public  School  Society  does  not  furnish,  to  all  the  chil- 
dren who  attend  their  schools,  a  good  literary  education  ;  there  is  no  com- 
plaint that,  in  these  schools,  children  are  not  taught  to  read,  write,  and 
cipher ;  that  they  are  not  taught  the  elements  of  geography,  astronomy, 
and  of  English  grammar,  as  well  as  they  could  be  taught.  There  is,  I  say, 
no  complaint  of  that  description ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  complaints 
about  the  tendencies  of  the  institution,  there  are  no  complaints  against  its 
actual  operation ;  but  the  complaint  is,  that  some  of  the  citizens  cannot, 
from  conscientious  scruples,  send  their  children  to  these  schools.  Now,  I 
invite  the  particular  attention  ef  the  committee  to  this,  which  I  deem  most 
important :  that,  whatever  may  be  said  of  the  tendencies  of  these  institu- 
tions, whatever  may  be  said  of  the  evil  of  the  general  principle  contained  in 
the  alleged  fact  that  these  agents  are  not  chosen  directly  by  the  people,  nor 
responsible  to  them,  yet,  in  the  long  lapse  of  thirty-five  years  of  the  opera- 
tion of  this  Society,  and  from  the  year  1813  to  the  present  time,  during 
which  these  common  school  moneys  have  been  received,  there  is  no  com- 
plaint that  they  have  ever  failed  to  give  a  good  education.  There  is  no  com- 
plaint that  the  system  has  so  far  operated  injuriously,  excepting  that  such 
is  the  course  of  religious  education,  or,  more  properly  speaking,  the  want  of 
religious  education,  that  the  Roman  Catholics  cannot  conscientiously  send 
their  children  to  our  schools.  But  they  do  object  that  they  cannot  send 
their  children  to  these  schools ;  that  those  children,  many  of  them  eminent- 


386  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

ly  the  subjects  of  a  gratuitous  education,  cannot  partake  of  the  benefits  of 
the  fund  on  account  of  conscientious  scruples. 

Now,  this  is  the  very  point  which,  year  after  year,  has  been  discussed 
before  the  Common  Council,  and  which,  year  after  year,  has  been  decided 
by  that  body.  What  is  it  ?  The  Roman  Catholics  complain,  in  the  first 
place,  that  they  cannot  conscientiously  send  their  children  to  the  public 
schools  because  we  do  not  give  religious  instruction  in  a  definite  form  and 
of  a  decided  and  definite  character.  They  complain,  in  the  second  place, 
that  the  school-books  in  common  use  in  the  Society  contain  passages  reflect- 
ing upon  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  And  they  complain,  in  the  third 
place,  that  we  use  the  Bible  without  note  or  comment ;  that  the  school  is 
opened  in  the  morning  by  calling  the  children  to  order  and  reading  a  chap- 
ter in  the  Bible — our  common  version.  These  are  the  three  grounds  on 
which  they  base  their  conscientious  scruples.  Nowf  I  propose  most  respect- 
fully to  consider  them.  In  the  first  place,  our  books  contain  occasional  pas- 
sages reflecting  on  the  Roman  Catholics.  It  is  true  that,  in  our  ordinary 
school-books,  the  most  approved  of  the  day,  there  is  an  occasional  passage 
which  may  be  considered  as  reflecting  injuriously  on  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  We  have  all  read,  I  suppose,  as  children — and  I  do  not  know  but 
that  this  description  may  be  one  of  those  contained  in  these  books — of  the 
martyrdom  of  John  Rogers,  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary.  That  reflects  on 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church ;  and  there  is  an  occasional  passage  which 
speaks  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  as  Protestant  divines,  essayists,  and 
orators  sometimes  allow  themselves  to  speak  of  that  Church.  The  Public 
School  Society  have  offered,  if  the  Catholics  will  point  out  these  offensive 
passages,  to  erase  them  all  from  the  books.  They  have  said  to  the  bishop 
of  that  Church,  and  to  a  committee  of  that  Church,  "  We  can  find  passages 
enough  of  good  English  for  our  reading-books  without  these ;  and  if  you 
will  have  the  goodness  to  take  these  books  and  point  out  these  offensive 
passages,  we  pledge  ourselves  to  have  them  erased." 

Now,  all  this  matter  was  gone  into  by  the  intelligent  committee  of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  to  whose  action  I  have  referred — and  I  have  their  report 
before  me.  They  called  for  a  distinct  and  definite  proposition  from  the 
Common  School  Society  as  to  what  they  would  do.  I  will  read  a  few  pas- 
sages from  the  report : 

PBOPOSITIOX  ON  BEHALF  OP  THE   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

In  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  committee  of  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men, the  undersigned  committee  of  the  New  York  Public  School  Society 
submit  the  following  propositions  as  a  basis  of  a  compromise  with  their 
Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens  on  the  subject  of  the  public  schools ;  which 
propositions  they  are  willing  to  support  before  the  trustees  of  the  Society, 
and  which  they  believe  will  be  sanctioned  by  that  board. 

The  Trustees  of  the  New  York  Public  School  Society  will  remove  from 
the  class-books  in  the  schools  all  matters  which  may  be  pointed  out  as  offen- 
sive to  their  Roman  Catholic  fellow-citizens,  should  any  thing  objectionable 
yet  remain  in  them. 

They  will  also  exclude  from  the  school  libraries  (the  use  of  which  is  per- 
mitted to  the  pupils,  but  not  required  of  them)  every  work  written  with  a 


SPEECH    OF   MR.    KETOHUM.  387 

view  to  prejudice  the  mind  of  the  reader  against  the  tenets  or  practices  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  or  the  general  tendency  of  which  is  to  produce 
the  same  effect. 

They  will  receive  and  examine  any  books  which  may  be  recommended 
for  the  use  of  the  schools  ;  and  should  such  books  be  adapted  to  their  sys- 
tem of  instruction,  and  void  of  any  matter  offensive  to  other  denominations, 
they  shall  be  introduced  so  soon  as  opportunity  may  be  afforded  by  a  call 
for  new  books. 

Any  suggestions  in  reference  to  alterations  in  the  plan  of  instruction  or 
course  of  studies,  which  may  be  offered,  shall  receive  prompt  consideration  ; 
and,  if  not  inconsistent  with  the  general  system  of  instruction  now  prevail- 
ing in  the  schools,  nor  with  the  conscientious  rights  of  other  denominations. 
they  shall  be  adopted. 

The  building  situated  in  Mulberry  street,  now  occupied  by  Roman  Cath- 
olic schools,  shall,  if  required  for  the  use  of  the  Public  School  Society,  be 
purchased  or  hired,  on  equitable  terms,  by  the  trustees,  should  such  an 
arrangement  be  desired. 

Every  effort  will  be  made  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society 
to  prevent  any  occurrence  in  the  schools  which  might  be  calculated  to 
wound  the  feelings  of  Roman  Catholic  children,  or  to  impair  their  confi- 
dence in,  or  diminish  their  respect  for,  the  religion  of  their  parents. 

Anxious  to  keep  open  every  avenue  to  such  an  arrangement  as  will  lead 
to  a  general  attendance  of  the  Roman  Catholic  children  at  the  public 
schools,  and  fully  aware  that  some  things  may  have  escaped  their  observa- 
tion which  might  be  modified  without  violation  of  the  conscientious  rights 
of  others,  the  undersigned  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that,  in  offer- 
ing the  foregoing  propositions  as  the  basis  of  an  arrangement,  it  is  not  in- 
tended to  exclude  -other  propositions  which  the  Roman  Catholics  may  make, 
provided  they  do  not  interfere  with  the  principles  by  which  the  trustees  feel 
themselves  bound. 

This  portion  of  the  report  (said  Mr.  Ketchum),  as  will  be  seen,  has  reter- 
ence  to  these  offensive  passages.  Now,  every  body  will  say  that  is  a  fair 
offer — we  will  strike  them  out.  But,  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  I  submit 
whether  here,  in  this  country,  we  must  not,  in  matters  of  conflicting  opin- 
ions, give  and  take  a  little  ?  I  have  no  doubt  that  I  can  find  something  in 
any  public  school-book,  of  much  length,  and  containing  much  variety  of 
matter,  reflecting  upon  the  Methodists — upon  the  heated  zeal,  probably,  of 
John  Wesley,  and  his  followers ;  reflecting  upon  the  Episcopalians,  the  Bap- 
tists, and  Presbyterians.  Occasional  sentences  will  find  their  way  into  pub- 
lic discourses,  which,  if  viewed  critically,  and  regarded  in  a  captious  spirit, 
rather  reflect  upon  the  doctrines  of  all  those  churches. 

Now,  I  submit,  with  great  deference  to  the  committee,  whether  this  is  a 
fair  subject  for  conscientious  scruples  ?  As  I  have  had  occasion  to  illustrate 
heretofore,  we  find  something  in  relation  to  politics,  too,  about  which  we 
may  disagree.  There  are  some  very  elegant  passages  from  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son's works  which  have  found  their  way  into  our  public  school-books. 
Some  man,  imbued  with  strong  prejudices  against  Thomas  Jefferson,  may 
say,  "  I  cannot  go  Thomas  Jefferson ;  my  children  shall  never  be  instructed 
to  read  what  Thomas  Jefferson  has  said."  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
many  passages  from  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Webster  which  have  found  their 
way  into  school-books ;  and  a  Democrat  may  say,  "  I  cannot  go  Mr.  Web- 
ster ;  my  children  shall  not  be  taught  to  admire  him."  And  thus,  if  we  are 


388  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

captious,  we  can  find  conscientious  scruples  enough.  However,  if  it  is  bond 
fde  a  conscientious  scruple,  tbere  is  the  end  of  it ;  we  cannot  reason  with  it. 
But,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Common  Council,  and  as  I  think  must  be  the 
case  in  the  judgment  of  every  man,  the  difficulty  is  got  over  by  the  proposi- 
tion which  has  been  made. 

The  next  complaint  is,  that  we  do  not  give  religious  education  enough. 
The  memorials,  all  of  which  are  public — and  the  speeches  and  documents 
which  have  been  employed,  and  which,  if  necessary,  can  be  furnished  to  the 
committee — all  go  conclusively  to  demonstrate  that,  in  the  judgment  of  those 
who  spoke  for  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  we  ought  to  teach  religion  in 
our  public  schools — not  generally,  not  vaguely,  not  the  general  truths  of 
religion,  but  that  specific  religious  instruction  must  be  given.  Now,  I 
hardly  suppose  that  this  deficiency  can  be  made  the  subject  of  conscientious 
objection. 

The  third  and  last  complaint  is,  that  our  Catholic  brethren  cannot  con- 
sent to  have  this  Bible  read  in  the  hearing  of  their  children.  Now,  on 
every  one  of  these  points  the  trustees  have  been  disposed  to  go  as  far  as 
they  possibly  could  in  the  way  of  accommodation ;  but  they  never  yet  con- 
sented to  give  up  the  use  of  the  Bible  to  the  extent  to  which  it  is  used  in 
the  schools.  I  say,  the  trustees  have  never  yet  consented  to  this  surrender. 
But  if  they  can  have  good  authority  for  doing  it,  they  will  do  it. 

If  this  Legislature,  by  its  own  act,  will  direct  that  the  Bible  shall  be.  ex- 
cluded, I  will  guarantee  that  it  shall  be  excluded.  Thus  much  for  these 
conscientious  scruples ;  and,  having  these  scruples,  the  Roman  Catholics  say 
they  cannot  come  in.  They,  however,  are  in  favor  of  this  bill,  the  outline 
of  which  is  given  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary.  They  are  here,  from  the 
Catholic  Board  of  Trustees,  in  strong  force,  to  aid  the  passage  of  some  bill 
founded  on  the  Secretary's  report.  They  will  be  satisfied  with  it ;  it  will 
give  them  what  they  ask.  Now,  let  us  see  how.  There  is  no  proposition 
contained  in  this  report,  that  religious  societies,  as  such,  shall  participate  in 
this  fund — none.  It  is  too  late  in  the  day  for  any  man  to  make  that  propo- 
sition. Anxious  as  the  Secretary  is  to  accommodate  this  matter,  he  does 
not  say  that  religious  societies  shall  participate  in  the  fund.  But  what  does 
he  say  ?  He  says  that  the  trustees  of  districts  shall  indicate  what  religion 
shall  be  taught  in  those  schools.  That  is  to  say,  that  you  shall  have  small 
masses  ;  that  these  small  masses  shall  elect  their  trustees ;  and  as  the  major- 
ity of  the  people  in  those  small  masses  may  direct,  so  shall  be  the  character 
of  the  religious  instruction  imparted.  He  assumes  that  there  must  be  reli- 
gious instruction  in  the  schools ;  that,  although  the  law  makes  no  provision 
for  it,  yet  that  it  is  left  practically  with  the  people  themselves,  through  their 
trustees,  to  indicate  the  religious  instruction  that  shall  be  given.  I  will  read 
what  the  Secretary  says,  at  page  11  of  his  report : 

It  is  by  adopting  the  principle  of  the  organization  that  prevails  in  the 
other  parts  of  the  State,  which  will  leave  such  parents  as  desire  to  exercise 
any  control  over  the  amount  and  description  of  religious  instruction  which 
shall  be  given  to  their  children,  the  opportunity  of  doing  so. 

Now  (continued  Mr.  Ketchum),  let  us  see  how  the  argument  stands.    The 


SPEECH   OF  MK.    KETCHUM.  389 

complainants  here  are  the  Roman  Catholics.  They  cannot  conscientiously 
have  their  children  taught  in  these  schools,  because  religious  instruction,  in  a 
definite  form,  is  not  given,  and  because  the  Bible  is  read.  But  when  a 
school  is  formed  in  the  Sixth  "Ward  of  the  city  of  New  York,  in  which 
ward  (for  the  sake  of  the  argument  we  will  assume)  the  Roman  Catholics 
have  a  majority  in  the  district,  they  choose  their  trustees,  and  these  trustees 
indicate  that  a  specific  form  of  religion — to  wit,  the  Roman  Catholic  reli- 
gion— shall  be  taught  in  that  school ;  that  mass  shall  be  said  there,  and  that 
the  children  shall  cross  themselves  with  holy  water  in  the  school,  having  the 
right  to  do  so  according  to  this  report,  the  Catholics  being  in  a  majority 
there.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  can  these  Roman  Catholics  conscientiously 
send  their  children  to  school.  That  is  to  say,  their  objections  to  this  system 
are  to  be  overcome  by  having  a  school  to  which  they  can  conscientiously 
send  their  children  ;  and  that  school  must  be  one  in  which  religion  is  to  be 
taught  according  to  their  particular  views.  Now,  suppose  that,  in  any  given 
district,  there  should  be  about  five  hundred  Roman  Catholic  children,  and 
two  hundred  Protestant  children.  These  Protestant  children  are  compelled 
to  worship  according  to  the  opinions  of  the  majority ;  that  is  to  say,  they 
are  compelled  to  be  taught  religion  according  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  I  ask  you,  gentlemen,  if  that  is  not  the  tyranny  of  the 
majority  ?  The  Secretary  admits  that  a  majority  of  the  people,  in  a  given 
district,  has  a  right  to  indicate  what  religion  shall  be  taught  in  the  district 
school ;  and  to  that  religion,  or  that  form,  whatever  it  may  be,  the  minority 
must  submit.  Thus,  in  a  given  district,  the  Protestant  shall  be  taxed  for 
the  support  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Roman  Catholics  shall  be  taxed  for  the  support  of  definite  Protestant  reli- 
gion ;  and  thus,  by  abandoning  the  present  system,  we  are  to  form  and  cre- 
ate a  system  which  will  overcome  the  difficulty.  Is  this  reasoning  like  an 
American  statesman  ? 

I  deny  the  Secretary's  proposition.  I  affirm  that  it  is  false  and  erroneous 
from  beginning  to  end.  This  school  fund  can  never,  under  any  circum- 
stances, be  made  use  of  or  employed  in  teaching  the  particular  doctrines  or 
particular  dogmas  of  any  religious  denomination.  If  there  were  five  hun- 
dred in  one  district,  and  but  one  man  in  that  district  that  protested,  he 
would  have  a  clear  right  to  do  so.  He  has  a  right  to  say,  "  I  will  not  pay 
my  money  to  teach  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  ;  I  will  not  pay  my  money 
to  teach  the  Protestant  religion ;  I  will  not  pay  my  money  to  teach  the 
doctrines  of  Tom  Paine ;  I  will  not  pay  my  money  to  teach  the  doctrine  of 
those  who  affirm  that  my  Saviour  was  an  impostor."  Imagine  a  district  in 
the  city  of  New  York  where  there  is  a  majority  of  persons  of  this  descrip- 
tion, and  where  they  shall  teach  their  own  doctrines  (for,  if  the  Secretary  is 
right,  these,  being  in  the  majority,  have  a  right  to  teach  what  religion  they 
please).  I  am  supposing  an  extreme  but  possible  case.  Is  this  the  scheme 
by  which  we  are  to  get  over  the  objections  of  those  who  alone  complain  of 
this  system  ?  No,  sir.  I  affirm  that  the  religion  taught  in  the  public 
schools  is  precisely  that  quantity  of  religion  which  we  have  a  right  to  teach. 
It  would  be  inconsistent  with  public  sentiment  to  teach  less ;  it  would  be 


390  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

illegal  to  teach  more.  And,  on  this  point,  I  am  happy  to  see  that  the  Secre- 
tary has  one  passage  in  his  report  which  expresses  my  views  most  fully,  and 
which  is  couched  in  much  better  language  than  any  which  I  could  employ. 
He  says : 

It  is  very  true  that  the  Government  has  assumed  only  the  intellectual 
education  of  the  children  of  the  State,  and  has  left  their  moral  and  religious 
instruction  to  be  given  at  the  fireside,  at  the  places  of  public  worship,  and 
at  those  institutions  which  the  piety  of  individuals  may  establish  for  the 
purpose.  But  it  is  believed  that,  in  a  country  where  the  great  body  of  our 
fellow-citizens  recognize  the  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity,  public  senti- 
ment would  be  shocked  by  the  attempt  to  exclude  all  instruction  of  a  reli- 
gious nature  from  the  public  schools :  and  that  any  plan  or  scheme  of  educa- 
tion, in  which  no  reference  whatever  was  had  to  moral  principles  founded 
on  these  truths,  would  be  abandoned  by  all.  In  the  next  place,  it  is  be- 
lieved such  an  attempt  would  be  wholly  impracticable.  No  books  can  be 
found,  no  reading-lessons  can  be  selected,  which  do  not  contain  more  or  less 
of  some  principles  of  religious  faith,  either  directly  avowed,  or  indirectly 
assumed.  Religion  and  literature  have  become  inseparably  interwoven,  and 
the  expurgation  of  religious  sentiments  from  the  productions  of  orators, 
essayists,  and  poets,  would  leave  them  utterly  barren. 

Now  (continued  Mr.  Ketchum),  we  have  a  right  to  say  this.  When  the 
lute  head  of  this  nation  (so  suddenly,  under  the  providence  of  God,  taken 
from  us)  declared,  as  others,  his  predecessors,  had  declared  before  him,  that 
he  bore  his  testimony  in  favor  of  the  Christian  religion  as  received  in  this 
land,  he  spoke  as  the  representative  of  the  American  people.  I  am  proud  to 
say  here,  as  an  American,  that  there  is  no  party  in  that;  that,  whatever 
difference  of  opinion  might  have  existed  politically  as  to  the  merits  of  that 
distinguished  man,  the  sentiment  thus  uttered  by  him  was  an  American 
sentiment,  which  will  be  responded  to  by  a  vast  majority  of  the  people  of 
this  country — for,  thank  God,  this  is  a  Christian  land. 

"We  belong  to  different  denominations  ;  indeed,  we  are  Episcopalians,  we 
are  Roman  Catholics,  we  are  Baptists,  we  are  Methodists;  but  there  are 
great  truths  of  Christianity  which,  as  a  people,  we  coincide  in.  And 
although  the  law  cannot  point  out  precisely  what  those  principles  are,  yet 
we  can  all  feel  them  and  judge  of  them.  We  have  a  right  to  teach  our  chil- 
dren, as  we  do  teach  them,  that  there  is  a  God  whose  eye  sees  us — who 
penetrates  the  thoughts  of  our  hearts — and  that  we  are  accountable  beings. 
We  have  a  right  to  inculcate  these  great  religious  principles,  as  the  sanctions 
of  that  morality  which  we  are  bound  to  see  enforced  in  these  schools.  The 
Legislature  has  nothing  to  do  with  religion  specifically ;  but  so  far  as,  by 
common  consent,  religion  mingles  itself  with  the  approved  literature  of  the 
country,  and  so  far  as  it  deals  with  great  general  principles  from  which 
morality  derives  its  sanctions,  the  Legislature,  and  the  schools,  and  every 
one  under  the  patronage  of  this  Government,  has  a  right  to  recognize  it. 

Beyond  that,  110  such  right  exists ;  because,  the  moment  you  go  beyond 
that,  you  trample  upon  the  conscience  of  this  or  that  man,  whose  conscience 
you  are  bound  to  respect.  But  these  general  principles,  as  properly  stated 
here,  must  be  recognized,  and  are  recognized,  in  this  land.  In  the  schools 
we  go  thus  far :  we  neither  say  nor  do  any  thing  to  interfere  with  the  pecu- 


SPEECH    OF   ME.    KETCH  DM.  391 

liar  sentiments  of  any  sect  or  denomination.  Our  trustees  are,  and  always 
have  been,  composed  of  persons  of  all  denominations.  We  Lave  had,  in 
our  number,  more  than  one  excellent  Roman  Catholic,  from  time  to  time. 
We  have  had  Episcopalians,  we  have  had  Baptists,  we  have  had  Universal- 
ists,  we  have  had  respectable  men  of  all  sects — men  who  are  willing  to  de- 
vote themselves,  without  fee  or  reward,  to  the  service  of  their  fellow-men. 
Precisely  that  amount  of  religion  which  would  be  approved  and  taught  by 
a  board  thus  constituted — that,  I  say,  and  these  general  truths  only,  have  we 
a  right  to  teach  in  institutions  under  the  direction  of  the  Legislature. 

The  next  objection  to  this  system,  as  a  system — and  this  is  not  an  objec- 
tion to  existing  schools — is,  that  it  does  not  reach  all  the  children  who  are 
the  proper  subjects  of  a  gratuitous  education.  And  here  I  will  take  leave 
to  read  an  extract  from  the  report  of  the  Secretary.  He  says  : 

Considering  the  various  feelings  and  interests  that  would  be  called  into 
action  by  such  a  system,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  one  of  its  immediate 
effects  would  be,  to  bring  into  the  schools  a  large  portion,  if  not  the  whole, 
of  those  who  are  now  utterly  destitute  of  instruction.  With  all  the  com- 
mendable and  vigorous  efforts  of  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society, 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  less  than  one  half  the  children  between  four  and 
sixteen  years  of  age,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  are  receiving  the  benefits  of 
any  education  whatever.  Frd"m  the  statements  in  the  annual  report  of  the 
Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  for  the  present  year  (Assembly  Docu- 
ment No.  100),  it  appears  that  the  whole  number  of  white  children  in  New 
York  in  1840,  over  5  and  under  16  years  of  age,  was  62,952,  and  that  30,758 
only  are  returned  as  attending  some  school,  leaving  32,194  who  were  not  in 
attendance  on  any  school  whatever. 

Now  (continued  Mr.  Ketchum),  I  grant  most  freely  that,  if  there  is  this 
number  of  children  in  the  city  of  New  York  who  do  not  attend  the  schools 
on  account  of  the  defects  in  the  system,  the  system  ought  to  be  either 
amended  or  improved,  or,  if  not  susceptible  of  amendment,  abolished,  and  a 
new  system  substituted.  But  let  us  for  a  moment  inquire  into  this  matter. 
There  is  some  mistake  in  this  census  calculation.  There  must  necessarily  be 
a  mistake,  because  it  makes  out  the  number  of  32,194  children  who  are  not 
in  attendance  on  any  school  whatever.  We  report  the  number  of  children 
on  our  books  for  the  last  year  at  23,000 ;  and  it  is  stated  by  the  Eoman 
Catholics  that  there  are  about  8,000  in  their  schools  ;  making  an  aggregate 
of  31,000  in  the  public  and  Roman  Catholic  schools.  Deduct  this  from  the 
aggregate  census  number,  and  the  number  remaining  is  31,952.  From  this 
number  no  deduction  is  made  for  the  children  attending  pay  schools  in  the 
city;  this  number  is  large  in  the  ward  in  which  I  reside  (7th).  I  have 
heard  a  computation  made,  that  there  are  over  one  thousand  pay  scholars  in 
this  single  ward ;  although  this  is  more  than  the  average  in  all  the  wards. 
There  must,  therefore,  be  some  mistake ;  the  fact  cannot  be  as  it  is  here 
represented.  I  doubt  whether  the  persons  who  took  the  census  were  re- 
markably accurate  or  particular  in  obtaining  information  respecting  the 
attendance  of  children  on  schools. 

Error  there  manifestly  is,  somewhere.  Upon  a  given  day  many  children 
may  not  have  been  at  school.  There  may  have  been  a  vast  number  of  these 


392  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

children  actually  attending  .school,  and  yet  who  were  absent  on  that  particu- 
lar day. 

The  difference  between  the  number  of  those  who  actually  attend  our 
schools  and  the  number  on  the  register,  is  twenty  per  cent. ;  that  is  to  say, 
twenty  children  out  of  one  hundred  do  not  attend  the  schools  daily.  These 
children  may  be  taken  from  school  by  their  parents  for  various  reasons : 
they  may  be  wanted,  in  the  season,  to  sell  radishes,  or  for  one  operation  or 
another,  by  which  their  parents  can  realize  a  little  profit  from  their  labor ; 
and  thus,  at  a  given  time,  there  may  not  be  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
twenty-three  thousand  children  above  named  in  actual  attendance.  If,  then, 
the  inquiry  is  made  on  a  given  day,  What  is  the  number  of  children  who  go 
to  school  to-day  ?  the  answer  would  be  given  in  that  form  ;  and,  therefore, 
you  cannot  thus  arrive  at  just  conclusions  as  to  how  many  children  are  edu- 
cated, and  how  many  are  left  uneducated.  The  inquiry  is  supposed  to  be, 
How  many  children  attend  school  ?  Many  parents  will  not  send  their  chil- 
dren when  under  six  years ;  and,  after  that  age,  many  of  them  are  not  kept 
at  school  more  than  three  or  four  years.  By  the  time  they  are  ten  or  twelve 
years  old,  they  will  have  acquired  a  knowledge  of  reading,  writing,  and 
ciphering,  and  other  branches  of  education — which,  their  parents  think,  is 
all  that  is  needed  to  prepare  them  for  some  employment.  Therefore  there 
may  be  many  children  between  five  and  six  not  sent  to  school ;  and  there 
are  many  between  that  age  and  the  age  of  ten  or  twelve,  who  have  received 
what  is  supposed  by  their  friends  to  be  a  competent  education ;  and  a  fast 
number  between  12  and  16  are  taken  out,  because,  before  the  latter  age,  they 
can  be  made  the  instruments  of  profit  to  their  parents.  So  that,  in  this 
calculation,  you  do  not  arrive  at  a  result  which  shows  you  the  number  of 
children  actually  left  uneducated.  It  is  difficult  to  decide  this  point.  The 
Public  School  Society  made  an  investigation  into  the  subject,  with  a  view 
of  making  an  application  to  the  people  for  an  additional  tax  :  ,this,  I  think, 
was  in  the  year  1829,  when  the  population  of  the  city  of  New  York  was 
about  two  hundred  thousand.  They  made  the  investigation  in  the  best 
manner  they  could,  and  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  there  were  about  ten 
thousand  children  in  the  city  who  did  not  attend  school. 

The  chairman  of  the  committee  here  made  the  following  inquiry  : 

In  these  33,000  thus  returned,  are  there  any  returns  of  children  at  select 
schools,  or  boarding-schools  ? 

Mr.  KETCHUM.     Yes,  sir. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  number,  then,  includes  those  who  are  returned 
from  your  Society,  and  are  returned  from  other  societies. 

Question  by  Mr.  VERPLAKCK.  In  this  23,000  who  are  educated  at  the 
public  schools  in  New  York,  are  not  children  of  ages  between  four  and  five 
years  included  ? 

Mr.  KETCHUM.  The  city  of  New  York  limits  the  age  of  children  to 
between  four  and  sixteen. 

Mr.  VERPLANCK.  Therefore  there  must  be  a  number  of  children  under 
five  years  not  educated. 


SPEECH   OF   ME.    KETCHUM.          .  393 

Mr.  KETCHUM  here  stated  that  there  was  a  gentleman  present  (Mr.  Seton) 
who  had  in  his  possession  all  the  statistical  information  requisite  to  answer 
any  inquiries  that  might  be  put.  That  gentleman  had  long  been  a  visitor 
engaged  in  the  service  of  these  schools.  He  was  more,  intimately  acquainted 
with  all  the  details  than  he  (Mr.  Ketchum)  could  be,  and  would  be  happy 
to  answer  all  inquiries.  He  had,  indeed,  come  here  for  that  purpose. 
Mr.  Ketchum  then  proceeded  in  his  argument,  as  follows  : 
Well,  now,  here  is  shown  to  be  a  large  non-attendance.  There  is  no 
doubt  of  the  i'act ;  we  cannot  deny  it,  and  we  do  not  wish  to  deny  it.  But 
does  this  non-attendance  result  from  this  system  ?  I  say  not.  There  is  no 
non-attendance,  save  from  the  children  of  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow-citi- 
zens, that  can  be  pointed  out  on  account  of  prejudice  against  the  schools. 
There  is  non-attendance,  as  you  will  be  told  by  gentlemen  of  great  practical 
knowledge  on  the  subject,  because  parents  will  not  send  their  children  to 
school,  or  because  the  children  will  not  go.  There  is  a  want  of  parental 
authority  which  leaves  the  children  to  say  they  will  not  go,  and  hence  they 
grow  up  in  idle  and  vagrant  habits.  They  would  not  go  to  any  other 
school  sooner  than  to  this.  The  objection  is  not  to  the  school  itself,  but  to 
the  confinement.  They  will  not  go  to  school,  and  they  cannot  be  made  to 
go.  What  can  we  do  ?  The  gentleman  upon  my  left  (Mr.  Seton)  was  em- 
ployed many  years  in  visiting — in  going  round  from  house  to. house,  for  the 
purpose  of  inducing  children  to  come  in.  We  have  now  thirteen  gentlemen 
employed  to  visit  one  day  in  each  week,  from  house  to  house,  to  induce  and 
persuade  these  children  to  come  in — to  overcome  objections,  and  to  get  them 
in.  That  matter  is  under  the  charge  of  a  committee,  of  the  board,  and  the 
result  of  their  experience  has  been  given.  I  believe  that  their  exertions, 
during  the  last  year,  were  the  means  of  getting  in  about  nine  hundred  chil- 
dren ;  but  of  this  number,  from  the  want  of  parental  control,  a  small  por- 
tion only  remained  more  than  a  short  time.  Now,  what  system  could  bring 
in  these  children  to  a  greater  extent  ?  There  is  no  prejudice  against  the 
schools :  there  cannot  be  any.  No  one  w.ho  visits  the  schools,  and  who 
observes  the  cheerfulness  and  the  happiness  which  there  prevails,  can  fail  to 
see  that  there  is  not  any  ground  of  prejudice.  You  cannot  have  more 
attractive  schools  than  these.  But  the  great  difficulty  is,  that  the  children 
will  not  be  persuaded  to  come.  Nothing  but  legal  provision  can  make 
them,  and,  proba'bly,  we  are  not^  prepared  for  a  resort  to  force.  But  our 
Common  Council  have  been  very  accommodating  on  this  subject ;  they  have 
gone  hand  in  hand  with  the  Public  School  Society ;  they  have  acted  on  the 
most  friendly  terms,  and,  on  one  occasion,  they  passed  an  ordinance  (how 
long  it  remained  in  force  I  cannot  say),  providing  that  parents  who  did  not 
send  their  children  to  some  school  should  not  receive  bounty,  in  the  winter 
season,  from  the  Almshouse.  That  mode  Tuts  been  resorted  to.  There  has 
been  perfect  cooperation  between  the  two  bodies;  yet,  notwithstanding  thig, 
and  all  other  attempts,  there  are  children  whom  we  could  accommodate,  and 
who  do  not  come ;  but  I  am  bound  to  say,  that  our  accommodations  in 
some  parts  of  the  city  are  not  such  as  will  allow  all  to  partake  of  the  bene- 
fits of  the  schools.  That  is  no  fault  in  the  system,  but  arises  from  the  fact 


394  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

that  the  system  itself  is  not  carried  out  to  the  extent  it  ought  to  be.  I 
believe  that  the  trustees  of  the  Society  have  asked  the  Legislature  to  help 
them  to  funds,  to  enable  them  to  build  additional  school-houses.  Our  great 
difficulty  arises  from  the  cost  of  school-houses  and  the  purchase  of  lots  ;  for, 
as  you,  gentlemen,  well  know,  there  is  a  great  difference  between  the  cost 
of  a  lot  of  land  in  the  city  and  a  lot  in  the  country. 

The  amount  of  money  which  would  be  required  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  for  the  purchase  of  a  lot,  or  lots,  of  land  proper  for  the  erection  of  a 
building  (to  be  three  stories  high,  with  a  basement),  which  would  accom- 
modate our  children  under  the  Lancasterian  system,  and  in  which  five  or  six 
hundred  are  educated,  would  be  as  much  as  all  the  school-houses  in  a  single 
county,  and  the  lots,  too,  would  cost  in  the  country.  The  great  difficulty 
lies  in  getting  the  money.  "We  have  asked  aid,  and  we  shall  undoubtedly 
have  to  ask  aid  again,  to  enable  us  to  build  school-houses.  In  this  way  we 
could  accommodate  more  children,  and  could  get  more  to  attend.  But  this, 
gentlemen  will  at  once  perceive,  is  not  the  fault  of  the  system,  but  results 
from  the  fact  that  we  are  not  able  to  carry  it  out  to  the  extent  necessary.  I 
have  not  considered  this  last  point  as  fully  as  I  could  otherwise  have  wished, 
because  the  figures  and  statements  of  those  who  are  personally  acquainted 
with  it  will  be  at  the  service  of  the  committee  ;  and  the  committee  will  no 
doubt  prefer  to  have  the  information  directly  from  that  source.  I  have  thus 
considered  the  objections,  not  to  the  principle,  but  to  the  actual  operation 
of  this  system. 

I  come,  now,  to  consider  the  objections  to  the  principles  as  set  forth  in 
these  memorials.  What  are  they  ?  They  represent,  in  the  first  place,  that 
the  original  intention  of  the  enactment  which  gave  this  fund  to  the  Com- 
mon Council,  was,  "  to  enable  every  school  which  should  comply  with  the 
requirements  of  the  statute  to  share  in  the  common  school  fund." 

That  is  an  assertion  from  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  dissent.  I  have 
said  before,  I  was  here  at  the  time  the  act  was  passed.  Gentlemen  of  the 
committee  can  only  judge  of  the  intention  from  the  act  itself;  but  I  believe 
I  know  pretty  well  what  the  intention  of  the  Legislature  was  on  the  points 
that  were  mooted ;  and  I  am  persuaded  that  the  Legislature  intended  to 
give  full  power  to  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  New  York  to  distribute 
this  money  among  such  institutions  as  they  should  select.  The  Corporation 
had  the  right  to  adopt  or  reject  any  of  these  institutions. 

The  memorialists  say  that  "  it  is  dangerous  and  detrimental  to  the  public 
interest  to  pour  into  the  coffers  of  this  institution  the  public  money,  or  its 
influence  and  authority,  while  it  is  wanting  in  that  high  and  requisite  attri- 
bute of  a  public  agent — responsibility  to  the  people." 

Now,  I  admit  that,  although  no  evils  have  yet,  in  practice,  resulted  from 
the  operations  of  this  Society ;  although  the  evil  tendencies  which  are 
charged  upon  it  have  not,  after  a  lapse  of  thirty  years,  developed  them- 
selves, yet,  if  the  mode  of  employing  the  school  fund  contains  within  itself 
a  principle  which  is  unsound,  which  is  inconsistent  with  our  institutions, 
which  is  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  law  and  the  Constitution  under 
which  we  live,  I  admit  that  the  Legislature  is  bound  to  correct  that  princi- 


SPEECH   OF  MB.    KETCIIUM.  305 

pie.  It  is  stated  here,  that  nearly  the  whole  education  of  the  poor  of  the 
city  of  New  York  is  under  the  control  of  this  Society.  I  refer  to  page  1  of 
the  Secretary's  report,  where  it  is  said  (as  part  of  the  substance  of  the  me- 
morials) : 

That  this  Society,  being  a  corporation,  has  acquired  the  entire  control  of 
the  system  of  public  education ;  that  the  taxpayers,  who  contribute  to  the 
fund,  have  no  voice  in  the  selection  of  those  who  administer  the  system,  or 
control  over  the  application  of  the  public  moneys. 

And,  at  page  11,  the  Secretary  says  : 

The  practical  operation  of  the  school  laws  is,  to  constitute  the  trustees 
of  the  Public  School  Society  the  officers  and  agents  of  the  Government  in 
the  administration  of  the  system  of  primary  instruction  in  that  city.  That 
Society,  in  effect,  engrosses  the  public  education  of  the  city ;  and,  instead 
of  operating  on  small  masses,  as  in  the  interior,  embraces  the  whole. 

Now,  let  us  consider  these  assertions.  Is  it  true  that,  in  the  proper  sense 
of  the  term,  all  education  in  the  city  of  New  York  is  under  the  control  of 
the  Public  School  Society?  How — from  what  source — does  the  Public 
School  Society  receive  the  funds  by  which  alone  they  maintain  these  schools 
from  day  to  day  ?  From  the  hands  of  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  New 
York — from  the  hands  of  the  representatives  of  the  people  chosen  at  the 
ballot-boxes.  They  have  a  right  to  indicate  the  institution  and  the  schools 
that  shall  receive  this  fund,  and  to  impose  what  restrictions  they  please. 
This  Public  School  Society  receives  its  daily  sustenance  from  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people  ;  and  the  moment  that  sustenance  is  withdrawn,  it  dies 
— it  cannot  carry  on  its  operations  for  a  day. 

How  is  this  matter  guarded  ?  Here  is  a  Corporation  chosen  by  the  peo- 
ple. The  law  provides  that  this  Corporation  shall  appoint  one  school  com- 
missioner for  each  ward,  upon  whom  it  imposes  the  duty  of  visiting,  exam- 
ining, and  inspecting  every  one  of  the  schools  participating  in  the  school 
fund.  It  is  made  their  duty,  twice  at  least  in  a  year,  to  visit  the  schools ; 
and  it  is  also  made  their  duty  to  report  to  the  Corporation  ;  and  the  Society 
is  bound  yearly  to  report  to  the  Corporation  and  to  the  Legislature.  The 
members  of  the  Corporation  themselves  are  ex-officio  members  of  the  Soci- 
ety, and  the  Mayor  and  Recorder  are  ex-officio  members  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees.  This  Society  or  corporation,  called  the  Public  School  Society,  is 
the  almoner  of  this  public  bounty  ;  for  although  it  was  originally  designed 
for  those  who  were  the  proper  subjects  of  a  gratuitous  education  exclusive- 
ly, yet  it  is  not  now  thus  restricted.  But  now,  those  who  participate  in  this 
fund  are  mainly  such  as  are  the  proper  subjects  of  gratuitous  education. 
These  agents  of  the  people — first,  the  Corporation,  and,  secondly,  the  School 
Commissioners  —  are  to  supervise  and  direct  and  control  and  give  daily 
bread  to  the  Public  School  Society,  whom  they  make  their  almoners  to  do 
this  work  under  their  eye.  Now,  what  sound  principle  is  violated  here  ? 
What  principle  of  republicanism  dear  to  the  heart  of  any  man  is  violated 
by  this  ? 

Here  are  agents  of  the  people — men  who,  having  a  desire  to  serve  man- 
kind, associate  together ;  they  offer  to  take  the  superintendence  of  particu- 


396  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

lar  works ;  they  offer  themselves  to  the  public  as  agents  to  carry  out  certain 
benevolent  purposes ;  and,  instead  of  paying  men  for  the  labor,  they  volun- 
teer to  do  it  for  you,  "  without  money  and  without  price,"  under  your  direc- 
tions— to  do  it  as  your  servants,  and  to  give  an  account  to  you  and  an 
account  to  the  Legislature.  Again,  then,  I  ask,  what  principle  is  violated  ? 
Mr.  Chairman,  voluntary  public  service  is  always  more  efficient  than  labor 
done  by  servants  chosen  in  any  other  way.  I  resort  to  the  experience  of  this 
Society,  and  to  the  experience  of  all  other  kindred  societies,  to  demonstrate 
the  truth  of  this  assertion ;  and  I  say  that  all  that  experience  will  demon- 
strate, that  public  objects  are  better  accomplished  by  these  voluntary  ser- 
vants, than  they  are  usually  accomplished  by  persons  chosen  directly  by  the 
people  ;  not,  however,  independent  of  the  people — far  otherwise ;  but 
agents  acting  as  the  voluntary  servants  of  the  people,  under  the  direction 
of  the  people,  for  the  accomplishment  of  objects  dear  to  the  people.  The 
Secretary  tells  you  that,  since  the  year  1813,  there  has  been  expended  the 
sum  of  one  million  of  dollars.  If  the  fact  is  so — and  I  have  no  doubt  that 
the  Secretary  states  it  upon  authority — he  should  have  accompanied  it  with 
the  information  that,  in  the  expenditure  of  this  money,  not  a  single  cent  has 
been  found  deficient.  He  ought  to  have  stated — and  would,  I  have  no 
doubt,  if  it  had  occurred  to  him  at  the  moment,  when  he  paraded  here,  or 
stated  here,  this  sum  of  one  million  dollars  which  the  Society  had  expended 
since  the  year  1813— he  ought,  I  say,  to  have  added  that,  like  faithful  ser- 
vants, the  Society  had  accounted  for  every  cent ;  because  the  reports  on  the 
files  in  his  own  office  will  show  that  such  an  account  has  been  given.  Now, 
Mr.  Chairman,  I  submit  that  the  real  question  which,  as  citizens,  we  ought 
to  discuss,  is,  not  what  prejudice  we  shall  appeal  to  on  this  side  or  that,  but 
in  what  way  will  you  have  a  great  public  duty  performed  in  the  best  man- 
ner ?  Will  you  have  it  done  by  volunteers,  who,  from  the  experience  of 
thirty  years,  have  proved  themselves  faithful,  honest,  and  efficient,  and  who, 
during  the  last  year,  according  to  a  report  now  on  the  files,  themselves  vis- 
ited the  schools  eleven  thousand  times  ?  Point  out  to  me  your  school  com- 
missioners who,  receiving  pay,  have  done  such  service.  Again,  I  ask,  is  not 
the  question  really,  how  you  will  have  this  duty  best  performed  ?  In  sparse 
populations,  most  men  are  occupied,  and  cannot  volunteer  for  a  service  of 
this  kind ;  they  have  not  the  leisure ;  it  is  too  troublesome ;  but  in  large 
cities — in  this  city,  probably,  and  in  the  city  of  New  York — there  always 
will  be  a  class  of  men  having  leisure,  and  full  of  benevolent  feelings,  who 
may  not  wish  to  mingle  in  the  contests  of  politics  or  of  public  life,  in  any 
manner,  but  who  desire  to  devote  themselves  to  some  good  and  benevolent 
object  that  may  be  effective,  and  in  a  quiet  way  accomplish  something  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind.  Will  you,  as  wise  men,  say  we  shall  avail  ourselves 
of  these  voluntary  services,  or  shall  we  mingle  every  thing  in  the  turmoil  of 
politics  ?  Will  you  say,  that  every  thing  shall  be  discussed  on  party  princi- 
ples ?  and  will  you  have  the  question  discussed  at  the  polls,  whether  this 
man  or  that  man  is  a  Whig  or  a  Democrat,  so  that  the  trustees  may  be  cho- 
sen according  to  their  politics  ?  It  has  not  yet  come  to  that  here  ;  but  in 
Philadelphia,  I  am  informed,  party  politics  have  reached  the  superintendents 


SPEECH   OF   ME.    KETCHUM.  307 

of  common  schools ;  and,  by  and  by,  the  politics  of  the  teachers  "will  be 
inquired  into  before  they  can  be  elected.  Do  you  desire  to  bring  every 
thing  within  this  angry  vortex  ?  Is  it  wise  ?  Is  it  judicious  ?  Is  it  consci- 
entious ?  Can  we  not  let  this  "  well  enough  "  alone  ? 

.  Why,  I  ask,  when  you  can  avail  yourselves  of  such  services — when  there 
are  men  who  love  to  serve  you  in  this  way,  why  will  you  not  accept  their 
services  ?  Is  there  any  clanger  to  democratic  principles  in  this  ?  What  is 
your  Hospital,  but  a  corporation  acting  as  almoners  of  charity  ?  What  is 
your  House  of  Refuge  ?  I  can  speak  understandingly  about  it,  for  I  was 
connected  with,  and  of  it,  from  the  start.  Benevolent  men  looked  abroad 
over  that  great  city,  and  saw  children  taken  up  for  crimes,  associated  with' 
felons,  and  there  joined  with  the  school  of  vice,  to  be  made  perfect  in  its 
tortuous  ways,  without  redemption  or  hope  of  redemption.  Their  hearts 
bled  over  the  spectacle,  and  they  met  together  and  consulted  as  to  what 
could  be  done.  They  held  a  public  meeting  and  took  up  a  subscription, 
amounting,  on  that  night  only,  to  the  sum  of  sixteen  hundred  dollars.  In 
less  than  three  months,  this  sum  of  sixteen  hundred  dollars  was  increased, 
by  voluntary  contributions,  to  the  sum  of  sixteeen  thousand.  And  then, 
what  did  they  say  ?  "  We  cannot  get  on  with  this  matter ;  we  cannot  carry 
out  our  benevolent  object  of  taking  these  young  culprits,  who,  if  left  to  the 
law,  are  certain  to  occupy  our  bridewells  and  our  houses  of  correction ;  we 
cannot  do  any  thing  for  them  without  corporate  powers;  and  we  must, 
therefore,  ask  the  Legislature  to  give  us  a  part  of  the  sovereign  power  of 
the  State." 

We  came  to  the  Legislature,  and  the  Legislature  gave  us  a  part  of  the 
sovereign  power.  They  are  now  a  corporation  of  which,  if  any  of  you  were 
in  a  foreign  land,  you  would  be  proud  and  happy  to  boast.  It  is  one  of  the 
jewels  of  the  country.  It  has  gone  on ;  it  has  received  the  bounty  of  this 
Legislature  ;  it  has  received  from  it  its  daily  bread  and  support,  and  yet  the 
directors  are  not  chosen  by  the  people.  They  are  chosen  by  their  associates, 
and  experience  proves  that  it  is  a  good  mode  of  carrying  out  the  contem- 
plated objects ;  and  yet,  if  we  are  to  have  this  doctrine  all  at  once  estab- 
lished, that  nothing  is  consistent  with  republicanism  or  democracy  that  does 
not  come  directly  from  the  people,  the  House  of  Refuge  must  be  destroyed ; 
we  must  next  have  the  schoolmaster  elected  by  the  people.  Sir,  let  us  act 
like  men  of  sense.  We  must  use  the  advantages  we  have,  and  keep  our  eye 
steadily  upon  the  great  end  we  have  in  view — to  wit,  the  amelioration  of 
society,  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  State ;  and  it  is  surely  wise  to 
employ  the  ttest  means  we  have  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  object. 

Look  at  the  Institution  for  the  Blind ;  look  at  the  Institution  for  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb.  The  name  is  legion  of  those  associations  and  corpora- 
tions, composed  of  philanthropic  individuals,  to  which  a  part  of  the  power 
of  the  people  is  granted.  I  would  not  enter  the  arena  here  to  declaim 
against  or  to  advocate  corporations.  I  have  nothing  to  say  about  moneyed 
corporations ;  I  have  nothing  to  say  as  to  the  cry  against  those  corporations, 
whether  it  is  right  or  wrong.  That  is  not  the  question ;  but  I  am  here  to 
contend  that  men  have  the  right,  and  that  it  is  their  duty,  to  associate  to- 


398  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

gether,  and  that,  if  they  cannot  carry  out  the  objects  of  their  association 
•without  corporate  powers,  it  is  wise  and  proper  that  the  Legislature  should 
impart  those  powers.  Your  churches,  your  every  thing  which  comforts,  and 
heals,  and  blesses  the  land,  are  in  this  sense  corporations,  and  the  Public 
School  Society  is  among  the  number. 

But  it  is  said  that  one  million  of  dollars  have  been  expended.  Well, 
now,  in  speaking  of  the  manner  in  which  this  money  has  been  appropriated, 
the  Secretary  might  have  shown,  if  he  had  inquired  or  looked  into  the 
reports,  that  about  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  the  amount  is  in 
property  now  held  for  the  purposes  of  common  school  education,  consisting 
of  buildings  and  other  property,  in  real  and  personal  estate.  It  may  be 
said  that  it  is  dangerous  for  a  corporation  like  this  to  hold  a  large  amount 
of  property.  If  the  committee  please,  this  is  a  danger  of  which  the  Society 
has  been  sensible,  and,  years  ago  (as  the  record  on  their  minutes  will  show), 
they  offered  to  deed  all  this  property  to  the  Common  Council,  and  to  take  a 
lease  from  them,  to  use  it  for  special  purposes  of  education.  The  Society  is 
willing  at  this  moment  to  execute  such  a  deed  ;  but  the  Corporation  of  the 
city  of  New  York  have  uniformly  said :  "  Gentlemen,  you  manage  your 
property  better  than  we  manage  ours.  We  have  business  enough.  Keep 
it."  We  have  pressed  the  matter  upon  them.  It  is  now  an  offer  before 
them,  which  they  can  accept  at  any  time.  But  the  confidence  which  that 
Corporation,  from  year  to  year,  and  without  respect  to  the  politics  of  the 
members  composing  it,  has  had  in  this  institution,  has  induced  them  not  to 
accept  the  offer.  And  I  am  here  on  the  part  of  the  Society  to  say,  that  they 
are  willing  to  submit  to  any  legislation  or  restriction  upon  this  subject 
which,  upon  consultation,  shall  be  deemed  wise  and  beneficial,  and  calcu- 
lated to  promote  and  secure  the  grand  object  of  universal  common  school 
education.  This  is  a  matter  about  which  there  can  be  no  difficulty  ;  and  if 
the  Secretary  of  State,  or  if  this  committee,  will  sit  down  with  a  committee 
of  the  board,  and  regulate  this  matter,  it  can  be  pu{  in  the  same  shape 
(whatever  that  may  be — and  I  do  not  precisely  know  what  it  is)  as  the  asy- 
lum for  the  blind,  the  asylum  for  the  insane,  or  any  other  institution  having 
buildings  or  property,  toward  the  purchase  or  erection  of  which  the  State 
has  contributed. 

I  do  not  know  how  the  property  of  these  institutions  is  fixed  or  held  ; 
but  any  mode  which  the  Legislature,  or  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  New 
York,,  may  designate,  and  which  is  applied  to  other  institutions  for  kindred 
objects,  will  be  acquiesced  in  by  the  Public  School  Society. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  fact  that  there  have  been  no  objections  made  to  the 
schools ;  but  if  there  are  dangers  to  be  apprehended,  it  is  wise  in  the  Super- 
intendent to  discern  them  from  afar.  He  stands  as  a  sentinel  on  the  watch- 
tower,  and  it  is  his  duty  to  look  ahead  and  to  see  what  dangers  may  come. 
I  have  spoken  of  the  consequences  which  may  possibly  grow  out  of  the  sys- 
tem, but  I  repeat  that,  as  yet,  nothing  of  an  injurious  character  has  been 
discovered.  There  has  been  no  complaint  made  of  the  actual  operation  of 
the  schools,  but  something  has  been  said  in  their  favor ;  and  1  propose  now, 


SPEECH    OF   MR.    KETCHUM.  399 

by  the  leave  of  the  committee,  to  submit  from  public  documents  some  of 
those  favorable  things  which  have  been  said. 

The  School  Commissioners  are  a  body  of  men  chosen  one  for  each  ward 
by  the  Corporation,  whose  business  it  is  to  visit  these  schools  and  report 
upon  them.  The  law  of  1824  makes  it  necessary  that  these  school  commis- 
sioners shall  not  belong  to  the  Public  School  Society,  the  object  being  to 
have  an  impartial  board.  And  I  may  say  of  the  present  school  commission- 
ers, that  there  are  no  gentlemen  more  respectable,  and  these  gentlemen  were 
competent  to  judge  of  such  matters.  They  do  visit  the  schools,  and  I  will 
now  read  a  short  paragraph  from  their  report  of  July  27th,  1840.  They 
say: 

The  qualifications  and  efforts  of  the  teachers  employed,  and  the  course 
of  literary  instruction  in  the  schools,  continue  to  deserve  the  approbation  of 
the  commissioners.  Without  intending  to  detract  from  the  acknowledged 
merits  of  the  many  worthy  individuals  who  devote  themselves  to  the  educa- 
tion of  youth  in  the  numerous  pay  schools  scattered  throughout  the  city, 
the  commissioners  may  be  allowed  to  express  their  belief  that,  generally,  the 
schools  supported  from  the  school  money  will  not,  as  regards  the  progress 
of  the  pupils  in  the  several  branches  taught  there,  nor  on  the  score  of  legiti- 
mate discipline,  suffer  by  a  comparison  with  any  others  in  this  metropolis. 

I  have  mentioned  that  the  committee  of  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  when  they  had  this  matter  under  investigation,  thought  it  their 
duty,  before  they  reported,  to  visit  the  schools ;  they  did  so,  and  this  is 
what  they  say : 

The  different  classes  examined  in  several  schools  by  your  committee  ex- 
hibited an  astonishing  progress  in  geography,  astronomy,  arithmetic,  read- 
ing, writing,  &c.,  and  indicated  a  capacity  in  the  system  for  imparting 
instruction  far  beyond  our  expectations  ;  and,  though  the  order  and  arrange- 
ment of  each  school  would  challenge  comparison  with  a  camp  under  a  rigid 
disciplinarian,  yet  the  accustomed  buoyancy*  and  cheerfulness  of  youth  and 
childhood  did  not  appear  to  be  destroyed  in  any  one  of  them.  Such  were 
the  favorable  impressions  forced  upon  our  minds  by  a  careful  examination 
of  the  public  schools.  It  is  due  to  the  trustees  to  add,  that  not  one  of  our 
visit's  was  anticipated,  and  no  opportunity  was  afforded  to  any  of  the  teach- 
ers for  even  a  momentary  preparation. 

Again : 

The  public  school  buildings  are  constructed  upon  a  uniform  model ;  the 
books  used  are  the  same  in  all  the  schools,  and  the  classes  and  departments 
in  each  are  so  similarly  constituted  and  provided,  that  the  removal  of  a 
pupil  from  one  school  to  another  will  not  interrupt  his  studies  or  retard  his 
progress. 

Now  here  is  an  advantage  which  those  who  live  in  the  city  of  New  York 
understand  and  appreciate,  and  which  a  system  contemplating  the  formation 
of  schools  by  small  masses,  never  can  have.  Here  is  a  system  suited  to  a 
migratory  population.  All  the  books,  all  the  forms,  all  the  lessons,  are  the 
same  ;  and  if  a  child  removes  from  one  ward  to  another,  he  can  be  put  in 
the  class  coresponding  to  that  which  he  left,  and  he  stands  upon  the  same 
footing.  The  blackboard  is  the  same,  the  exercises  are  the  same.  Every' 
one  knows  the  advantage  of  continuing  on  the  same  course  of  education 


400  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

which  has  been  begun,  if  it  was  judicious  in  the  first  instance.  But  what 
does  this  new  system  contemplate  ?  It  contemplates  the  destruction  of  this 
peculiarity ;  and  this  report  of  the  Secretary  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  advan- 
tages of  the  system  pursued  in  the  country.  Qentlemen,  the  poorest  child  in 
the  city  of  New  York  has  advantages  in  the  way  of  education — of  elementary 
education — which  are  denied  to  nine  tenths  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
farmers  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

I  challenge  an  investigation  on  this  point ;  and  I  maintain  that  no  com- 
mittee of  this,  or  of  the  other  House,  can  act  understandingly  until  they 
have  visited  these  schools.  They  must  do  as  the  committee  of  the  Common 
Council  did — go  and  see  for  themselves.  Why,  then,  should  we  change  the 
system  ? 

But  it  is  said — and  said,  too,  in  this  report  of  the  Secretary — that  he 
proposes  to  retain  these  public  schools.  How  retain  them?  One  of  the 
features  of  the  proposed  new  law  is,  that  all  school  moneys  shall  be  paid  to 
the  teachers.  Under  such  a  law  we  cannot  live  a  day — not  a  day.  We  have 
to  buy  stationery  and  books ;  we  have  to  build  school-houses.  We  have 
large  schools,  and  the  surplus,  after  the  payment  of  teachers,  goes  to  the 
erection  of  school-houses,  and  the  purchase  of  books  and  stationery.  What 
do  you  think  is  the  expense,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  of  educating  a  child  ? 
— not  alone  the  expense  of  which  I  have  spoken,  but  of  furnishing  books, 
slates,  and  other  stationery,  and  of  fuel  and  repairs — not  rent — but  repairs 
of  school-houses.  The  expense  for  one  year  is  less  than  five  dollars  a  scholar. 
For  five  dollars  a  whole  year,  this  education,  with  all  the  necessary  station- 
ery, books,  slates,  and  fuel,  ig  furnished.  I  say,  if  we  are  only  to  receive 
pay  for  our  teachers,  we  cannot  exist  a  day. 

There  is  another  point.  After  the  passage  of  the  law  of  1824,  upon  an 
investigation  made  at  the  time  .as  ,to  the  condition  of  some  of  the  destitute 
part  of  our  population,  a  representation  was  made  by  the  Public  School 
Society,  and,  after  the  Corporation  had  excluded  religious  societies,  the 
Public  School  Society  exerted  themselves  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion, and  induced  a  large  number  of  the  most  considerable  property-holders 
of  the  city  of  New  York  to  petition  to  be  taxed  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
out  this  system,  and  of  extending  it. 

They  petition  the  Corporation  to  ~be  taxed.  Sir,  if  ever  there  was  a  people 
borne  down  by  taxes,  it  is  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York  who  have 
property ;  and  yet,  strange  to  say,  men  who  paid  from  one  hundred  to  two 
thousand  dollars  annual  taxes,  confiding  in  these  trustees,  and  desirous  of 
carrying  out  this  system  of  education  under  the  direction  of  these  trustees, 
came  forward  at  their  instance,  and  prayed  the  Corporation  to  tax  them 
more.  A  memorial  for  which  I  sought  in  vain  with  a  view  of  bringing  it 
here,  but  which  could  not  be  found,  shows  the  names  of  these  petitioners — 
names  which  will  be  familiar  to  some  of  the  members  of  this  committee. 
Here  you  have  a  perfect  anomaly  !  You  can  hardly  produce  a  similar  case 
in  any  country.  The  petitioners,  I  say,  came  forward  and  prayed  to  be 
taxed,  at  the  instance  of  the  Public  School  Society,  for  the  purpose  of  carry- 


SPEECH   OF   MB.    KETCHUM.  401 

ing  out  the  system — men  who  could  not  look  to  secure  any  person  a  benefit, 
because  they  did  not  send  their  own  children  to  these  schools.  The  conse- 
quence was,  that  the  tax  was  laid,  and  it  produced  the  sum  of  $72,000  annu- 
ally. Only  half  that  amount,  however,  was  raised  by  our  Common  Council 
last  year  under  that  head. 

Since  (excepting  in  the  year  1840,  as  above  stated)  this  tax  was  imposed, 
it  has  yielded  annually  the  sum  aforesaid  of  $72,000.  Now,  if  we  are  to 
adopt  this  plan  of  election  by  the  people — if  the  system  is  to  be  so  extended 
as  to  be  made  like  that  which  prevails  in  the  country,  we  must  adopt  the 
whole,  and  not  a  part  only  of  that  system ;  we  must  have  all,  if  we  have 
any  of  it ;  and  this  sum  of  thirty-six  thousand  dollars,  thus  raised  by  this 
tax,  must  be  cut  off.  These  petitioners  have  a  right  to  say,  "  Gentlemen,  the 
contract  is  violated  ;  for  although  you  may  anticipate  great  evil  in  trusting 
this  money  to  this  Corporation,  yet  it  was  by  reason  of  our  reliance  upon 
this  Public  School  Society  as  our  almoners,  that  we  asked  to  be  taxed.  Now, 
off  with  the  tax  ;  let  us  have  the  system  as  it  is  in  the  country,  and  see  what 
will  become  of  the  public  schools." 

The  amount  received  from  special  tax  was,  during  the  last  year,  $36,075  ; 
and  if  we  are  to  have  the  country  system,  that  tax  is  relinquished,  and  then 
the  money  is  to  be  given  out  to  commissioners,  for  school  districts  in  the 
small  mass,  to  use  the  language  of  this  report.  For  instance,  we  are  to  have 
commissioners  elected  in  each  ward  ;  they  are  to  partition  the  ward  out  into 
school  districts.  These  districts  are  to  elect  trustees.  If  there  is  not  money 
enough  received  from  the  State,  and  fund  enough  added  to  that  which  is 
laid  by  the  general  tax,  then  these  small  masses  must  be  taxed  to  build  up 
school-houses  and  to  make  up  the  deficiency.  This  I  understand  to  be  the 
operation  of  the  system  in  the  country.  These  trustees  are  to  lay  a  tax  (to 
make  up  the  deficiency)  upon  the  property-holders,  and  in  this  way  we  are 
to  have  small  masses  governed  by  these  trustees.  We  are  to  have  such 
religion  as  the  majority  may  choose,  and  such  books  as  the  majority  may 
choose,  and  the  whole  of  this  system,  which  has  been  so  well  tried,  and  has 
been  productive  of  such  good  fruits,  is  to  be  exchanged  for  a  new  one.  For 
I  maintain  that,  unless  there  is  some  very  special  provision  not  contemplated 
on  the  face  of  this  report,  the  public  school  system  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
as  now  constituted,  cannot  stand.  You  must  either  have  the  system  as  it  is 
in  the  country,  or  our  system  as  it  exists  at  present  in  the  city. 

Now,  is  the  committee  prepared  to  report,  and  will  the  Senate  be  pre- 
pared to  adopt  such  a  report — one  that  shall  cast  off  this  system  which  has 
been  tried  and  approved,  and  that  we  shall  "  fly  to  something  that  we  know 
not  of  ?  "  "Will  they  decide  that  the  agents  to  whom  the  city  of  New  York 
gave  this  power,  some  sixteen  years  ago,  have  been  faithless  to  their  trust, 
and  that  the  power  shall  be  restored  to  the  Legislature  ?  Will  they  decide 
that  they  have  now  leisure  to  bestow  more  attention  on  this  subject,  and  to 
look  more  into  the  details  than  their  predecessors  had  ?  It  was  an  argument 
which  forced  itself  strongly  on  the  consideration  of  the  Legislature  of  1824  : 
"  We  cannot  understand  this  matter ;  it  is  local ;  it  is  different,  in  some 
26 


402  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

respects,  from  any  thing  we  have  in  the  country.  We  cannot  well  judge  of 
it,  and  -we  will  leave  you  to  settle  it  among  yourselves."  But  if  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  present  day  has  discovered  a  new  mode  of  doing  business,  so 
that  it  can  take  upon  itself^a  little  more  legislation  for  the  city  of  New 
York,  very  well ;  I  shall  be  glad  to  find  that  it  is  so.  I  shall  be  glad  to  find 
that  this  Legislature  does  not  feel  the  same  pressure  of  business  that  its 
predecessors  felt  in  1824,  and  that  it  can  enter  into  these  matters  more 
minutely.  We  had  no  disposition  to  take  the  subject  into  our  hands  then, 
and  we  have  no  disposition  that  the  Legislature  should  take  it  back  now. 
The  people  in  New  York  understand  the  subject,  and  the  Roman  Catholics 
cannot  say  that  they  will  not  be  heard  as  well  there  as  here.  Why  not  leave 
the  matter  to  us,  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York  ?  If  you  choose  to 
have  commissioners  elected  by  the  people,  instead  of  being  chosen  by  the 
Corporation,  I  say,  "  Amen  ;  very  well ;  enlarge  their  powers,  if  you  choose  ; 
have  the  inspections  and  examinations  more  frequently  if  you  choose,  by 
the  agents  of  the  people,  chosen  by  the  direct  votes  of  the  people."  But  let 
us  not  disturb  a  system  more  healthful,  and  beautiful,  and  effective,  as  a 
system,  than  any  other  where  the  English  language  is  spoken.  There  is 
nothing  to  be  compared  to  it.  If  it  shall  be  destroyed — if  our  Catholic 
brethren,  of  whom  I  wish  to  speak  with  great  respect,  have  found  so  pow- 
erful an  auxiliary  in  the  honorable  Secretary  of  State,  that  they  shall  be  able 
to  carry  out  their  purposes  here,  and  these  schools  should,  in  consequence, 
be  destroyed,  that  officer  will  gain  a  renown  which  will  go  down  through 
all  time.  But  I  should  prefer  the  renown  of  him  who  fired  the  Ephesian 
dome  to  that  renown. 

Mr.  Chairman,  the  Public  School  Society  have  come  here  once  more  to 
•plead  for  the  seminaries  of  elementary  instruction  under  their  charge.  Six- 
teen years  gone  by  they  passed  through  one  trying  scene.  They  contest  was 
long,  arduous,  and  severe,  and  their  hearts  began  to  fail,  and  their  hands  to 
tire,  but  they  succeeded  then.  Now,  the  contest  is  renewed,  and  the  trustees 
engage  in  it  with  extreme  reluctance  ;  they  have  no  personal  interests  to 
advance,  and  they  are  very  unwilling  to  be  put  in  hostile  array  against  any 
of  their  fellow-citizens.  They  are  men  of  peace ;  their  ends  and  purposes 
are  all  peaceable  ;  they  desire,  as  servants  of  the  people,  to  do  some  good  to 
the  rising  generation,  if  permitted  ;  they  are  willing  to  visit  the  schools,  to 
foster  them,  to  collect  in  them  the  destitute  and  the  outcast,  but  they  abhor 
controversy.  If  the  Public  School  Society  shall  be  permitted  to  go  on,  as  in 
former  years  it  has  gone  on,  I  cannot  doubt  there  will  always  be  found  a 
class  of  citizens  who,  competent  and  efficient,  are  willing  to  volunteer  their 
services  in  advancing  the  cause  of  education ;  and,  under  the  careful  and 
searching  supervision  of  agents  chosen  by  the  people,  I  hope  the  trustees, 
and  their  successors,  may  be  permitted,  for  ages  to  come,  to  continue  their 
benevolent  labors.  •. 

The  committee  proceeded  with  the  consideration  of  the  ques- 
tion, and,  on  the  llth  of  May,  Mr.  Root,  the  chairman,  intro- 


MEMORIAL  AND  REMONSTRANCE.  403 

duced  a  bill,  which  was  passed  by  unanimous  consent  to  its 
second  reading,  and  ordered  to  the  Committee  of  the  Whole. 

On  Thursday,  May  20th,  Mr.  Yerplanck  moved  that  the  bill 
be  made  the  special  order  for  the  next  day,  which  was  agreed  to. 
The  special  order  was  not  moved  on  Friday,  but  a  remonstrance 
from  the  Public  School  Society,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Spencer's  report, 
was  laid  before  the  Senate.  It  is  as  follows  : 

IN  SINATE,  May  21,  1841. 
MEMORIAL   AND   REMONSTRANCE 

OF  THE   TRUSTEES   OF   THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY   OF  THE   CITY  OF  NEW 

YORK. 

To  the  Senate  of  the  State  of  New  York  : 

The  memorial  and  remonstrance  of  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School 
Society  of  the  city  of  New  York,  RESPECTFULLY  REPRESENT  : 

That  they  have  had  under  consideration  the  report  of  the  Superintendent 
of  Common  Schools,  in  relation  to  public  instruction  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  which  was  presented  to  your  honorable  body  during  the  present  ses- 
sion, and  have  given  to  it  the  careful  and  deliberate  consideration  which  the 
high  importance  of  the  subject  demands. 

Having,  during  many  years,  devoted  much  time  and  labor  in  promoting 
and  conducting  public  education  in  this  city,  your  memorialists  trust  that  it 
will  not  be  considered  obtrusive  in  them  to  present  to  the  Senate  the  results 
of  their  observations  and  practical  knowledge  of  the  subject,  as  well  as  the 
facts  and  arguments  on  which  they  rely  in  justification  of  their  remonstrance 
against  the  propositions  contained  in  the  report  referred  to.  In  doing  so, 
your  remonstrants  feel  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  adducing  any  new  or 
additional  evidences  of  the  quality  and  efficiency  of  the  numerous  schools 
under  their  charge.  The  annual  returns  of  the  Commissioners  of  School 
Money  (a  board  of  seventeen  citizens,  appointed  by  the  Common  Council), 
under  whose  supervision  the. schools  are  conducted,  furnish  decided  evidence 
of  their  good  quality ;  and,  very  recently,  a  special  committee  of  the  Board 
of  Aldermen,  after  having  visited  and  examined  the  schools,  in  company 
with  a  jealous  and  watchful  delegation  from  the  citizens,  whose  memorials 
gave  rise  to  the  report  now  under  review,  bore  the  most  ample  testimony  to 
the  excellency  of  the  schools  and  efficiency  of  the  system,  and  gave  it  as 
their  opinion  that,  if  "  any  portion  of  the  children  should  be  left  unedu- 
cated, it  cannot  be  justly  chargeable  to  a  want  of  comprehensiveness  in  the 
system,  but  is  more  fairly  attributable  to  imperfections  which  human  legis- 
lation cannot  remedy."  (See  Document  No.  40  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen, 
p.  560.) 

During  the  past  summer,  the  public  schools  were  also  inspected  by  a 
commission  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the  Superintendent,  and  your 
memorialists  venture  to  appeal  to  their  report  to  sustain  the  good  character 
which  is  claimed  for  the  schools.  The  report  now  under  review  has,  how- 
ever, so  fully  and  frankly  assumed  the  correctness  of  this  position,  that  com- 


404  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY.. 

inent  on  this  head  might,  perhaps,  have  been  spared.  If,  then,  it  be  admit- 
ted that  the  system  of  public  instruction  which  now  exists  in  this  city  is 
good,  and  is  acceptable  to  the  municipal  government  and  to  the  citizens 
generally,  the  question  presents  itself,  Why  should  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  interpose  its  authority  for  the  purpose  of  altering  or  changing  that 
system  ?  The  reasons  assigned  in  the  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Com- 
mon Schools  may  be  arranged  under  four  principal  heads  : 

1st.  That  public  education  in  the  city  of  New  York  is  now  chiefly  under 
the  control  of  a  private  corporation,  which  receives  nearly  all  the  money 
raised  by  a  general  and  indiscriminate  tax,  and  that  those  who  pay  the  tax 
have  no  voice  in  the  selection  of  those  who  administer  the  system,  nor  con- 
trol over  the  application  of  the  public  moneys  thus  appropriated. 

3d.  That,  in  the  management  of  the  existing  public  schools,  "  the  con- 
scientious opinions  and  feelings  of  large  classes  of  citizens  are  disregard- 
ed ;  "  that  the  system  is  "  unfavorable,  if  not  hostile,  to  those  principles  of 
religious  faith,"  held  by  some  of  the  memorialists  "  to  be  dearer  than  life 
itself;"  and  that  they  "cannot,  consistently  with  their  views  of  religious 
duty  to  their  children,  send  them  to  such  schools." 

3d.  That  "  there  are  numerous  other  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
founded  by  voluntary  associations,  in  which  many  thousands  of  the  children 
of  poverty  and  distress  receive  their  education,"  and  that  these  schools  are 
arbitrarily  excluded  from  all  participation  in  a  common  fund  collected  by 
the  joint  contributions  of  all. 

4th.  That  the  present  system  of  public  instruction  has  failed  to  accom- 
plish the  purpose  for  which  it  was  organized. 

The  prominent  objections  urged  in  the  report  are  here,  it  is  believed, 
fully  and  fairly  embraced ;  and  your  remonstrants  will  proceed  to  consider 
them  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur.  In  estimating  the  validity  and  force 
of  the  first  objection,  it  is  important  to  bring  into  view  the  probable  mo- 
tives that  induced  the  Legislature  to  exempt  the  city  of  New  York  from 
laws  applied  to  every  other  part  of  the  State.  The  enlightened  men  who 
originated  our  general  system  of  common  school  education  must  have  seen, 
or  thought  that  they  saw,  something  so  peculiar  in  the  population  of  a  large 
city,  something  so  different  from  the  more  homogeneous  and  less  changeable 
population  of  other  parts  of  the  State,  as  to  demand  special  legislative  pro- 
visions. When  attention  was  directed  to  this  city,  it  was  found  that  several 
religious  societies  and  churches  supported  charity  schools  for  the  education 
of  the  children  of  their  indigent  members,  and  that  a  number  of  philan- 
thropic individuals  had  anticipated  the  action  of  the  State,  and  had  been 
tor  nearly  ten  years  associated  under  a  charter,  for  the  purpose  of  educating 
those  poor  children  who  were  not  provided  for  in  the  Church  schools.  The 
Legislature,  therefore,  in  1813,  when  the  first  distribution  was  made,  very 
naturally  appropriated  the  amount  apportioned  to  this  city  to  these  schools, 
in  the  ratio  of  the  number  of  children  taught  in  each.  This  mode  of  dis- 
tribution continued  until  1824,  when  the  subject  was  again  brought  before 
the  Legislature  by  the  jealousies,  disputes,  and  difficulties  which  had  arisen 


MEMOEIAL   AND   REMONSTRANCE.  405 

amongst  the  recipients ;  and  the  conflicting  parties  presented  themselves  at 
Albany,  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  their  respective  claims. 

In  the  progress  of  the  inquiries  and  discussion  which  ensued,  it  became 
manifest  that  moneys  raised  by  a  general  and  indiscriminate  tax  could  not 
be  given  to  any  religious  society  or  association,  without  a  flagrant  violation 
of  one  of  the  most  prominent  conditions  of  our  political  compact.  That 
this  obvious  truth  did  not  present  itself  to  the  notice  of  the  Legislature, 
when  provision  was  first  made  for  the  distribution  in  this  city,  can  be  ac- 
counted for  only  on  the  supposition  that  the  small  amount  to  be  distributed, 
and  the  intrinsic  difficulty  of  making  suitable  provision  for  a  large,  dense, 
and  mixed  population,  induced  a  temporary  resort  to  the  readiest  expedient 
that  presented. 

The  report  of  the  committee  of  the  Assembly  which  was  charged  with 
the  duty  of  assembling  the  claimants  referred  to,  contains  the  following  pas- 
sages: 

It  appears  that  the  city  of  New  York  is  the  only  part  of  the  State  where 
the  school  fund  is  at  all  subject  to  the  control  of  religious  societies. 

Your  committee  forbear,  in  this  place,  to  enter  fully  into  this  branch  of 
the  subject ;  but  they  respectfully  submit,  whether  it  is  not  a  violation  of  a 
fundamental  principle  of  our  legislation  to  allow  the  funds  of  the  State, 
raised  by  a  tax  on  the  citizens,  and  designed  for  civil  purposes,  to  be  subject 
to  the  control  of  any  religious  corporation. 

Still,  no  plan  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  city  was  suggested.  But  the 
manifest  propriety  of  referring  the  subject  to  the  immediate,  exclusive,  and 
local  representatives  of  its  inhabitants,  forced  itself  upon  the  Legislature. 
A  belief  that  the  municipal  government  would  better  understand  the  feel- 
ings and  necessities  of  the  local  population,  in  its  several  parts  and  condi- 
tions as  well  as  a  whole,  and  be  thereby  better  enabled  to  reconcile  conflict- 
ing interests  and  opinions,  doubtless  induced  the  Legislature  to  delegate  the 
power  to  the  Common  Council  of  the  city. 

Accordingly,  in  the  session  of  1824,  as  stated  in  the  report  of  the  Super- 
intendent, a  law  was  passed  vesting  in  the  Common  Council  the  right  to 
designate  "  the  institutions  and  schools  "  which  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  a 
share  of  the  school  moneys,  and  prescribe  the  rules  and  restrictions  under 
which  such  moneys  should  be  received  by  'such  institutions  or  schools 
respectively. 

It  is  here  worthy  of  remark,  that  this  act  repealed  the  act  of  1813,  which 
expressly  enumerated  "  religious  societies  "  among  the  recipients ;  and  yet, 
in  transferring  the  power,  no  mention  is  made  of  such  societies ;  but  the 
parties  designated  as  those  among  whom  it  might  be  divided  was  made  to 
embrace  all  the  other  parties  included  in  the  act  of  1813,  viz.,  "  institutions 
and  schools." 

If  this  may  not  be  considered  of  binding  obligation  on  the  Common 
Council,  it  is  certainly  indicative — particularly  when  taken  in  connection 
with  the  language  of  the  report  of  the  committee  of  the  Assembly,  above 
quoted — of  the  feeling  which  prevailed  on  the  subject  of  "  religious  socie- 
ties," and  at  least  lent  the  sanction  of  the  Legislature  to  the  continued  use 


406  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

of  private  incorporations  for  purposes  of  common  education.  However  this 
may  be,  the  conflict  was  renewed  in  this  city,  and,  after  a  patient  hearing  of 
the  parties  and  a  full  investigation  of  the  subject,  religious  societies  -were 
excluded;  and  sour  remonstrants  were  made,  as  stated  in  the  report,  the 
chief  agents  in  disbursing  the  school  money,  and  in  carrying  out  the  views 
of  the  Government  in  relation  to  common  schools. 

This  duty  they  have  continued  to  discharge  •with  untiring  industry  ami 
r.eal  from  that  time  to  the  present ;  with  what  degree  of  abilty  and  success, 
will  appear  in  the  progress  of  this  remonstrance. 

After  nearly  forty  years,  the  question  is  now  for  the  first  time  raised  in 
t'ae  Legislature,  Shall  a  private  corporation,  the  members  of  which  are  not 
elected  by,  nor  directly  responsible  to,  the  people,  be  permitted,  however  suc- 
cessfully and  judiciously,  to  disburse  moneys  raised  by  a  general  tax  ?  It 
will  readily  be  seen  that,  if  a  negative  answer  must  be  given  upon  the  mere 
abstract  proposition,  and  without  regard  to  the  checks  and  safeguards  which' 
may  have  been  thrown  around  the  trust,  or  to  the  length  of  time  it  has 
faithfully  performed  its  functions  and  sustained  a  jealous  and  searching 
scrutiny,  it  will  be  a  first  step  in  a  radical  system  of  reform  which,  if  car- 
ried out,  can  scarcely  stop  short  of  remodelling  the  organization  of  civil 
society.  Our  hospitals,  our  asylums  for  the  insane,  for  the  blind,  for  the 
mute,  our  dispensaries  and  houses  of  refuge,  &c.,  must  all  fall  before  it, 
because  all  and  each  of  these  receive  and  disburse  the  people's  money ;  and 
in  none  of  them  are  the  trustees  or  managers  elected  by,  or  immediately 
responsible  to,  the  people.  Indeed,  the  above  institutions  are  in  several 
respects  more  obnoxious  to  the  objections  urged  in  the  Superintendent's 
report  than  is  the  institution  now  attacked.  To  several,  if  not  all  of  them, 
the  Legislature  has  secured  the  annual  payment  of  large  sums  of  public 
money,  to  be  continued  twenty,  twenty-five,  and  thirty  years,  and  without 
any  direct  or  fixed  system  of  supervision  on  the  part  of  the  people  or  their 
representatives.  As  regards  the  House  of  Refuge  of  Juvenile  Delinquents — 
an  institution  which  that  eminent  philanthropist  and  enlightened  statesman, 
De  Witt  Clinton,  declared  to  be  "  the  best  penitentiary  institution  ever 
devised  by  the  wit  and  established  by  the  beneficence  of  man  " — the  com- 
parison does  not  stop  here.  This  "  private  corporation "  is  not  only  en- 
trusted with  public  money,  but  is  permitted  to  exercise  a  "  function  which 
emphatically  belongs  to  the  Government " — that  of  carrying  out  the  sen- 
tence of  courts  of  criminal  jurisprudence.  Now,  what  are  the  circumstances 
under  which  your  remonstrants  are  permitted  to  provide  for  public  educa- 
tion ? — a  duty  which  some  governments  have  never  assumed,  and  which 
some  of  the  most  enlightened  have,  until  very  recently,  entirely  neglected. 

They  are  under  the  supervision  of  a  Board  of  Commissioners,  consisting 
of  seventeen  citizens  appointed  by  the  immediate  representatives  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  without  whose  certificate  of  approval  they  cannot  draw  a  cent  from 
the  public  purse.  Should  this  Board  neglect  or  refuse  to  discharge  its  duty, 
it  is  competent  for  the  appointing  power  to  strike  your  remonstrants  from 
the  list  of  recipients,  and  destroy  at  once  their  capacity  for  evil. 

The  Mayor  and  Recorder  are  ex-officio  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 


MEMOEIAL  AND  REMONSTRANCE.  407 

and  the  board  is  required  by  law  "  to  make  a  report,  during  the  month  of 
May  in  each  year,  to  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  and  also  to  the 
Common  Council  of  this  city,  containing  a  particular  account  of  the  state 
of  their  schools,  and  the  moneys  received  and  expended  by  them  during  the 
preceding  year,  so  as  to  exhibit  a  full  and  perfect  statement  of  the  property, 
funds,  and  affairs  of  said  Society."  (See  4th  section,  Law  of  Common  Coun- 
cil, March  7,  1834.) 

In  addition  to  these  salutary  provisions  of  law,  the  Superintendent  of 
Common  Schools,  although  he  docs  not  claim  to  be  authorized,  he  very  pro- 
perly did,  within  a  year,  appoint  a  commission  to  visit  and  examine  the 
schools  under  the  charge  of  your  remonstrants,  and  report  their  condition  to 
him  ;  a  duty  which  they  performed,  and  the  result  is  stated  in  his  report  to 
your  honorable  body,  which  is  now  under  consideration. 

These  are  facts  accessible  to  all  whose  duty  or  inclination  might  prompt 
them  to  make  the  inquiry ;  and  yet,  as  your  remonstrants  perceive  with  sur- 
prise and  regret,  the  Superintendent  has  overlooked  them,  and  avers  that  the 
Public  School  Society  is  "  an  anomaly  wholly  unknown  in  any  other  depart- 
ment of  the  public  service,"  and  that  it  is  "  not  amenable  in  any  form  to  the 
laws,  nor  subject  to  any  supervision  by  the  government  of  its  officers ;  "  and 
finally,  that  its  existence  "  involves  a  principle  so  hostile  to  the  whole  spirit 
of  our  insitutions,  that  it  is  impossible  it  should  be  long  sustained." 

The  strong  and  pointed  terms  in  which  the  Superintendent  deprecates 
the  agency  of  persons  who  are  not  elected  by  the  people  in  carrying  out  the 
intentions  of  government  in  relation  to  education,  contrasts  strangely  with 
the  facts  that,  at  his  suggestion,  a  law  was  passed,  in  1839,  authorizing  him 
to  appoint  county  visitors ;  and  in  his  last  annual  report  he  announces  a 
material  improvement  in  the  discharge  of  duty  on  the  part  of  commissioners 
and  inspectors  who  are  elected  by  the  people,  and  attributes  it  chiefly  to  the 
diligence,  advice,  and  stimulating  example  of  the  county  visitors,  who  are 
not  elected  by,  nor  are  they  responsible  to'  the  people. 

In  a  report  made  to  the  Legislature,  in  1840,  transmitting  abstracts  of  the 
reports  of  the  county  visitors  appointed  by  the  Superintendent,  it  is  stated 
that  "  they  concur  in  representing  the  inspectors  chosen  at  the  town  meet- 
ings as  being  generally  not  well  qualified  for  that  particular  duty,  and  as 
being  very  remiss  in  its  performance ; "  "  that  the  examinations  of  the 
inspectors  are  slight  and  superficial,  and  that  no  benefit  is  derived  from 
them ;  "  and  the  Superintendent  remarks  :  "  It  has  already  been  shown  to 
the  Legislature  from  the  official  returns,  that  at  least  one  half  of  all  the 
schools  in  the  State  are  not  visited  at  all  by  the  inspectors." 

The  practice  of  conferring  on  private  corporations  some  of  the  functions 
of  government,  and  entrusting  them  with  public  money,  obtained  in  the 
earliest  period  of  our  existence  as  an  independent  nation,  at  a  time  and  with 
a  population  as  vigilant  and  as  jealous  of  their  own  rights  as  can  be  justly 
claimed  for  those  of  the  present  day.  Your  remonstrants  are  fully  aware 
that  the  trite  political  maxims  which  are  arrayed  against  them  in  the  report 
of  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  exert  a  powerful  influence  on  the 
public  mind,  and  that  those  who  would  oppose  their  application,  in  any 


408  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

given  instance,  must  encounter  a  strong  current  of  popular  prejudice.  But 
it  is  respectfully  submitted  to  your  honorable  body,  whether  the  position  in 
which  the  public  schools  of  this  city  are  placed  by  legal  enactments  does 
not  render  them  as  safe  as  other  institutions  incorporated  for  purposes  of  a 
kindred  character,  and  afford  as  ample  security  against  abuse  ? 

Your  remonstrants  will  now  preceed  to  consider  the  objections  classed 
under  the  second  head,  viz. : 

That,  in  the  management  of  the  existing  public  schools,  the  conscientious 
opinions  and  feelings  of  large  classes  of  citizens  are  disregarded  ;  and  that 
the  system  is  unfavorable,  if  not  hostile,  to  those  principles  of  religious  faith 
held  by  some  of  the  memorialists  to  be  dearer  than  life  itself;  and  that  they 
cannot,  consistently  with  their  views  of  religious  duty  to  their  children,  send 
them  to  such  schools. 

These  declarations,  so  far  as  the  trustees  have  any  agency  or  control,  are 
entirely  erroneous,  and  your  remonstrants  cannot  withhold  an  expression  of 
their  surprise  that  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  should  have  been 
so  inattentive  an  observer  of  events  connected  with  the  subject  of  education 
within  this  State,  as  not  to  be  aware  of  their  incorrectness ;  and  that  he 
should,  even  indirectly,  lend  to  them  the  high  sanction  of  his  official 
signature. 

The  first  open  attack  upon  the  public  schools  of  this  city  was  commenced 
by  those  whose  charges  gave  rise  to  this  inquiry  some  years  since,  and  they 
have  been  made  to  assume  various  and  opposite  forms.  When  disproved  in 
one  form,  they  have  been  revived  in  another. 

At  one  time  -it  was  declared,  "  the  public  school  system  in  the  city  of 
New  York  is  entirely  favorable  to  the  sectarianism  of  infidelity,  and  opposed 
only  to  that  of  positive  Christianity,"  that  it  "  leaves  the  will  of  the  pupil 
to  riot  in  the  fierceness  of  unrestrained  lusts,"  and  is  "  calculated  to  make 
bad  and  dangerous  citizens." 

Now,  it  is  contended  that  the  conscientious  opinions  and  feelings  of  large 
classes  of  citizens  are  disregarded,  and  that  the  system  is  unfavorable,  not 
to  religion  or  morals,  but  to  the  "  pinndples  of  religious  faith  "  held  by  the 
complainants. 

The  former  high  and  most  extraordinary  charges  were  promptly  met  and 
refuted.  It  now  remains  to  show  that  the  latter  are  equally  destitute  of 
foundation. 

In  the  year  1834,  an  interview  was  had  with  the  then  acting  Roman 
Catholic  Bishop  of  this  diocese,  for  the  purpose  of  assuring  him  of  the  wish 
of  your  remonstrants  to  remove  from  tbe  school-books  every  thing  offensive 
to  his  Church,  and  to  invite  his  active  cooperation  in  attaining  that  end. 
More  recently,  the  same  overtures  were  made,  verbally  and  in  written  com- 
munications, to  dignitaries  of  various  grades  in  the  same  Church.  During 
the  past  year,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  trustees  of  the  Public 
School  Society  to  examine  the  "  books  in  use  in  the  public  schools,  includ- 
ing those  in  the  libraries,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  and  report  whether  they 
contain  any  thing  derogatory  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  or  any  of  its 
religious  tenets,  with  power  to  communicate  with  such  persons  of  that 


MEMORIAL  AND  REMONSTRANCE.  409 

Church  as  may  be  authorized  to  meet  them  in  reference  to  such  alterations." 
Conferences  were  accordingly  had  with  Catholic  priests,  and  the  school- 
book's  were  left  with  them  for  examination.  These  advances  and  proposals 
of  the  trustees  were  not,  however,  met  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  were 
made.  Those  to  whom  the  books  were  submitted,  after  detaining  them 
some  time,  declined  uniting  in  any  examination  of  their  contents. 

The  trustees'  of  the  public  schools  nevertheless  proceeded  and  completed 
the  work  of  expurgation  without  the  aid  of  those  who  had  complained  so 
vehemently  of  the  injustice  which  had  been  done  them.  The  evidences  of 
the  truth  of  this  statement  are  contained  in  numerous  written  and  printed 
documents ;  they  are  spread  on  the  minutes  of  the  proceedings  of  your 
remonstrants ;  they  are  contained  in  the  files  of  both  departments  of  the 
city  Government,  and  have  been  widely  circulated  in  printed  statements, 
both  official  and  unofficial ;  and  yet  your  honorable  body  is  assured  that  the 
conscientious  opinions  and  feelings  of  large  classes  of  citizens  (meaning 
Roman  Catholics)  have  been  disregarded. 

In  relation  to  the  second  and  third  branches  of  the  charges  included 
under  the  second  head,  your  remonstrants  can  only  say  that,  so  far  as  they 
were  able  to  discover,  the  exceptionable  passages  in  the  school-books  were 
such  as  occur  in  the  histories  commonly  approved,  or  they  we're  incidental 
remarks  of  frequent  occurrence.  It  is  admitted  that  the  objectors  have  the 
exclusive  right  to  judge,  so  far  as  regards  the  danger  to  their  own  offspring. 
But  in  the  progress  of  these  negotiations  and  expurgations,  your  remon- 
strants were  driven  by  the  force  of  circumstances  into  the  conclusion,  that 
the  opposition  to  the  public  schools,  and  to  the  books  used  in  them,  had 
some  ulterior  object  in  view.  This  may  seem  illiberal,  but  frankness  demands 
the  avowal ;  and  a  single  fact  will  serve  to  show  that  the  conclusion  is  not 
entirely  without  ground  to  rest  upon. 

During  an  examination  of  one  of  the  Catholic  schools,  the  committee  of 
the  Board  of  Aldermen,  in  company  with  a  delegation  from  your  remon- 
strants, found  in  use,  as  a  class-book,  the  identical  work  to  which  exception 
had  been  taken,  and  the  only  one  which,  in  the  proceedings  before  that 
Board,  was  quoted  from  as  evidence  that  Catholic  children  could  not  be  sent 
to  the  public  schools.  Nor  did  the  inconsistency  of  the  affair  stop  here. 
The  exceptionable  passage  had  long  been  erased  from  the  copies  in  the  pub- 
lic schools,  while  it  remained  unobscured  in  those  attached  to  the  Catholic 
churches. 

The  propositions  under  the  third  head  are  :  "  That  there  are  numerous 
other  schools  founded  by  voluntary  associations,  in  which  many  thousands 
of  the  children  of  poverty  and  distress  receive  their  education,"  and  that 
these  schools,  maintained  for  the  same  objects  and  accomplishing  the  same 
beneficial  results,  are  arbitrarily  excluded  from  all  participation  in  a  common 
fund  collected  by  the  joint  contributions  of  all." 

Without  stopping  to  inquire  whether  the  terms  "  voluntary  associations  " 
may  be  properly  applied  to  a  board  of  trustees  of  a  Church-school,  your 
remonstrants  cannot  withhold  the  remark  that  this  part  of  the  report  would 
have  been  more  explicit  and  better  understood  if  it  had  stated  the  fact  that 


410  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  schools  referred  to  are  attached  to,  and  are  under  the  exclusive  control 
of,  Roman  Catholic  churches,  viz. :  "  St.  Peter's  Church,"  "  St.  Mary's  Roman 
Catholic  Church,"  "  St.  Patrick's,"  "  Transfiguration  Church,"  "  St.  Joseph's," 
"  St.  James',"  and  "  St.  Nicholas'  Church." 

The  citizens  at  large  are  not  only  shut  out  from  the  management  of  these 
schools  by  their  organization,  but  the  books  used  and  the  doctrines  taught 
in  them  are  so  utterly  exclusive  and  intolerant,  as  to  forbid'  the  attendance 
not  only  of  the  children  of  parents  of  every  other  religious  sect,  but  of  those 
of  no  sect. 

They  are  not  merely  the  incidental  remarks  of  the  historian,  or  extracts 
tiom  the  Holy  Scriptures,  "  without  note  or  comment,"  to  which  such  strong 
exception  has  been  taken  in  relation  to  the  public  schools,  but  they  are  such 
as  ever  have,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  your  remonstrants,  ever  must  tend,  if 
sustained  by  tax  imposed  upon  the  anathematized  portion  of  the  commu- 
nity, to  destroy  public  harmony  ;  and  such  as  would  prove  any  thing  rather 
than  a  "  social  benefit." 

But  your  remonstrants  deny  that  these  schools  are  "  maintained  for  the 
same  object"  as  are  the  public  schools ;  or,  rather,  they  contend  that  objects 
are  embraced  in  them,  and  are  deemed  of  vital  importance,  which  do  not 
nor  can  they  enter  into  the  course  of  instruction  in  the  public  schools, 
because  the  conflicting  opinions  of  the  trustees  do  not  admit  of  it.  It  is 
true  that,  when  the  glaring  inconsistency  of  asking  for  public  aid  in  support 
of  schools  so  managed  was  urged  upon  the  applicants,  they  proposed  that 
no  religious  instruction  should  be  given  "  during  the  usual  school  hours." 
But  having  in  view  the  stringency  with  which  the  same  party  insisted  on 
the  necessity  of  religious  in  juxtaposition  with  secular  education,  and  the 
warmth  with  which  they  denounced  the  public  school  system  when  they 
saw  fit  to  charge  it  with  excluding  religion,  and  particularly  when  reference 
is  had  to  their  avowed  dogma  that  there  is  no  hope  of  salvation  to  those  not 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, — which  dogma  is  now  taught  in  their 
schools — it  should  not  be  cause  of  surprise  that  doubts  were  entertained  of 
a  full  compliance  with  the  condition ;  or,  even  if  literally  complied  with, 
could  it  be  considered  such  a  separation  of  the  two  objects  as  the  public 
might  of  right  demand  if  taxed  to  support  the  schools  ? 

The  tenacity  with  which  men  adhere  to  "  those  principles  of  religious 
faith  upon  which,  in  their  estimation,  their  present  and  eternal  welfare 
depends,"  and  which  is  so  forcibly  described  in  the  report  of  the  Superin- 
tendent, would  seem  to  admonish  legislators  not  to  tax  the  whole  com- 
munity for  the  support  of  educational  establishments  which  are  controlled 
exclusively  by  those  professing  the  same  faith,  lest  the  very  sincerity  which 
the  report  so  justly  attributes  to  persons  of  this  class,  should  induce  them  to 
promote  the  religious  at  the  expense  of  the  literary  education  of  the  pupils ; 
which  certainly  was  not  the  intention  of  the  Legislature  in  establishing  the 
system  of  common  school  education. 

Your  remonstrants  had  supposed  that  the  fact  of  the  Public  School 
Society  being  constituted  of  men  professing  every  variety  of  religious  faith, 
would  neutralize  sectarian  tendencies  and  secure  it  against  abuse.  Whether 


MEMOEIAL   AND  KEMONSTKANCE.  411 

a  division  of  the  city  into  small  masses,  under  the  immediate  control  of  the 
people  themselves,  is  better  calculated  to  attain  that  end,  will  be  considered 
in  another  place. 

The  fourth  and  last  division  of  the  objections  to  the  existing  system  of 
education  which  are  presented  in  the  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Com- 
mon Schools,  remains  to  be  considered,  viz. : 

That  the  present  system  of  public  instruction  has  failed  to  accomplish 
the  purpose  for  which  it  was  organized. 

In  order  to  sustain  this  hypothesis,  it  is  stated,  and  certainly  on  what 
might  be  considered  good  authority,  "  that  more  than  one  half  of  the  chil- 
dren between  four  and  sixteen  years  of  age,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  are 
not  receiving  the  benefit  of  any  education  whatever."  That  the  number  of 
such  children  is  very  great,  cannot  be  denied  ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt — 
and  your  remonstrants  assert  with  confidence — that  it  is  greatly  overrated  in 
estimates  founded  upon  the  returns  of  the  United  States  marshals,  and  for 
reasons  which,  on  reflection,  are  entirely  obvious.  It  is  true,  as  stated  in  the 
report,  that  the  trustees  of  the  public  schools  drew  the  same  conclusion  from 
the  data  furnished  in  the  census,  in  memorializing  the  Legislature  for  an 
appropriation  of  money  for  the  erection  of  additional  school-houses.  The 
truth  of  the  statement  was  questioned  by  some  when  the  memorial  was 
under  consideration  ;  and  subsequent  reflection  and  inquiry  have  convinced 
all,  that  the  actual  number  of  uneducated  children  cannot  be  one  third  of 
that  which  is  assumed  in  the  report. 

It  is  well  known  that  very  many  parents  will  not  send  their  children  to 
school  until  they  are  six  years  of  age ;  and  thousands  refuse  to  continue 
them  there  after  they  are  eleven  or  twelve,  because  they  can  then  be  placed 
in  situations  to  support  themselves,  or  can  be  made  available  in  contributing 
to  the  support  of  the  family.  Pending  the  preparation  of  this  remonstrance, 
an  inquiry  has  been  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  what  propor- 
tion of  the  children  who  enter  the  public  schools  remain  in  them  after 
twelve  years  of  age ;  and  it  is  found,  by  returns  received  from  ninety-one 
out  of  one  hundred  and  two  schools,  that  it  is  only  seven  and  two  thirds 
per  cent.  In  a  family  of  six  children  within  the  school  age— say  of  the 
respective  ages  of  five,  seven,  nine,  eleven,  thirteen,  and  fifteen — only  half 
may  be  attending  school ;  and  yet,  none  should  be  returned  as  being  with- 
out the  means  of  education,  because  the  youngest  may  be  kept  at  home  in 
consequence  of  its  age,  and  receive  some  instruction  from  the  mother  or 
older  children,  and  the  two  oldest  may  have  received  as  much  education  as 
the  law  contemplates  or  as  the  parents  deem  necessary.  The  youngest  and 
the  two  oldest  should,  therefore,  be  excluded  from  the  list  of  those  who  are 
not  "  receiving  the  benefits  of  any  education  whatever." 

It  is  believed  that  the  estimated  number  attending  private  schools  is 
much  too  small,  and  the  result  of  a  partial  inquiry  made  in  a  single  ward 
(the  Seventh)  would  appear  to  sustain  this  view.  There  are,  moreover,  a 
considerable  number  of  children  belonging  to  this  city  who  are  sent  for  edu- 
cation to  the  numerous  colleges,  academies,  institutions,  and  boarding- 
schools  located  in  this  and  the  adjacent  States,  and  the  number  cannot  be 


412  TI1E  PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

very  small  \vho  are  taught  «t  home  under  governesses  and  other  private 
tutors.  Both  these  classes  should  be  included  in  the  number  attending  pri- 
vate schools. 

In  connection  with,  and  as  having  an  intimate  and  most  important  bear- 
ing upon,  this  branch  of  the  subject,  your  remonstrants  ask  attention  to  the 
facts  derived  from  the  report  made  by  the  Secretary  of  State  to  the  Legisla- 
ture during  the  present  session  (Document  No.  277),  by  which  it  appears 
that  the  whole  number  of  paupers  supported  at  poor-houses  in  this  State  is 
56,561 ;  and  that,  of  this  number,  27,553,  or  nearly  one  half,  are  in  the  city 
of  New  York ;  or  that  the  number  of  paupers  in  the  counties,  exclusive  of 
New  York,  is  as  1  to  42  and  a  fraction  to  the  whole  population,  while  the 
number  in  New  York  is  as  1  to  11  and  a  fraction.  The  comparison  between 
the  out-door  paupers,  or  those  relieved  at  their  own  residences,  shows  a  still 
greater  disparity  between  the  metropolis  and  other  parts  of  the  State.  Of 
this  class  of  persons  there  are  in  the  State,  exclusive  of  this  city,  29,008 ; 
and  in  the  city,  27,553  ;  or  the  out-door  paupers  in  the  State,  exclusive  of 
the  city,  is  as  1  in  73  of  the  whole  population,  and  in  the  city  as  1  to  12. 
But  the  great  disproportion  of  paupers  between  the  city  and  country  is  not 
fully  made  out  by  this  method  of  estimating ;  for  it  is  well  known  that, 
besides  the  thousands  in  the  city  who  subsist  by  a  practice  but  little  known 
in  the  country  (street-begging),  there  is  a  very  large  number  who  are 
indebted  for  permanent  or  temporary  relief  to  private  sympathy,  and  the 
benevolent  institutions  of  which  there  are  so  many  in  the  city.  Could  all 
these  be  added  to  the  number  contained  in  the  official  returns,  it  would  be 
swelled  greatly  beyond  the  number  in  every  other  part  of  the  State. 

Your  remonstrants  have  not  the  means  at  hand  of  presenting  a  compara- 
tive view  of  commitments  and  convictions  for  vagrancy  and  crime,  but  it  is 
confidently  believed  that  they  would  present  results  equally  unfavorable  to 
the  city.  Now,  if  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  can  furnish  rea- 
sons for  these  discrepancies,  he  will  at  the  same  time  account  for  your 
remonstrants  having  failed  to  induce  all  the  poor  children  in  the  city  to 
attend  the  public  schools. 

This  would  seem  a  proper  place  to  correct  an  error  in  the  report,  which 
states  that  there  is  not  a  "  want  of  accommodation  for  pupils."  The  fact  is 
far  otherwise.  The  present  school  buildings  are  generally  full,  and  some  of 
them  are  crowded  to  a  degree  that  is  equally  prejudicial  to  health  and 
unfavorable  to  the  acquisition  of  learning. 

How  the  Superintendent  was  led  into  this  error,  is  not  perceived,  unless 
he  inferred  it  from  the  efforts  used  to  induce  the  attendance  of  children ; 
which  is  not  improbable,  from  his  adverting  to  those  efforts  in  connection 
with  the  remark  regarding  accommodations.  When  a  school  is  full,  efforts 
in  that  vicinity  are  diminished,  and  they  are  directed  to  some  other  point. 
But  the  chief  want  of  accommodation  for  pupils  arises  from  the  fact  that 
there  are  portions  of  the  city  which  have  grown  up  within  a  few  years,  and 
in  which  there  are  no  school-houses.  This  was  explained  in  the  memorial 
(referred  to  in  the  report)  asking  for  an  appropriation  of  money  to  erect 
additional  school  buildings. 


MEMORIAL    AND   REMONSTRANCE.  413 

Your  remonstrants  will  now  submit  a  few  remarks  in  relation  to  the 
causes  of  the  disparity  between  the  registered  number  of  children  in  the 
public  schools  and  the  average  attendance  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the 
report. 

The  irregular  attendance  of  children  who  are  entered  on  the  registers  of 
the  public  schools  has  ever  been  cause  of  serious  regret  to  the  trustees,  and 
every  thing  has  been  done  which  ingenuity  could  suggest  and  zeal  accom- 
plish in  order  to  lessen  this  acknowledged  evil — an  evil  which  is  found  to 
arise  from  various  causes,  many  of  which  are  justified  by  necessity,  and 
many  more  have  their  origin  in  indifference,  or  the  want  of  vigilance  and 
firmness  on  the  part  of  parents.  All  of  them,  it  is  confidently  believed,  are 
beyond  the  reach  of  any  remedy  proposed  in  the  plan  of  the  Superintendent 
of  Common  Schools.  Among  the  justifiable  causes,  is  the  straitened  circum- 
stances of  a  large  proportion  of  the  parents  whose  children  enter  the  public 
schools.  In  a  numerous  class  of  cases,  the  mother  "  goes  out  to  work  "  one 
or  two  days  in  each  week,  and  is  under  the  necessity  of  retaining  the  oldest 
child  at  home  to  take  care  of  the  younger  ones.  Very  many  married  women 
are  thus  employed  for  the  purpose  of  contributing  to  the  support  of  the 
family ;  and  as  there  are  more  than  one  thousand  four  hundred  widows 
whose  children  attend  the  public  schools,  it  will  be  seen  that  this  cause  must 
embrace  a  large  number  ;  and  it  is  a  cause  which,  if  it  exists  at  all,  can  only 
be  to  a  very  limited  extent  in  country  districts. 

Another  most  prolific  cause  of  irregular  attendance,  ranging  under  this 
head,  is  the  inability  of  many  parents  to  furnish  their  children  with  suit- 
able clothing,  and  particularly  shoes,  to  encounter  the  cold  and  storms  of 
winter.  It  is  customary  for  the  teachers  to  note,  on  the  registers  of  daily 
attendance,  unusual  cold  and  storms,  and  such  days  will  be  found  to  dimin- 
ish the  attendance  to  the  extent  of  one  to  two  hundred  in  a  single  school- 
building  ;  and  yet  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  numbers  come  to  school  with 
naked  feet  in  moderately  cold  weather,  and  when  there  is  ice  in  the  streets. 
Another  cause  which  exists  to  a  considerable  extent,  but  which  may  not, 
perhaps,  be  so  clearly  classed  among  those  that  are  justifiable,  and  which 
cannot  prevail  in  country  districts,  is  the  fact  that  many  families  rely  for 
fuel,  to  a  considerable  extent,  on  such  as  children  can  pick  up  in  shipyards, 
at  buildings  that  are  being  torn  down,  &c. ;  and  this  is  accordingly  assigned 
by  parents  as  a  motive  for  keeping  their  children  from  school  a  part  of  each 
week.  Another  cause  which  many  parents  consider  justifiable,  and  which 
does  not  operate  in  the  country,  is  the  frequent  military  and  civic  parades 
incident  to  the  metropolis  of  this  State. 

Among  the  unjustifiable  causes  of  irregular  attendance,  truancy  deserves 
a  prominent  place  ;  and  it  must  be  seen  that  this  fruitful  cause  will  prevail 
to  a  far  greater  extent  in  a  large  city  than  in  country  districts.  In  the  for- 
mer, there  is  an  almost  infinite  variety  of  exciting  circumstances  which 
induce  this  vicious  habit,  and  which  are  unknown  in  the  latter.  It  can 
scarcely  be  necessary  to  enumerate  them.  The  occurrence,  or  even  the 
alarm,  of  fire  leads  to  the  absence  of  hundreds  from  school ;  and  it  is  wor- 
thy of  special  remark  that  it  can  be  induged  in  with  greater  impunity  in  a 


414  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

large  and  mixed  population  like  this  city,  than  in  the  more  scattered  and 
uniform  population  of  the  country  districts. 

Having  in  view  the  fact  that,  if  one  hundred  children  are  absent  from 
school  each  twelve  days  during  the  year,  it  will  reduce  the  average  attend- 
ance twenty-four  hundred,  it  should  not  be  a  matter  of  surprise,  particularly 
•when  considered  in  connection  with  the  causes  and  motives  to  absence 
which  are  peculiar  to  large  cities,  that  the  disparity  is  so  great.  It  appears, 
from  actual  inquiry,  to  be  even  somewhat  greater  in  Boston  than  in  New 
York.  It  is  estimated  that  the  single  fact  that  a  large  portion  of  .the  people 
whose  children  attend  the  public  schools,  move  their  places  of  residence  in 
May  of  each  year — a  practice  not  known  in  any  other  city — causes  the 
absence  from  school  of  one  fourth  of  the  children  for  two  weeks.  They 
are  generally  withdrawn  several  days  before  moving-day,  and  a  greater  num- 
ber of  days  are  lost  afterward,  before  they  enter  another  school.  These  and 
other  reasons  why  the  disparity  between  the  registered  number  of  children 
attending  the  public  schools  and  the  actual  average  attendance,  is  greater 
than  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  are,  to  your  remonstrants,  so  obvious,  that 
they  are  surprised  they  did  not  occur  to  the  acute  and  observing  mind  of 
the  author  of  the  report.  And  it  is  equally  matter  of  wonder  that,  in  call- 
ing attention  to  this  difference,  he  did  not  advert  to  the  very  important  fact 
that  the  public  schools  of  this  city  are  kept  open  all  the  year,  while  in  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  country  districts  they  are  kept  open  four,  five,  six, 
seven,  eight,  and  nine  months ;  even  including  the  cities  of  Hudson,  Albany, 
Troy,  Schenectady,  Utica,  Rochester,  and  Buffalo,  in  which  they  are  open 
the  whole  year.  The  district  schools  of  the  State  (exclusive  of  the  city  of 
New  York)  are  open  an  average  period  of  less  than  eight  months  in  each 
year ;  and  in  those  which  are  strictly  country  districts,  not  including  the 
cities,  the  average  is  found  to  be  less.  It  will  hence  be  seen  that  even  those 
pupils  whose  actual  attendance  at  the  public  schools  in  this  city  average 
eight  months  in  a  year,  are,  for  all  practical  and  beneficial  purposes,  obtain- 
ing an  amount  of  school-learning  fully  equal  to  those  who  attend  the  coun- 
try district  schools ;  and  when  the  great  and  acknowledged  superiority  of 
the  public  schools  over  the  district  schools  generally  is  admitted  into  the 
estimate,  it  will  be  found  that  the  balance  is  in  favor  of  the  public  school 
system. 

Your  remonstrants  feel  assured,  however,  that  the  percentage  of  absen- 
tees in  the  district  schools  is  altogether  erroneous.  From  observation  and 
inquiry  made  recently,  it  is  evident  that  in  some,  and  probably  in  a  large 
part,  of  the  district  schools,  means  are  not  even  used  to  arrive  at  any  thing 
like  accurate  knowledge  on  this  subject. 

The  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  supposes  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  the  public  schools  as  part  of  his  system  ;  but  in  no  part 
of  the  report  is  he  more  in  error  than  in  this.  They  could  not  endure  a 
single  year  in  connection  with  his  system. 

The  mode  of  instruction  in  the  public  schools  is  a  modification  of  that 
which  originated  with  the  late  Joseph  Lancaster,  and  is  made  to  depend  on 
a  large  number  of  pupils  under  few  paid  instructors.  In  lessening  the  nuin- 


MEMOEIA.L   AND   REMONSTRANCE.  415 

ber  of  pupils  one  half,  the  expense,  as  regards  teachers,  could  not  be  dimin- 
ished. The  opening  of  the  district  schools  could  not  fail  to  dive'rt  pupils 
from  the  public  schools,  and  thereby  reduce  the  claims  of  the  trustees  on  the 
school  fund,  without  reducing  the  pecuniary  demands  upon  them.  The 
present  expense  of  tuition  in  the  public  schools  is  reduced  to  the  lowest  pos- 
sible sum,  and  may  safely  challenge  a  comparison  with  that  of  equal  qual- 
ity in  any  other  place,  or  even  with  that  of  the  district  schools  of  this 
State. 

In  the  latter,  as  appears  from  the  last  annual  report,  the  average  cost  per 
child  for  teachers'  wages  is  $3.35  for  less  than  eight  months'  tuition,  one 
half  of  which  is  exclusively  by  females ;  while  the  average  cost  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  this  city  for  twelve  months'  tuition,  under  teachers  of  a  qual- 
ity and  grade  unknown  to  the  district  schools,  is  $2.75. 

The  sum  now  at  the  disposal  of  the  trustees  is  barely  sufficient  to  sustain 
the  schools  as  they  are ;  any  considerable  reduction  must  close  them. 

The  report  does,  indeed,  provide  for  the  reduced  income,  by  supposing 
it  will  be  made  up  in  the  tuition  fees  which  the  contemplated  system 
involves.  But  this  has  been  fairly  tried,  and  was  found  to  fail,  for  reasons 
which  will  be  stated  hereafter. 

From  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  subject,  the  trustees  are  persuaded 
that  the  public  schools  would  be  broken  up  by  introducing  the  Superinten- 
dent's mixed  system  into  the  city,  and  that  the  district  system  of  the  State 
would,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  supersede  it. 

The  Superintendent  himself  evidently  anticipates  this  result,  and  there- 
fore suggests  that  such  public  school  buildings  as  might  not  be  wanted  by 
the  Society,  under  the  new  system,  could  be  sold, -or  hired  out. 

In  considering  the  plan  submitted  to  the  Senate,  your  remonstrants  will, 
therefore,  confine  their  remarks  and  reasoning  to  the  district  system  of  the 
State. 

The  objections  to  the  introduction  of  this  system  into  the  city  of  New 
York  may  be  ranged  under  the  following  heads : 

1.  Its  tendency  to  associate  itself  with  party  politics  ; 

2.  Its  want  of  uniformity ;  and 

3.  Its  incapacity  to  remove  the  difficulties  alleged  to  be  inherent  in  the 
present  system. 

That  it  is  obnoxious  to  the  first  objection,  appears  so  evident,  that  it  is 
matter  of  surprise  that  any  iptelligent  person  should  entertain  doubts  upon 
the  subject. 

The  place  of  district  school  teacher,  provided  competent  persons  are 
employed  and  the  character  of  the  public  schools  is  sustained,  must  be,  in  a 
pecuniary  point  of  view  at  least,  as  desirable  as  very  many  offices  which  are 
now  sought  for  with  so  much  avidity  by  political  partisans,  and  which  are 
so  often  bestowed  with  little  regard  to  the  qualifications  of  the  applicant. 
It  is  not  perceived  why  the  appointment  of  teacher  will  not  be  subjected  to 
the  same  practice. 

If  the  practice  has  not  obtained  in  the  country  districts,  it  is  because  the 
compensation  does  not  hold  out  an  inducement.  Admit,  then,  that  teachers 


416  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

will  be  selected  with  reference  to  their  political  attachments,  and  all  will 
agree  that  consequences  the  moet  disastrous  to  the  cause  of  public  education 
must  ensue. 

A  successful  and  judicious  teacher  of  youth  combines  qualifications 
which  are  not,  in  yery  numerous  instances,  found  in  one  person. 

It  has  presented  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  which  your  remonstrants 
have  had  to  encounter,  and  induced  them,  some  years  since,  to  open  two 
normal  schools  for  the  purpose  of  training,  in  connection  with  the  monito- 
rial plan  of  the  public  schools,  young  persons  of  both  sexes  to  this  impor- 
tant profession.  These  schools  have  been  attended  by  more  than  three  hun- 
dred pupils. 

The  practice  of  conferring  office  as  a  reward  for  political  services,  is 
cause  of  deep  regret  to  reflecting  men  of  all  parties,  and  a  hope  was  in- 
dulged that  the  system  of  common  school  education  would  be  exempted 
from  its  deleterious  and  blighting  influence. 

To  the  second  objection  to  the  district  system  in  this  city,  viz.,  "  Its  want 
of  uniformity,"  the  attention  of  the  Senate  is  particularly  solicited,  because, 
of  itself,  it  is  deemed  a  fatal  objection  to  the  plan  of  the  Superintendent  of 
Common  Schools.  It  is  well  known  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  children 
who  attend  the  public  schools  remove  from  one  locality  to  another  almost 
every  year,  and  that  many  of  them  change  more  frequently.  Under  the 
present  uniform  system,  these  changes  are  attended  by  very  little,  if  any, 
check  to  the  progress  of  the  pupil  in  his  studies.  On  leaving  one  school, 
he  is  transferred,  by  certificate,  to  another,  and  enters  a  class  of  the  same 
grade  with  the  one  he  has  just  left,  continues  to  use  the  same  books,  and  is 
taught  by  the  same  method.  The  disadvantages  which  result  to  the  pupil 
from  frequent  changes,  where  schools  are  under  independent  or  adverse  man- 
agement, is  too  well  known  and  universally  admitted  to  require  illustration. 
Much  of  the  time  of  children  so  circumstanced,  which  is  now  devoted  to  the 
acquisition  of  learning,  will  then  be  thrown  away  in  studying  new  methods 
of  learning ;  and  the  brief  period  of  time  that  the  children  of  persons  in 
low  and  moderate  circumstances  are  permitted  to  devote  to  school  learning, 
strongly  admonishes  those  who  provide  the  means,  to  study  an  efficient  and 
economical  use  of  that  time. 

Another  and  a  most  serious  evil  inseparable  from  the  proposed  system,  is 
the  diversity  of  books  it  renders  necessary.  The  public  schools  of  this  city 
furnish  books  to  their  pupils  without  charge  ;  while  in  the  district  schools 
of  the  State  the  pupil  is  left  to  provide  them  for  himself.  The  consequence 
is,  that  the  use  of  uniform  books  cannot  be  secured,  and  hence,  when  a  child 
removes  from  one  school  to  another,  he  may  have  to  use  books  not  used  by 
other  pupils  in  the  same  school,  or  the  parent  may,  however  poor,  be  com- 
pelled to  procure  new  books  as  often  as  his  child  enters  a  new  school.  The 
expense  would  not,  in  very  many  instances,  be  submitted  to,  and  confusion 
in  the  classes  would  be  an  inevitable  consequence. 

This  has  been  frequently  referred  to  by  different  superintendents,  as  a 
serious  evil  in  the  district  schools  in  the  country,  where  children  seldom 
have  occasion  to  leave  one  school  for  another ;  and  it  would,  of  necessity, 


MEMOEIAL   AND    REMONSTBANCE.  417 

be  immeasurably  enhanced  under  the  same  system  in  this  city,  where  chil- 
dren so  frequently  change  the  place  of  residence. 

The  third  and  last  objection  to  the  district  system,  as  applied  to  this 
city,  is  "  its  incapacity  to  remove  the  difficulties  alleged  to  be  inherent  in 
the  present  system  ;  "  and  if  this  proposition  can  be  sustained,  the  principal 
motives  for  hazarding  the  abandonment  of  a  long-tried  and  well-proved 
plan,  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  one  of  doubtful  expediency,  and  which, 
it  has  been  shown,  is  liable  to  other  very  serious  objections,  will  cease  to 
exist. 

The  report  fully  recognizes  the  propriety  and  necessity  of  "  a  very  con- 
siderable amount  of  religious  instruction,"  and  very  justly  remarks,  that 
"  religion  and  literature  have  become  inseparably  interwoven." 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  an  education  strictly  and  exclusively  literary 
and  scientific  is  not  contemplated.  But  it  is  contended  that,  in  the  public 
school  system,  the  conscientious  opinions  and  "  feelings  of  large  classes  of 
citizens  are  disregarded."  It  has  been  shown  that  this  charge  is  so  far  from 
the  fact,  that  strenuous  and  long-continued  efforts  have  been  used  to  recon- 
cile conflicting  views,  by  subjecting  the  school-books  to  expurgation.  If, 
however,  the  charge  was  as  well  as  it  is  ill-founded,  the  questions  present 
themselves,  What  is  the  remedy  proposed  ?  and,  What  is  its  character  and 
means  of  efficacy  ? 

The  remedy  is,  a  division  of  the  city  into  school  districts,  or  "  small 
masses,"  under  the  general  care  and  supervision  of  persons  elected  for  the 
purpose  in  each  ward,  who  are  to  be,  aided  by  a  salaried  superintendent ;  but 
it  leaves  the  "  amount  and  description  of  religious  instruction  "  to  be  deter- 
mined by  the  parents  inhabiting  the  district. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  a  cure  is  not  even  promised.  The  remedy  can 
only  scatter  throughout  the  body  a  disease  which  is  declared  to  be  constitu- 
tional, and  which  now  gives  uneasiness  to  only  one  of  the  members. 

It  is  not  perceived  that  the  scheme  of  the  Superintendent  sustains  his 
own  principles.  The  report  very  justly  remarks,  that,  "  according  to  the 
principle  of  our  institutions,  no  one  has  the  authority  to  determine  whether 
the  religious  doctrines  and  sentiments  of  any  class  of  our  citizens  be  right 
or  wrong,"  and  certainly  no  such  authority  has  ever  been  assumed  by  your 
remonstrants.  But  what  must  be  the  practical  effect  of  the  district  system  ? 
Every  school  district  in  this  city  would  unquestionably  contain  persons  pro- 
fessing a  variety  of  religious  opinions,  and,  as  they  are  to  determine  the 
degree  and  kind  of  religious  instruction  to  be  given  in  the  district  school,  it 
is  inevitable  that  the  majority  will  be  enabled  either  to  impose  their  own 
religious  opinions  and  dogmas  on  the  children  of  the  minority,  or  to  drive 
them  into  the  street.  What  is  there  in  the  composition  of  small  masses,  oy 
districts,  that  can  be  relied  upon  to  reconcile  conflicting  "  modes  of  faith," 
or  overcome  religious  jealousies  and  bickerings  ? 

If  men  of  enlightened  and  liberal  minds — if  those  to  whom  the  people 

look  for  advice  and  direction   in  spiritual  matters,  and  whose  decisions 

would  not  be  appealed  from,  cannot  agree  upon  religious  reading  which 

would  silence  sectarian  jealousy,  what  can  be  expected  of  the  "  masses  "  of 

27 


418  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

which  the  school  districts  will  be  composed  ?  Or  if — as  would  probably  be 
the  case  in  many  districts — apathy  and  indifference  to  the  subject  should 
leave  religious  instruction  to  accident  or  the  taste  of  the  teacher,  would  not 
the  spirit  of  proselytism,  which  induces  the  missionary  to  visit  the  "  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth,"  step  in  and  disturb  what  all  would  consider  a  dan- 
gerous harmony  ?  and,  whatever  might  be  the  good  effects  of  such  interpo- 
sition in  stirring  up  the  lukewarm,  could  it  fail  to  produce  fruits  which 
would  prove  fatal  to  harmonious  action  in  religious  education  ?  These  are 
grave  questions,  and  demand — and,  your  remonstrants  doubt  not,  will 
receive — mature  and  careful  consideration.  They'  did  not  escape  the  dis- 
cerning mind  of  the  Superintendent,  but  he  contends  that  the  apprehended 
consequences  will  not  ensue,  because  the  records  of  his  department  do  not 
afford  evidence  of  any  difficulty  in  relation  to  religious  instruction  in  the 
district  schools  of  the  State.  As  regards  the  fact,  he  is  doubtless  correct, 
but  the  inference  he  draws  is  inconclusive  and  unsafe.  The  cause  of  diffi- 
culty is  found,  in  this  city,  to  an  extent  that  is  unknown  elsewhere,  but  will 
most  assuredly  be  felt,  sooner  or  later,  wherever  its  influence  can  be  made  to 
reach.  Already  the  books  in  the  district  school  libraries,  which  have  been 
officially  approved  by  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  and  his  pre- 
decessors, are  vehemently  attacked,  and  for  the  reasons  which  are  adduced 
against  those  used  in  the  public  schools  of  this  city. 

The  report  concedes  that  the  power  of  determining  the  kind  and  degree 
of  religious  instruction  which  shall  be  given  in  public  seminaries,  must  rest 
with  the  majority,  and  that  the  only  hope  of  the  minority  is  in  the  "  gener- 
ous forbearance  of  those  who  may  temporarily  have  the  physical  power  to 
oppress ;  "  and  it  is  worthy  of  special  observation,  that  this  acknowledged 
principle  is  virtually,  in  substance  if  not  in  form,  carried  out  in  this  city. 

A  vast  majority  of  the  people  are  well  satisfied  With  the  system  of  pub- 
lic education  which  now  exists,  as  is  abundantly  evinced  by  the  decided 
manner  in  which  they  sustain  it  through  their  immediate  representatives,  to 
which  it  has  been  subjected  under  every  form  of  attack.  The  city,  after  all, 
is  one  large  district,  in  which  the  majority  prevails  over  the  minority.  It 
would  be  the  same  in  the  school  districts :  each  would  have  its  minority, 
who  would  be  required  to  yield,  and  throw  itself  upon  the  "  generous  for- 
bearance "  of  the  majority. 

No  good  reason  occurs  to  show  why  a  member  of  the  minority  in  a  small 
mass  would  be  any  better  reconciled  to  his  condition  than  if  he  belonged  to 
the  minority  in  the  large  mass.  This  difficulty  is  inseparable  from  any  sys- 
tem of  general  education  so  long  as  religious  opinions  are  blended  with  it, ' 
and  people  continue  to  reside  together  without  regard  to  religious  profes- 
sions. 

In  relation  to  the  generous  forbearance  adverted  to  in  the  report,  your 
remonstrants  will  take  occasion  to  say,  in  addition  to  what  has  been  before 
submitted,  that  the  exertions  which  have  been  used  and  the  overtures  which 
have  been  made  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  minority,  by  those  to  whom  the 
majority  have  seen  fit,  however  indirectly,  to  intrust  the  subject,  may  safely 
challenge  a  comparison  with  any  thing  on  record. 


MEMORIAL  AND  REMONSTRANCE.  419 

The  trustees  of  the  public  schools  yielded  many  points  to  the  minority, 
and  perhaps  even  more  than  public  sentiment  would  have  sustained  them  in. 

In  relation  to  the  last  effort  to  reconcile  the  minority  to  the  public  school 
system,  the  committee  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  under  whose  mediation  it 
was  done,  say,  in  their  report  (Document  No.  40,  p.  568),  that  they  are  fully 
of  the  opinion  that,  to  have  yielded  more,  "  would  render  the  school  system 
liable  to  the  charge  of  violating  the  rights  of  conscience  " — a  charge  which 
would  be  fatal  to  the  system,  because  it  would  invalidate  its  just  claims  to 
public  patronage. 

The  propositions  of  the  committee  who  represent  the  Public  School 
Society  appear  to  us  to  have  been  conceived  in  a  liberal  spirit ;  and  your 
committee  think  they  go  as  far  as  a  due  regard  to  the  objects  of  the  institu- 
tion would  warrant,  and  would  seem  to  open  an  avenue  which  we  would 
fain  hope  may  yet  lead  to  a  satisfactory  arrangement. 

Among  the  reasons  assigned  in  the  Superintendent's  report  for  the  non- 
attendance  of  so  many  "  vagrant  children,"  is  "  an  idea,"  said  to  be  "  preva- 
lent among  the  people,  that  an  attempt  is  made  to  coerce  them,  directly  or 
indirectly,  to  do  something  which  others  take  great  interest  in  having  done. 
They  are  not  left  or  called  upon  to  act  spontaneously,  to  originate  any  thing, 
or  take  any  part  in  matters  which  they  are  told  most  deeply  concern  them- 
selves." 

Of  the  existence  of  any  such  cause  your  remonstrants  are  entirely  igno- 
rant, nor  do  they  believe  any  such  feelings  exist 

Is  it  probable  that  persons  who  are  so  utterly  indifferent  to  the  present 
and  future  welfare  of  their  offspring,  as  to  permit  them  to  become  vagrants, 
could  be  influenced  by  any  such  considerations  ?  Or,  if  it  be  possible  that 
there  are  those  who  keep  their  children  from  school,  and  yet  permit  them  to 
"  infest "  the  streets  as  "  vagrants,"  because  they  are  not  permitted  to  "  take 
any  part "  in  the  management  of  the  schools,  what  beneficial  results  could 
be  hoped  for  from. the  "  spontaneous"  action  of  such  persons,  or  from  any 
plans  or  movements  which  might  "  originate  "  with  them  ?  Your  remon- 
strants confess  that  they  are  unable  to  perceive  the  force  or  propriety  of  this 
reasoning. 

Having  with  frankness,  and  with  the  respectful  freedom  which  our  insti- 
tutions secure  to  the  citizen,  noticed  the  most  prominent  parts  of  a  public 
document  which  treats  of  a  subject  of  deep  and  abiding  interest  to  all,  your 
remonstrants  conceive  that  they  cannot,  in  justice  to  themselves  or  the  cause 
they  have  espoused,  omit  to  notice  some  incidental  parts  of  said  document. 

In  alluding  to  the  memorials  presented  at  the  present  and  last  session  of 
the  Legislature,  one  is  said  to  be  from  "  Catholic  citizens ; "  thereby  convey- 
ing the  idea,  or  at  least  leaving  it  to  be  inferred,  that  the  other  was  not. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  every  signer  of  all  these  memorials  was  a  Catho- 
lic ;  but  nothing  can  be  hazarded  by  asserting  that  each  and  every  one  of 
them  was  essentially,  and  in  fact,  a  Catholic  petition. 

At  no  time  since  the  decision  of  the  Common  Council  in  1824,  which 
excluded  Church  schools,  has  there  been,  either  in  this  city  or  elsewhere, 
any  other  class  of  citizens  who  appeared  in  opposition  to  the  public  school 


420  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

system  of  instruction,  under  the  control  of  your  remonstrants.  These  citi- 
zens have,  of  course,  the  same  rights  tbat  appertain  to  every  other  class ;  but 
it  is  of  some  importance  that  this  fact  should  be  correctly  understood. 

Your  remonstrants  are  not  aware  of  any  error  in  the  detailed  history  of 
the  Public  School  Society  which  is  given  in  the  report ;  but  they  are  unable 
to  discover  its  object,  or  the  bearing  it  has  on  the  merits  of  the  question 
under  discussion.  The  report  says,  that  more  than  one  million  of  dollars 
has  been  paid  to  the  trustees  of  the  Society  since  1813,  while  only 
$125,268.57  have  been  paid  to  other  societies  or  schools.  This  statement  is 
probably  correct,  but  no  attempt  is  made  in  the  report  to  draw  an  inference 
of  any  kind  from  the  premises.  It  is  not  pretended  that  the  funds  have 
been  misapplied,  or  that  the  other  societies,  whose  comparatively  small 
share  is  thus  presented  to  view,  would  have  made  a  better  use  of  the  money. 
Your  remonstrants  must  say,  however,  that  this  part  of  the  report  should,  in 
their  opinion,  have  been  made  to  embrace  other  highly  important  facts 
which  are  intimately  connected  with  it.  One  is,  that,  of  th«  amount  re- 
ceived by  the  Public  School  Society,  more  than  one  half  was  derived  from  a 
direct  tax  on  this  city,  which  was  petitioned  for  at  the  instance  'of  your 
remonstrants,  by  several  thousands  of  the  largest  tax-paying  citizens,  with  a 
full  knowledge  of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  then  disbursed,  and,  as  your 
remonstrants  have  occasion  to  know,  with  a  confident  expectation  that  it 
would  continue  to  be  so  disbursed,  or  that  it  would  not,  in  any  event,  be 
devoted  to  the  support  of  sectarian  schools.  It  was  also  essential  to  a  cor- 
rect appreciation  of  the  subject,  to  have  stated,  that  more  than  one  third  of 
the  amount  paid  to  the  trustees  of  the  public  schools  was  necessarily  ex- 
pended in  the  purchase  of  land  and  in  the  erection  of  school  buildings ; 
that  this  land  and  buildings  are  still  in  existence,  and  form,  together,  a 
proud  monument  of  the  liberality  of  our  citizens.  Documents  referred  to 
in  the  report  state  these  facts ;  and  in  more  than  one  of  them  it  is  announced 
that  the  fee  of  this  property  has  been  repeatedly  tendered  to  the  municipal 
government. 

The  surprise  that  no  mention  should  be  made  of  the  investments  in 
school-buildings  is  increased  from  observing  that,  in  the  report  made  by  the 
Superintendent  during  the  present  session  (Document  No.  90),  in  answer  to 
a  call  of  the  Senate,  it  is  shown  that  the  sum  of  $138,563.44  has  been 
invested  by  your  remonstrants  in  land  and  school  buildings  within  the  last 
five  years. 

In  relation  to  the  pay  system  which  the  report  embraces,  it  is  proper  to 
state  that  it  was  practised  during  several  years  in  the  public  schools  of  this 
city,  and  was  found  to  be  an  unceasing  source  of  deceptions,  jealousies,  and 
dissatisfactions.  The  mean-spirited  and  sordid  would  plead  poverty  with- 
out just  cause ;  while  the  generous  and  noble-hearted  would  make  great 
efforts  and  unreasonable  sacrifices  to  sustain  a  commendable  feeling  of  inde- 
pendence. In  the  city  of  New  York,  with  its  mixed  and  constantly  moving 
population,  it  was  impossible  to  discriminate,  with  even  an  approach  to 
accuracy,  between  those  who  should  pay  and  those  who  should  be  exempt ; 
and  every  mistake  caused  deep  and  wide-spread  discontent. 


MEMORIAL  AND  REMONSTRANCE.  421 

But  a  difficulty  far  more  formidable  had  to  be  encountered,  in  carrying 
out  the  mixed  plan  of  pay  and  exemption.  It  was  found  impossible  to  con- 
ceal the  distinction  from  the  children,  and  it  consequently  gave  rise  to  a 
classification  that  disturbed  the  harmony  of  the  schools,  while  it  is  eminent- 
ly opposed  to  the  genius  of  our  political  institutions.  The  amount  received 
from  pay  scholars  diminished  each  succeeding  year,  and  the  trustees  were 
finally  induced  to  place  all  the  children  upon  that  footing  of  equality  which 
comports  so  entirely  with  the  feeling  which  pervades  the  public  mind.  The 
consequence  is,  that  the  poorest  citizen,  instead  of  being  required  to  solicit 
the  admission  of  his  children  into  the  public  schools  on  the  free  list,  is  ena- 
bled to  demand  their  admission  as  a  right,  and  on  the  same  terms  with  those 
of  his  more  prosperous  neighbor. 

The  people  of  this  city  have  seen  fit  to  furnish  the  means  of  breaking 
down  the  odious  distinction  between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  and  the  question 
is  respectfully  submitted,  Why  should  the  State  interpose  to  restore  it  ? 

After  the  foregoing  statements,  remarks,  and  reasonings  in  relation  to 
the  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  were  prepared,  your 
remonstrants  received  a  copy  of  Document  No.  565,  being  "An  Act  to 
Extend  the  Benefits  of  Common  School  Education  in  the  City  of  New 
York  ;"  and  they  are  surprised  to  find  that  it  does  not  bear  even  a  remote 
resemblance  to  the  plan  proposed  in  the  late  report  of  the  Superintendent. 

Your  remonstrants  would  be  wanting  in  the  open  frankness  due  to  the 
Senate- of  this  State,  and  to  the  importance  of  the  subject,  if  they  should 
withhold  an  expression  of  the  conviction  forced  upon  them,  that  this  act, 
if  not  framed  with  that  view,  will  inevitably  embrace  the  schools  connected 
with  the  Roman  Catholic  churches  in  this  city.  The  claims  of  these  Church 
schools  to  a  portion  of  the  school  money  have  been  again  and  again  refused 
to  the  parties  on  their  direct  application  to  the  municipal  government,  and 
with  a  degree  of  unanimity  scarce  ever  shown  on  any  other  occasion ;  and 
yet  this  bill  is  so  constructed,  that  it  will  accomplish  that  end  by  indirect 
means.  It  would,  in  the  opinion  of  your  remonstrants,  be  a  serious  error  to 
suppose  that  Catholic  citizens  would  be  permitted  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of 
this  bill  without  opposition.  Even  a  slight  knowledge  of  the  feeling  which 
prevails  among  persons  connected  with  our  various  religious  denominations 
would  serve  to  show  that  public  education  in  this  city  would  soon  be  thrown 
into  utter  confusion,  by  efforts  to  counteract  what  would  be  considered  by 
many  a  dangerous  means  of  influencing  and  moulding  the  tender  minds  of 
youth. 

The  bill  appears  to  your  remonstrants  to  be  liable  to  the  same  objections 
which  have  been  urged  against  the  plan  proposed  in  the  report  of  the 
Superintendent,  on  account  of  its  tendency  to  connect  itself  with  party  poli- 
tics ;  and  to  this  may  be  added  the  danger,  if  not  the  necessity,  of  an  alli- 
ance of  politics  with  religion. 

If,  as  will  most  assuredly  happen,  a  struggle  arises  to  plant  schools  with 
a  view  to  sectarian  influence,  it  must  be  seen  that,  in  order  to  secure  the 
favor  of  the  commissioners,  whose  right  it  will  be  to  determine  between 
conflicting  claimants,  this  process  must  be  commenced  at  the  ballot-boxes. 


422  TEE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

Besides  the  Catholic  Church  schools,  there  are  a  number  of  schools  connect- 
ed with  other  denominations  of  Christians,  and  all  these  will  be  immediately 
placed  within  the  reach  of  this  law.  Can  it  be  expected — is  it  reasonable 
to  expect— that  the  people  of  this  city,  who  have  asked  for  and  have  cheer- 
fully paid  the  special  tax  for  the  support  of  public  schools,  will  be  content 
to  continue  its  payment  when  the  proceeds  are  appropriated  to  the  support 
of  sectarian  schools — schools  in  which  the  conscientious  opinions  and  feel- 
ings of  many  must  be  daily  and  hourly  violated  ?  Is  it  a  sufficient  answer 
to  this  to  say.  that  the  field  is  open  to  all  ?  Your  remonstrants  think  not. 

There  are  a  number  of  small  congregations  to  whom  it  may  be  incon- 
venient, or  who  may  not  choose,  in  consequence  of  the  scattered  manner  in 
which  their  members  reside,  or  who  from  other  causes  may  decline  opening 
schools  of  their  own,  and  whose  conscientious  feelings  are  entitled  to  the 
same  protection  and  consideration  of  those  of  the  more  numerous  classes. 
There  is  also  a  very  large  class  of  citizens  who,  while  they  acknowledge  the 
importance  of  religion  in  bridling  the  fierce  and  dangerous  passions  of  the 
human  heart,  will  view  with  jealous  apprehension  the  first  step  toward  an 
association  of  religion  with  politics.  They  cordially  unite  with  the  senti- 
ment expressed  in  the  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools, 
"  that  religious  worship  has  been  better  provided  for,  and  attendance  upon 
it  has  been  more  general,  by  being  left  to  the  free  and  voluntary  action  of 
the  people,  without  the  aid  of  any  legal  establishment ;  "  and  they  are  well 
aware  that,  of  all  means  for  securing  attachment  to  a  particular  form  of 
religion,  and  a  blind  devotion  to  it  through  life,  the  most  effectual  is,  to 
cultivate  it  in  the  tender  and  susceptible  mind  of  youth ;  and  hence  they 
never  can  consent  to  be  taxed  for  sectarian  establishments  of  any  kind, 
whether  for  adults  or  for  children.  , 

The  municipal  government  has  been  most  cordially  sustained  in  its 
repeated  rejection  of  plans  which  differ  from  the  proposed  law  only  in  being 
more  direct,  and  a  confident  belief  is  indulged  that  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  will  not  impose  upon  the  city  a  measure  to  which  it  is  so  averse. 

If  the  act  under  consideration  is  viewed  entirely  apart  from  the  objec- 
tions stated  above,  it  will  be  found  to  conflict  in  important  particulars  with 
the  theory  and  reasoning  of  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  to  even 
a  greater  extent  than  the  system  which  now  prevails. 

It  is  contended,  in  the  report,  that,  to  devolve  upon  a  private  corpora- 
tion the  discharge  of  an  important  function  of  government,  to  give  to  those 
who  are  not  directly  responsible  to  the  people  the  right  of  disbursing  public 
moneys,  the  selection  of  teachers  of  whose  qualifications  they  are  the  sole 
judges^nd  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  a  system  of  public  edu- 
cation according  to  their  own  ideas  of  propriety,  is  an  anomaly  wholly 
unknown  in  any  other  department  of  the  public  service,  and  involves  a  prin- 
ciple so  hostile  to  the  whole  spirit  of  our  Institutions,  that  it  is  impossible 
it  should  be  long  sustained,  when  other  and  more  congenial  means  of 
obtaining  the  same  objects  have  been  pointed  out. 

These  and  other  consequences,  which  have  been  shown  to  be  fallacious, 
are  predicated  of  the  public  school  system  in  this  city,  and  it  now  remains 


MEMORIAL  AND  REMONSTRANCE.  423 

to  consider  how  far  they  are  obviated,  if  at  all,  by  the  project  submitted  to 
your  honorable  body.  The  act  proposes  the  election  of  school  commission- 
ers by  the  people,  in  place  of  their  being  appointed  by  the  Common  Conn-, 
oil,  as  is  now  done ;  a  change  which  may  be  made,  if  thought  expedient, 
without  disturbing  any  other  portion  of  the  present  public  school  plan. 
But  the  very  next  provision  of  the  act  is  at  open  war  with  the  principles 
laid  down  in  the  report  as  being  of  vital  importance,  and  such  as  the  spirit 
of  the  age  will  not  endure  to  see  disregarded.  It  provides,  virtually,  that 
any  number  of  inhabitants  of  this  city  who  shall  desire  to  establish  a 
school,  may  present  an  application  to  the  commissioners,  who  are  author- 
ized, if  they  consider  such  persons  adequate  to  the  support  of  a  school,  and 
if  a  school  be  required  in  the  place  specified,  to  grant  a  certificate  thereof ; 
when  all  such  associations  shall  "  possess  all  the  rights  and  powers  conferred 
by  law  upon  the  inhabitants  of  school  districts  in  any  other  parts  of  the 
State."  In  short,  every  such  association,  of  any  number  of  persons,  is  made 
a  private  corporation  for  the  purposes  specified,  and  is  entitled  to  its  rata- 
ble portion  of  the  public  money. 

In  the  plan  of  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  the  commisssiou- 
ers  elected  by  the  people  were  to  organize  and  establish  schools  where  they 
appeared  necessary,  as  district  schools,  with  the  usual  officers,  to  le  chosen  by 
the  inhabitants  of  the  district.  The  two  plans,  it  will  thus  be  seen,  conflict 
directly  with  each  other  in  a  most  essential  particular. 

While  the  Superintendent  throws  around  his  scheme  those  defences  and 
safeguards  which  he  says  are  called  for  by  the  spirit  of  the  age  and  the 
nature  of  our  institutions,  the  act  now  pending  confers  upon  any  number, 
however  small,  of  persons  who  may  associate  for  the  purpose,  and  without 
being  elected  by,  or,  in  any  greater  degree  than  your  remonstrants  are, 
amenable  to  the  people,. the  duty  of  discharging  what  is  declared  to  be  one 
of  the  most  important  functions  of  the  Government. 

The  report  objects  to  the  association  represented  by  your  remonstrants, 
on  the  ground  of  its  "  want  of  responsibility  to  the  people,"  and  yet  the 
proposed  law  contemplates  the  creation  of  an  indefinite  number  of  associa- 
tions for  the  same  object,  equally  independent  of  the  people,  and  it  is  not 
discovered  but  that  each  one  will  be  as  obnoxious  to  the  principles  laid 
down  in  the  report  as  the  Society  to  which  such  strong  exceptions  have  been 
taken.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  city  will  have  to  depend  for  the  means  of 
general  education  on  accidental  and  capricious  circumstances. 

Some  portions  may  be  crowded  with  schools,  while  others  may  be  left 
destitute ;  and  inasmuch  as  the  associations  will  be  required  to  receive  pay 
from  those  who  can  afford  it,  there  is  no  little  danger  that  portions  of  the 
city  where  schools  are  most  needed  will  be  left  without  them. 

In  short,  it  appears  evident  to  your  remonstrants  that,  under  the  pro- 
posed law,  feelings  and  motives  of  the  most  discordant  character  will  be 
brought  into  action  in  establishing  and  maintaining  schools,  and  will  be 
made  to  supersede  those  which  have  hitherto  prevailed,  and  which,  what- 
ever else  may  be  thought  of  them,  have  been  directed  to  the  one  important 
object  of  promoting  the  moral  and  literary  education  of  the  youth  of  the  city. 


424:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

The  act  imposes  upon  teachers,  trustees,  and  commissioners,  duties  so 
intricate  and  arduous  that  they  never  will  be  performed.  As  regards  the 
duties  required  of  teachers,  in  addition  to  those  attached  to  the  profession, 
your  remonstrants  feel  authorized,  from  a  long-continued  and  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  subject,  to  say  that  they  cannot  be  discharged  with- 
out sacrificing  far  more  pressing  and  important  interests. 

The  report  provides  that  the  Board  of  Commissioners  elected  by  the 
people  shall  establish  schools  and  a  system  for  their  government  and  inspec- 
tion, and  for  providing  the  means  of  testing  the  qualifications  of  teachers. 
But  in  the  act  under  consideration,  all  these  points  are  left  to  the  discretion 
of  any  number  of  inhabitants  of  lawful  age,  and  adequate  to  the  support 
of  a  school,  who  may  desire  to  establish  one.  It  is  not,  perhaps,  the  prav- 
ince  of  your  remonstrants  to  contrast  the  provisions  of  the  projected  law 
with  the  principles  contended  for  in  the  report  of  the  Superintendent ;  but 
it  appeared  to  be  so  intimately  connected  with  the  deeply  interesting  sub- 
ject of  common  schools  that  it  could  not  be  well  omitted. 

It  will  be  seen  that  much  of  the  reasoning  which  has  been  applied  to  the 
system  in  the  report  is  applicable  to  that  which  is  embraced  in  the  act,  and 
particularly  such  parts  as  refer  to  the  importance  of  uniform  schools 
throughout  the  city — a  point  which  never  can  be  abandoned  without  the 
most  disastrous  consequences.  This  objection  will  apply  to  the  provisions 
of  the  act  with  increased  force.  To  the  existing  public  schools  it  would  be 
equally  if  not  more  fatal  than  the  system  proposed  in  the  report. 

Its  practical  operation  must,  therefore,  be  viewed  as  embracing  the  whole 
city..  Considered  in  this  light,  if  the  extra  duties  imposed  upon  teachers  by 
this  act  are  executed  at  all,  it  must  be  at  the  expense  of  the  best  interest  of 
the  pupils,  or  a  supernumerary  teacher  must  be  employed  to  perform  them. 

This  remonstrance  has  been  extended  far  beyond. the  limits  contemplated 
at  the  commencement ;  for  which  the  only  apologies  that  can  be  offered  are 
the  high  importance  of  the  subject  of  which  it  treats,  and  the  deep  and 
abiding  interest  which  your  remonstrants  feel  in  that  subject. 

In  conclusion,  they  would  remark,  that  they  have  no  private  ends  to 
answer,  in  opposing  either  the  plan  of  the  Superintendent  of  Common 
Schools,  or  the  act  presented,  but  not'sanctioned,  by  the  committee. 

A  careful  examination  of  both  has  produced  a  clear  and  firm  conviction 
that  the  former,  however  plausible  it  may  appear,  is  not  adapted  to  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  this  city ;  and  that  the  latter  is  ill-digested,  and 
displays  throughout  an  absence  of  that  experimental  knowledge  of  the  mat- 
ter which  is  indispensable  to  a  successful  result. 

Your  remonstrants  are  persuaded  that  the  public  schools  of  this  city 
accomplish  all  that  can  be  accomplished  with  the  same  pecuniary  means ; 
and  that  they  are  as  free  from  any  just  cause  of  dissatisfaction  to  any  class 
of  citizens  as  human  ingenuity  can  make  them.  Under  these  impressions, 
they  feel  bound  to  remonstrate  against  the  proposed  changes.  But  the  same 
feelings  and  the  same  sense  of  duty  which  have  led  them  to  make  no  incon- 
siderable sacrifice  of  personal  interest,  comfort,  and  convenience,  in  sustain- 
ing the  present  system  of  public  instruction,  would  cause  them  to  yield 


MEMORIAL    AND   REMONSTRANCE. 


425 


cheerfully  to  any  other  system  which  the  people  and  the  constituted  author- 
ities of  the  State  may  see  fit  to  substitute  for  it.  If  a  better  can  be  devised, 
they  will,  as  far  as  they  can,  lend  their  aid  in  sustaining  it. 

ROBERT  C.  COEXELL,  President. 
A.  P.  HALSET,  Secretary. 


present  Board  of  Trustees  : 
Timothy  Hedges, 
Robert  Hogan, 
Jacob  Harsen, 
John  R.  Hurd, 
John  W.  Howe, 
John  Jay, 
Shephard  Knapp, 
Hiram  Ketchum, 
Charles  Oakley, 
George  Pardow, 
James  Palmer, 
Anson  G.  Phclps, 
Pelatiah  Perit, 
Thompson  Price, 
Richard  Paige, 
Charles  E.  Pierson,  M.D., 
George  Pessinger, 
James  0.  Pond, 
William  Rockwell,  M.D., 
J.  Smyth  Rogers,  M.D., 
James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr., 
Peter  A.  Schermerhorn, 
Henry  H.  Schieffelin, 
Henry  M.  Schieffelin, 
Joseph  Stuart,  M.D., 
Samuel  W.  Scton, 
Linus  W.  Stevens, 
Willett  Seaman, 
Thomas  L.  Servoss, 
Burritt  Sherwood,  M.D., 
Reuben  Spencer, 
William  Smith, 
James  Stokes, 
Najah  Taylor, 
George  T.  Trimble, 
Isaac  P.  Trimble,  M.D., 
Gulian  C.  Verplanck, 
Joseph  Washburn, 
Benjamin  R.  Winthrop, 
Edmund  Willets, 
Samuel  Willets, 
Abm.  V.  Williams  M.D. 


ORK,  May  21, 1841. 

The  following  are  the  names  of  the 
John  T.  Adams, 
Stephen  Allen, 
Augustin  Averill, 
Micah  Baldwin, 
Caleb  Bartlett, 
Meigs  D.  Benjamin, 
George  W.  Betts, 
William  Birdsall, 
James  B.  Brinsmade, 
James  H.  Blaisdell, 
Thomas  Bussing, 
Abm.  R.  Lawrence, 
Richard  M.  Lawrence, 
James  M'Brair, 
William  H.  Macy, 
William  Mandeville, 
Samuel  F.  Mott, 
Liudley  Murray, 
Abner  Mills, 
John  Morrison, 
William  D.  Murphy, 
Wm.  W.  Chester, 
Samuel  R.  Child?, 
Lyman  Cobb, 
Joseph  B.  Collins, 
Peter  Cooper, 
I.  T.  Cornell, 
Joseph  Curtis, 
Edward  W.  Cleavelaud, 
Albert  Chrystie, 
Mahlon  Day, 
Samuel  Demilt, 
Henry  E.  Davies, 
Frederic  De  Peyster, 
James  F.  De  Peyster, 
Charles  Durfee, 
Asahel  A.  Denman, 
Benjamin  Ellis, 
Edward  Ferris, 
John  Groshon, 
Samuel  Griffing, 
Lewis  Hallock, 
.Edmund  Haviland, 


426  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

On  Saturday,  May  22d,  Mr.  Verplanck  moved  that  all,  orders 
of  business  preceding  the  bill  relative  to  common  schools  in  New 
York  be  suspended,  and  that  the  Senate  resolve  itself  into  com- 
mittee on  the  said  bill.  The  motion  was  agreed  to,  and,  after 
some  time  spent  in  debate  and  making  amendments,  the  com- 
mittee rose,  and  reported  the  same  to  the  Senate.  On  motion 
of  Mr.  II.  A..  Livingston,  the  bill  was  laid  on  the  table. 

On  Tuesday,  the  25th,  the  Senate  proceeded  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  when  an 
interesting  and  animated  debate  ensued,  which  was  terminated 
bv  a  motion  of  Mr.  Robert  C.  Nicholas,  that  the  farther  consid- 

v 

eration  of  the  said  report  be  postponed  until  the  first  Tuesday  in 
January  following. 

The  President  put  the  question  on  agreeing  with  the  said 
motion,  and  it  was  decided  in  the  affirmative,  by  the  following 
vote : 

Ayes — Messrs.  Denniston,  Ely,  Foster,  Furman,  Hull,  Hum- 
phrey, Johnson,  H.  A.  Livingston,  Nicholas,  Rhoades,  Taylor — 
11.  " 

Nays — Messrs.  Dickinson,  Hopkins,  Hunt,  Lee,  Moseley, 
Paige,  Scott,  Sibley,  Strong,  Yerplanck — 10. 

The  defeat  of  the  bill  was  unexpected  by  the  advocates  of 
change,  and  their  disappointment  and  chagrin  was  not  in  any 
way  concealed.  Meetings  were  held,  and  Bishop  Hughes  made 
a  very  elaborate  speech,  reviewing  the  argument  of  Mr.  Ketch- 
urn,  which  occupied  the  three  evenings  of  June  16th,  17th,  and 
21st,  in  its  delivery.  The  place  selected  was  Carroll  Hall, 
Thomas  O'Connor,  Esq.,  being  appointed  chairman,  and  Bernard 
O'Connor,  secretary. 

The  Senate  was  then  in  session  in  the  city  of  New  York  in 
its  judicial  organization  as  the  Court  of  Errors,  and  the  Hon. 
Luther  Bradish,  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  several  of  the  sena- 
tors, were  present  on  the  first  evening. 

Bishop  HUGHES  spoke  as  follows  : 

3In.  CHAIRMAN.  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  The  subject  of  education  is  one  which 
at  this  time  agitates,  more  or  less,  every  civilized  nation.  If  we  look  across 
the  ocean,  we  find  it  the  subject  of  discussion  in  France,  in  Prussia,  in  Hol- 
land, in  Belgium,  in  Ireland,  and  even  in  Austria.  It  is  not  surprising,  then, 
that  this  subject,  which  haa  but  lately  attracted  the  attention  of  govern- 
ments and  of  nations,  should  become  one  of  deep  and  absorbing  interest. 


SPEECH   OF  BISIIOP    HUGHES.  427 

But  of  all  these  nations  there  is,  perhaps,  not  one  .which  has  placed  educa- 
tion on  that  basis  on  which  it  is  destined  successfully,  in  the  end,  to  repose. 

In  countries  in  which  the  inhabitants  profess  the  same  religion,  whatever 
that  religion  may  be,  the  subject  is  deprived  of  many  of  its  difficulties.  But 
in  nations  in  which  there  is  a  variety  of  religious  creeds,  it  has  hitherto  been 
found  one  of  the  most  perplexing  of  all  questions,  to  devise  a  system  of 
education  which  should  meet  the  approbation  of  all.  This  subject  has 
engaged  the  attention  of  our  own  Government.  In  every  State  of  the  Union 
it  has  already  been  acted  upon  more  or  less  fully.  And  in  all  these 
instances,  whether  we  regard  Europe,  or  regard  this  country,  we  find  that 
there  is  not  a  solitary  instance  in  which  religion,  or  religious  instruction  in 
a  course  of  education,  has  been  proscribed,  with  the  exception  of  the  city 
of  New  York.  And  this  proscription  of  religion  in  this  city  is  not  an  act" 
of  public  authority.  There  is  no  statute  authorizing  such  an  act ;  it  has 
been  the  result  rather  of  an  erroneous  construction  put  upon  a  statute,  and 
which  has  been  acquiesced  in,  rather  than  approved,  for  the  last  sixteen 
years.  In  the  operation  of  that  system,  Catholics  felt  themselves  virtually 
excluded  from  the  benefits  of  education.  Very  shortly  after  that  construc- 
tion of  the  law  was  adopted,  they  felt  themselves  obliged  to  proceed  in  the 
best  way  that  their  poverty  would  allow  for  the  education  of  their  children. 
And,  whilst  they  have  been  taxed  with  the  other  citizens,  up  to  the  present 
hour  they  have  received  no  benefit  from  the  system  supported  by  that  taxa- 
tion ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  after  having  contributed  what  the  law  required, 
have  been  obliged  to  throw  themselves  back  upon  their  own  resources,  and 
provide,  as  well  as  they  might,  the  means  of  educating  their  children. 

We  Jiave,  from  time  to  time,  complained  of  this  state  of  things.  It  has 
frequently  been  brought  before  the  notice  of  the  public.  A  Society — pro- 
fessedly the  friend  of  education — having  exercised  supreme  control  over1  the 
whole  question,  we  had  no  resource  but  to  apply  to  that  tribunal,  which  the 
law  had  authorized  to  use  its  discretion  in  distributing  the  money  set  apart 
for  the  purposes  of  education.  We  always  insisted,  in  good  faith,  that  the 
object — the  benevolent  object  of  this  Government — was  the  education  of 
the  rising  generation,  and  we  never  conceived  that  the  question  of  religion, 
or  no  religion,  had  entered  into  the  minds  of  those  philanthropic  public 
men  who  first  established  this  system  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge.  We 
applied,  as  I  have  remarked,  at  different  times,  to  the  tribunal  to  which 
allusion  has  been  already  made,  and  did  so  even  till  a  very  recent  period, 
because,  before  we  could  apply  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  it  was 
requisite  to  comply  with  the  forms  prescribed,  and  that  we  should  be  first 
rejected  by  the  Common  Council  of  this  city,  to  whom  the  State  Legislature 
had  delegated  the  discretionary  power  to  be  exercised  in  the  premises.  That 
course  was  regarded  necessary,  and  we  adopted  it.  The  result  was  as  we 
anticipated — denial  of  our  request ;  and  then  it  was  that  we  applied  to  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  ;  submitted  to  them  the  grievances  under  which  we 
labored,  in  the  full  confidence  that  there  we  should  find  a  remedy. 

Both  before  the  Common  Council  and  the  Senate  of  this  State,  the  means 
which  have  been  taken  to  defeat  the  proper  consideration  of  our  claims  have 


428  TUB   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

been  such  as  we  could  not  have  anticipated  in  a  country  where  the  rights  of 
conscience  are  recognized  as  supreme.  The  test  has  been  put,  not  as  to 
whether  \ve  were  proper  subjects  for  education,  but  whether  we  were  Catho- 
lics !  And  in  the  course  of  the  examination  on  which  I  am  about  to  enter,  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  show  that,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  the  one 
object  of  the  members  of  the  Public  School  Society  has  been,  to  convince 
the  public  that  we  were  Catholics ;  and  they,  it  would  appear,  calculate  as 
the  consequence,  that,  if  we  were  Catholics,  then  we  had  no  right  to  obtain 
redress,  or  hope  for  justice. 

In  the  course  of  my  remarks  I  shall  be  obliged  to  refer  to  distinctions  in 
religion,  the  introduction  of  which  into  the  discussion  of  this  question  is 
ever  to  be  much  regretted.  I  shall  have  to  speak  of  Catholics  and  of  Prot* 
estants  ;  and  when  I  do  so,  let  it  be  understood  that  I  do  not  volunteer  in 
that,  but  the  course  pursued  by  that  Public  School  Society  has  imposed 
upon  me  the  necessity  to  refer  to  these  religious  distinctions  ;  and,  in  doing 
so,  I  trust  I  shall  be  found  to  speak  of  those  who  differ  from  me  in  matters 
of  religion  with  becoming  respect.  I  am  not  a  man  of  narrow  feelings.  I 
am  attached  sincerely  and  conscientiously  to  the  faith  which  I  profess,  but  I 
judge  no  man  for  professing  another.  In  the  whole  of  my  intercourse  with 
Protestants,  my  conduct  has  been  such,  they  will  be  ready  to  acknowledge, 
in  Philadelphia  and  elsewhere,  that  I  am  the  last  man  to  be  accused  of  big- 
otry. But  I  feel  that  I  should  be  unworthy  of  that  estimation — that  the 
denomination  to  which  I  belong  would  be  unworthy  of  sustaining  that  posi- 
tion which  they  are  ambitious  to  occupy  in  the  opinion  of  their  fellow-citi- 
zens of  other,  creeds,  if  they  were  to  submit  to  the  insult  added  to  the  injury 
inflicted  on  them  by  these  men.  I,  for  my  own  part,  feel  indignant  at  the 
recent  attempt  made  to  cast  odium  upon  us  and  our  cause ;  and  it  is  because 
that  turns  entirely  on  the  question  of  religion,  that  I  shall  be  obliged  to 
speak  of  Catholics  and  of  Protestants,  and  refer  to  those  distinctions  which 
should  never  have  been  introduced. 

Before  taking  up  the  report  pf  the  Secretary  of  State,  I  shall  refer  briefly 
to  the  conclusion  of  the  discussion  before  the  Common  Council.  There  we 
had,  as  you  will  recollect,  legal  gentlemen  and  reverend  gentlemen,  advo- 
cates of  the  Public  School  Society,  who  had  studied  the  question  in  all  its 
bearings — volunteers  and  associates  and  colleagues  on  the  same  side ;  and, 
throughout  that  debate,  the  ground  taken  by  them  was,  that,  if  our  petition 
were  granted,  favors  would  be  conferred  on  us  as  a  religious  denomination, 
tending  to  that  against  which  all  the  friends  of  liberty  should  guard — a 
union  of  Church  and  State.  So  long  as  that  idea  was  honestly  entertained 
by  these  gentlemen,  I  could  respect  their  zeal  in  opposing  us.  But  that  idea 
has  disappeared,  and  yet  their  opposition  has  become  more  inveterate  than 
ever. 

The  very  last  sentence  of  the  speech  of  Mr.  Ketchum  before  the  Common 
Council  of  the  city  of  New  York  was  a  declaration  that  this  Society,  so  far 
from  desiring  a  collision  of  this  kind  with  us,  were  men  of  peace,  to  whom 
even  the  moral  friction  of  the  debate  was  quite  a  punishment ;  that,  for 
them,  it  would  be  a  relief  if  our  system  of  education  were  assimilated,  in  its 
external  aspect,  to  that  of  the  State.  I  will  read  his  own  words : 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  429 

Now,  perhaps,  the  gentleman  may  ask,  if  the  system  is  to  be  changed, 
that  we  should  resort  to  the  same  course  as  is  pursued  in  the  country,  where 
the  people  elect  their  own  commissioners  and  trustees.  But  if  we  do,  the 
schools  must  be  governed  on  the  same  principles  as  these,  and  the  only  dif- 
ference will  be  in  the  managers.  And  if  it  is  to  come  to  that,  I  am  sure 
these  trustees  will  be  very  willing,  for  it  is  to  them  a  source  of  great  vexa- 
tion to  be  compelled  to  carry  on  this  controversy  for  such  a  period. 

They  are  very  unwilling  to  come  here  to  meet  their  fellow-citizens  in  a 
somewhat  hostile  manner.  They  have  nothing  to  gain,  for  the  Society  is  no 
benefit  to  them,  and  they  give  days  and  weeks  of  their  time,  without  recom- 
pense, to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  their  trust. 

I  shall  not  now  praise  that  Society.  I  have  more  than  once  given  my 
full  assent  to  eulogiums  on  their  zeal  and  assiduity ;  but  Mr.  Ketchum 
praises  them,  and  they  praise  themselves,  and  at  this  period  of  the  contro- 
versy they  are  entitled  to  no  praise  from  the  thousands  and  thousands  of  the 
poor  neglected  children  of  New  York,  whom  their  narrow  and  bigoted  views 
have  excluded  from  the  benefits  and  blessings  of  education. 

I  shall  now,  before  proceeding  farther,  take  up  the  report  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  and  commence  with  that  portion  of  it  in  which  he  gives  a 
brief  sketch  of  the  origin  of  this  Society : 

The  Public  School  Society  was  originally  incorporated  in  1805,  by  chap- 
ter 108  of  the  laws  of  that  session,  which  is  entitled,  "  An  Act  to  Incorpo- 
rate the  Society  instituted  in  the  City  of  New  York,  for  the  establishment 
of  a  free  school  for  the  education  of  poor  children  who  do  not  belong  to,  or 
are  not  provided  for  by,  any  religious  society."  In  1808,  its  name  was 
altered  to  "  The  Free-School  Society  of  New  York,"  and  its  powers  were 
extended  "  to  all  children  who  are  the  proper  subjects  of  a  gratuitous  edu- 
cation." By  chapter  25  of  the  Laws  of  1826,  its  name  was  changed  to  "  The 
Public  School  Society  of  New  York ; "  and  the  trustees  were  authorized  to 
provide  for  the  education  of  all  children  of  New  York  not  otherwise  pro- 
vided for,  "  whether  such  children  be  or  be  not  the  proper  subjects  of  gra- 
tuitous education,"  and  to  require  from  those  attending  the  schools  a  mod- 
erate compensation ;  but  no  child  to  be  refused  admission  on  account  of 
inability  to  pay. 

Thus,  by  the  joint  operation  of  the  acts  amending  the  charter  of  the 
Society,  of  the  statutes  in  relation  to  the  distribution  of  the  school  moneys, 
and  of  the  ordinance  of  the  Common  Council  designating  the  schools  of  the 
Society  as  the  principal  recipients  of  those  moneys,  the  control  of  the  pub- 
lic education  of  the  city  of  New  York,,  and  the  disbursement  of  nine  tenths 
of  the  public  moneys  raised  and  apportioned  for  schools,  were  vested  in  this 
corporation.  It  is  a  perpetual  corporation,  and  there  is  no  power  reserved 
by  the  Legislature  to  repeal  or  modify  its  charter.  It  consists  of  members 
who  have  contributed  to  the  funds  of  the  Society ;  and,  according  to  the 
provisions  of  the  last  act,  the  payment  of  ten  dollars  constitutes  the  con- 
tributor a  member  for  life.  The  members  annually  choose  fifty  trustees, 
who  may  add  to  their  number  fifty  more. 

He  goes  on  to  describe  its  different  acts,  by  which  its  name  and  other 
attributes  were  changed,  until,  from  being  a  Society  to  take  charge  of  the 
children  that  were  not  provided  for  by  any  religious  society,  they  came  to 
have  the  control  of  the  whole  system  of  education  in  New  York.  The 
report  informs  us  that  the  members  of  the  Public  School  Society  are  so  by 
virtue  of  a  subscription  of  ten  dollars ;  that  they  elect  fifty  trustees ;  that 
these  fifty  trustees  have  a  right  to  appoint  fifty  others,  and  then  the  number 


430  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

is  completed ;  that  the  city  Council  are  members  cx-officio.  And  this  will, 
perhaps,  go  a  great  way  in  explaining  the  unwillingness  of  the  Common 
Council  to  grant  our  petition. 

The  Society  were  so  constituted,  that,  when  we  went  before  the  Common 
Council,  we  virtually  went  before  a  committee  of  the  Society. 

In  this  state  of  things,  the  Governor  of  this  State,  with  a  patriotism  and 
benevolence  that  entitle  his  name  to  the  respect  of  every  man  that  has 
regard  for  humane  feeling  and  sound  and  liberal  policy,  declared  for  a  sys- 
tem that  would  afford  a  good  common  education  to  every  child.  And, 
though  I  have  never  before  spoken  in  public  the  name  of  that  distinguished 
officer  of  the  State,  I  do  now,  from  my  heart,  award  to  him  my  warmest 
thanks,  and  those  of  the  community  to  which  I  belong,  for  the  stand  he  has 
taken  on  this  subject.  An  attempt  has  been  made  to  victimize  him  because 
he  favored  Catholics — because  he  dared  to  manifest  a  humane  and  liberal 
feeling  toward  foreigners.  He  survived  that  shock,  however ;  and  a  recent 
excellent  document  from  him,  showing  that  he  is  not  any  longer  a  candidate 
for  public  favor,  authorizes  me  to  say,  in  this  place,  that  every  man  who 
loves  his  country  and  the  interests  of  his  race,  no  matter  what  may  be  his 
politics,  will  cordially  render  the  tribute  of  esteem  and  praise  to  that  Gov- 
ernor— Seward. 

Governor  Seward  knew  too  well  the  deep-seated  prejudices  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  community  not  to  feel  that  he  had  nothing  to  gain  by  being 
the  advocate  of  justice  to  Catholics.  But,  whatever  may  be  that  distin- 
guished statesman's  future  history,  whatever  his  situation,  however  much 
thwarted  and  opposed,  and  perchance,  for  a  moment,  partially  defeated  by 
those  who  call  themselves  the  friends  of  education,  it  will  be  glory  enough 
for  him  to  have  inscribed  upon  his  monument,  that,  whilst  Governor  of  New 
York,  he  wished  to  have  every  child  of  that  noble  State  endowed  and 
adorned,  in  mind  and  intellect  and  morals,  with  the  blessings  of  education. 

When,  therefore,  we  presented,  as  every  oppressed  portion  of  the  commu- 
nity has  a  right  to  do,  our  grievances  to  the  honorable  Legislature  of  the 
State,  these  gentlemen,  who  are  represented  by  Mr.  Ketchum,  through  a 
speech  of  nine  mortal  columns,  as  the  humble  almoners  of  the  public  char- 
ity— these  men,  who  are  burdened  -with  their  load  of  official  duty,  which 
they  are  willing,  Mr.  Ketchum  says,  to  put  off — pursue  us  thither  with  un- 
abated hostility.  We  supposed  that  the  Public  School  Society  would  acqui- 
esce in  the  justice  of  the  plan  of  the  Secretary.  No !  these  humble  men,  all 
zeal  for  the  cause  of  education,  enter  the  halls  of  legislation  with  a  deter- 
mined spirit  of  opposition  to  us,  which  is,  perhaps,  unparalleled,  consider- 
ing the  circumstances  under  which  they  acted. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  points  in  treating  with  these  gentlemen  is,  to 
ascertain  in  what  particular  situation,  and  under  w"hat  particular  circum- 
stances, their  responsibility  may  be  discovered.  They  are,  it  is  said,  but 
agents ;  they  are  wealthy  and  powerful — have  every  advantage  in  opposing 
humble  petitioners  as  we  are.  And,  with  all  these  advantages,  they  pre- 
sented themselves  there,  not  to  dispute  the  justice  of  our  claims,  nor  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  ground  on  which  the  honorable  Secretary  placed  the  ques- 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  431 

tion  before  the  Senate,  but  to  appeal,  even  in  the  minds  of  senators,  to  what- 
ever they  might  find  there  of  prejudice  against  the  Catholic  religion,  and 
the  foreigner  and  the  descendants  of  the  foreigner. 

One  of  the  documents  of  which  they  made  use  was  published  in  the 
Journal  of  Commerce.  This  question  had  been,  in  the  Society,  made  the  spe- 
cial order  of  the  day  for,  I  think,  Friday,  the  20th  of  May.  In  the  Journal 
of  Commerce  of  the  previous  day,  there  was  .published  a  most  calumnious 
article,  full  of  all  those  traditions  against  our  religion  which  {he  minds  of 
the  uneducated  portion  of  some  of  those  denominations  inherit ;  and  the 
agent  of  the  Public  School  Society,  sent,  as  we  should  understand,  to  repre- 
sent justice  and  truth  between  citizens  of  the  same  country,  is  found  dis- 
tributing this  paper  all  over  the  desks  of  the  senators  !  On  that  very  day 
it  was  supposed  that  the  vote  on  this  very  question  would  be  taken,  and  the 
agent  of  the  Public  School  Society  is  found  supplying  the  senators — for  I 
have  a  copy  of  the  papers  thus  furnished,  with  the  member's  name  written 
at  the  top,  and  the  article  referred  to  marked  with  black  lines,  so  that  there 
could  be  no  overlooking  it — with  an  article  containing  a  mock  excommuni- 
cation, a  burlesque  invented  by  Sterne,  and  inserted  in  his  "  Tristram  Shan- 
dy," but  quoted  by  the  Public  School  Society — for  I  hold  it  to  be  their  act 
till  they  disclaim  it — as  a  part  of  our  creed,  and  made  the  ground  of  a  sneer 
at  the  Secretary.  "  These  are  precious  principles,  to  be  preserved  in  the  con- 
sciences of  your  petitioners !  "  Religious  prejudice  will  have  its  reign  in  the 
world.  But  it  is  a  low  feeling.  Especially  is  it  a  low  feeling  in  a  country 
in  the  fundamental  principles  of  whose  government  and  laws  the  great 
father  of  our  liberties  insisted  that  conscience  and  religion  should  be  ever 
free,  and  be  regarded  as  above  all  law.  There  was  to  be  no  toleration,  for 
that  implied  the  power  not  to  tolerate ;  the  word  was  therefore  excluded 
from  the  language  of  American  jurisprudence.  And,  that  being  the  case,  it 
was  painful  to  find  an  honorable  body  of  men,  as  the  members  of  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  are  regarded  to  be,  employing  such  a  means  of  approach- 
ing the  Senate  of  New  York — that  Senate  to  which  Justice,  if  she  found  not 
a  resting-place  upon  the  globe,  like  the  dove  to  the  ark,  might  return,  and 
expect  every  hand  to  be  stretched  out  to  receive  her. 

If  they  deny  that  they  approached  the  Senate  with  that  document — too 
vile  and  filth'y  to  be  read  in  this  audience ;  but  if  any  gentleman  has  the 
curiosity  to  see  it,  here  (holding  up  a  volume  of  "  Tristram  Shandy ")  he 
may  read  it  word  for  word — let  them  call  their  agent  to  account.  We  will 
not  let  them  rob  us  of  our  reputation.  We  stand  ambitious  to  be  considered 
worthy  of  membership  in  the  great  American  family.  Let  them  not,  after 
depriving  us  of  the  benefit  of  our  taxes,  destroy  our  reputation. 

I  will  now,  after  this  introduction,  take  up  the  remonstrance  of  the  Soci- 
ety. It  is  impossible  for  me  not  to  feel  indignant,  when  I  think  how  these 
high-minded  men  have  treated  us — when  I  recollect  how  this  same  gentle- 
man, who  acted  as  their  agent,  and  distributed  that  calumnious  paper,  was 
once  a  candidate  for  office,  and  gladly  received  the  signatures  of  Catholics. 
And  this  was  the  recompense  he  offered. 

I  know  not  by  whom  this  remonstrance  was  drawn  up.     I  know  not 


432  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

whether  all  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  approved  of  it ;  but  if 
they  did,  I  trust  there  were  no  Catholics  present.  In  page  3  of  this  remon- 
strance, which  is  signet!  by  the  President,  "  ROBEKT  C.  CORNELL,"  we  find 
the  following  declaration  introductory  to  the  subject : 

The  Legislature,  therefore,  in  1813,  when  the  first  distribution  was  made, 
very  naturally  appropriated  the  amount  apportioned  to  this  city  to  these 
schools,  in  the  ratio  of  the  number  of  children  taught  in  each.  This  mode 
of  distribution  continued  until  1824,  when  the  subject  was  again  brought 
before  the  Legislature  by  the  jealousies,  disputes,  and  difficulties  which  had 
arisen  among  the  recipients,  and  the  conflicting  parties  presented  themselves 
at  Albany  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  their  respective  claims. 

Now,  in  all  the  foregoing  applications — in  all  the  reports  made  by  com- 
mittees of  the  Common  Council,  you  will  find  that  there  has  not  been  one 
in  which  the  subject  of  religion  was  not  referred  to  as  the  ground  of  the 
refusal  of  our  claims — in  which  it  was  not  assumed  that  the  laws  were 
opposed  to  giving  education-money — the  public  school  fund,  or  any  portion 
of  it — to  any  religious  denomination.  This  principle,  it  has  been  pretend- 
ed, and  the  disputes  among  the  sects,  led  to  the  alteration  of  the  law,  in 
1824.  But  if  we  refer  back  to  the  memorial  proceeding  from  this  Society 
itself,  we  will  find  that  no  such  thing  existed  at  the  time.  We  find  that  Mr. 
Leonard  Bleecker  sent  a  memorial  at  that  very  period — 1824 — in  which  he 
says: 

It  will  not  be  denied,  in  this  enlightened  age,  that  the  education  of  the 
poor  is  enjoined  by  our  holy  religion,  and  is,  therefore,  one  of  the  duties  of 
a  Christian  Church.  Nor  is  there  any  impropriety  in  committing  the  school 
fund  to  the  hands  of  a  religious  society,  so  long  as  they  are  confined,  in  the 
appropriation  of  it,  to  an  object  not  necessarily  connected  or  intermingled 
with  the  other  concerns  of  the  Church  ;  as,  for  instance,  to  the  payment  of 
teachers,  because  the  State  is  sure,  in  this  case,  that  the  benefits  of  the  fund, 
in  the  way  it  designed  to  confer  them,  will  be  reaped  by  the  poor.  But  the 
objection  to  the  section  sought  to  be  repealed  is,  that  the  surplus  moneys, 
after  the  payment  of  teachers,  is  vested  in  the  hands  of  the  trustees  of  a 
religious  society,  and  mingled  with  its  other  funds,  to  be  appropriated  to 
the  erection  of  buildings  under  the  control  of  the  trustees,  which  buildings 
may,  and  in  all  probability  will,  be  used  for  other  purposes  than  school- 
houses. 

Here  was  the  ground  taken,  and  yet  we  hear  these  gentlemen,  before  the 
Common  Council,  say  it  was  on  account  of  constitutional  difficulties  and 
religious  differences ;  whereas,  it  was  simply  because  the  money  had  been 
used  for  an  improper  purpose. 

In  page  5  of  this  remonstrance,  this  Society  takes  the  ground,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  view  of  its  being  a  monopoly  and  a  close  corporation — which 
it  in  fact  is — that  the  same  objection  might  be  urged  against  hospitals,  asy- 
lums for  the  blind,  the  insane,  and  the  mute,  dispensaries,  and  houses  of 
refuge ;  and  they  institute  a  comparison  between  these  institutions  and  the 
public  schools. 

Now,  as  to  the  fact  that  the  Public  School  Society  is  a  close  corporation, 
they  themselves  do  not  deny  that  all  citizens  are  excluded  except  those  who 
can  afford  to  pay  ten  dollars  for  membership.  They  do  not  deny  that,  but 


SPEECH    OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  433 

justify  it  on  the  ground  that,  inasmuch  as  these  are  corporations  for  the 
management  of  such  institutions  as  I  have  named,  the  same  reason  exists  for 
the  constitution  of  a  corporation  for,  the  direction  of  the  public  schools. 
And  where,  then,  pray,  are  the  rights  with  which  nature,  and  nature's  God, 
have  invested  the  parents  of  these  children  ?  Pray,  are  they  who  are  held 
competent  to  decide  on  the  gravest  questions  affecting  the  interests  of  the 
nation,  unworthy  to  have  a  voice  in  the  education  of  their  own  children  ? 
And  must  they  resign  that  to  a  corporation  responsible  neither  to  them  nor 
to  the  public  in  any  formal  way  ?  And,  pray,  are  the  people  of  New  York 
lunatics,  that  they  must  have  a  corporation  of  keepers  appointed  over  them  ? 
If  the  doctrine  of  this  memorial  be  correct,  they  are  to  be  so  considered. 
But  there  is  this  difference  :  they  pay  taxes  for  education,  and  they  have  a 
right  to  a  voice  and  a  vote  in  the  manner  in  which  their  money  is  to  be  ex- 
pended. If  the  people  are  to  be  treated  as  lunatics,  mutes,  or  inmates  of 
the  House  of  Refuge,  then  the  argument  of  the  Public  School  Society  is  a 
good  one.  I  think  the  comparison  instituted  in  the  remonstrance  utterly 
fails;  I  cannot  dwell  longer  upon  it. 

I  now  come  to  a  charge  made  against  the  petitioners  : 

At  one  time  it  was  declared,  "  the  public  school  system  in  the  city  of 
New  York  is  entirely  favorable  to  the  sectarianism  of  infidelity,  and  opposed 
only  to  that  of  positive  Christianity ;  "  that  ''  it  leaves  the  will  of  the  pupil 
to  riot  in  the  fierceness  of  unrestrained  lusts,"  and  is  "  calculated  to  make 
bad  and  dangerous  citizens." 

Now,  it  is  true  that  we  did  view  the  Society  as  being  opposed  to  re- 
ligion. There  can  be  no  doubt  of  that.  But,  if  that  be  true,  it  is  equally 
true  that  the  evidence  on  which  we  built  that  conclusion  was  furnished  by 
themselves.  And  how  ?  In  every  report  of  theirs  it  appears  that,  if  any 
thing  like  a  religious  society  presented  itself,  that  character  was  enough  to 
decide  them  in  resisting  its  application.  You  will  find  this  evidenced  in 
their  vindication  and  defence,  both  by  Mr.  Sedgwick  and  Mr.  Ketchum. 
They  contend  that  what  they  meant  by  religious  instruction,  was  not  reli- 
gious instruction,  and  so  it  may  be  proper  for  me  to  enter  a  little  into  the 
examination  of  the  meaning  of  these  words. 

When  the  trustees  make  the  religious  character  of  a  Society  the  ground 
of  denying  them  a  portion  of  their  funds,  what  is  it  that  constitutes  the 
objection  ?  They  do  not  decide  against  the  infidel ;  for  it  seems,  if  the 
applicants  had  divested  themselves  of  a  religious  character — if  men  of  no 
religious  profession,  of  no  belief  in  a  God  or  a  future  state,  had  presented 
themselves,  no  objection  would  be  made,  and,  on  their  own  premises,  the 
trustees  would  be  obliged  to  concede  to  their  request.  What,  then,  was  the 
reason  of  the  refusal,  except  the  religious  character  of  the  applicants  ?  And 
had  we  not  fair  ground  here  for  inferring  that  they  are  opposed  to  religion  ? 
Examine  their  reports.  Here  is  one :  a  report  of  the  Committee  on  Arts, 
Sciences,  and  Schools,  of  the  Board  of  Assistants,  on  appropriating  a  por- 
tion of  the  school  money  to  religious  societies  for  the  support  of  schools. 
This  is  Document  No.  80,  and  at  page  389  we  read  as  follows  : 

The  amount  of  one  hundred  and  seven  thousand  dollars,,  and  upward, 
28 


43  i  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

% 

as  hereinbefore  stated,  has  been  raised  by  annual  tax  in  this  city,  for  pur- 
poses of  a  purely  civil  and  secular  character. 

Well,  if  the  education  is  to  be  purely  "  civil  and  secular,"  is  religion 
mingled  with  it  at  all  ?  And  if  religion  is  not  to  be  mingled  with  it  at  all, 
then  had  we  not  a  right  to  infer,  from  their  own  document,  that  they  were 
opposed  to  religion,  and  brought  up  the  children  without  any  knowledge 
of  their  responsibility  to  God,  or  of  a  future  life,  or  of  any  of  those  great 
principles  of  religion  on  which  the  very  security  of  society  depends  ?  Were 
we  not  justified  in  this  inference  ?  They  refused  our  application  because  we 
professed  religion ;  and  had  we  not  a  right  to  keep  our  children  from  the 
influence  of  a  system  of  education  that  attempted  to  make  a  divorce  be- 
tween literature — that  is,  such  literature  as  is  suited  for  the  infant  mind — 
and  religion,  and  to  give  instruction  of  a  "  purely  civil  and  secular  charac- 
ter," for  which,  we  are  told,  $107,000  had  been  expended  ?  How,  I  ask, 
can  Mr.  Cornell  stand  up  and  deny  our  charge,  when  such  indisputable  evi- 
dence of  its  truth  is  presented  by  their  own  documents  ? 

Did  Mr.  Cornell,  when  they  defeated  us,  find  fault  with  the  committee 
of  the  Assistants'  Board,  because  they  charged  the  Society  with  excluding 
religion  from  education  ?  No  !  no  !  Enough  it  was  that  religious  societies 
should  be  defeated,  and  that  they  should  continue  to  wield  their  complex 
monopoly.  No  matter  that  they  were  charged  with  having  no  religion  ;  no 
matter  at  all  that  their  education  was  then  described  as  "  purely  civil  and 
secular." 

This  document  goes  on  : 

The  appropriation  of  any  part  of  that  sum  to  the  support  of  schools  in 
which  the  religious  tenets  of  any  sect  are  taught  to  any  extent 

Well,  if  you  excluded  the  tenets  of  all  sects,  you  excluded  all  religion, 
because  there  is  no  religion  except  what  is  included  in  the  tenets  of  sects. 
I  defy  you  to  teach  the  first  principles  of  religion  without  teaching  the 
tenets  of  sectarianism.  Then  it  was,  on  the  faith  of  their  own  documents, 
that  we  charged  on  them  the  character  which  they  had  assumed,  on  the 
strength  of  which  they  had  successfully  opposed,  one  after  another,  all  the 
denominations  who  reverence  religion. 

The  document  proceeds : 

would  be  a  legal  establishment  of  one  denomination  of  religion  over 

another ;  would  conflict  with  all  the  principles  and  purposes  of  our  free 
institutions,  and  would  violate  the  very  letter  of  that  part  of  our  Constitu- 
tion which  so  emphatically  declares  that  "  the  free  exercise  and  enjoyment 
of  religious  profession  and  worship,  without  discrimination  or  preference, 
shall  forever  be  allowed  in  this  State  to  all  mankind."  By  granting  a  por- 
tion of  the  school  fund  to  one  sect,  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  a  "  prefer- 
ence "  is  at  once  created,  a  "  discrimination  "  is  made,  and  the  object  of  this 
great  constitutional  guarantee  is  defeated  ;  taxes  are  imposed  for  the  support 
of  religion,  and  freedom  of  conscience,  if  not  directly  trammelled  and  con- 
fined, is  not  left  in  the  perfect  and  unshackled  state  which  our  systems  of 
government  were  intended  to  establish  and  perpetuate.  No  difference  can 
be  perceived  in  principle  between  the  taxing  of  the  people  of  England  for 
•the  support  of  a  Church  establishment  there,  and  the  taxing  of  the  people 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  435 

of  New  York  for  the  support  of  schools  in  which  the  doctrines  of  religious 
denominations  are  taught. 

And  what  are  we  to  infer  from  this,  except  that  they  do  not  teach 
religion  at  all  ?  But  they  have  changed  their  tactics.  Tor  they  have,  be  it 
remembered,  two  strings  to  their  bow  :  one  for  those  who  have  religion,  and 
one  for  those  who  have  not ;  and  so  we  actually  find  that,  whilst  before  the 
Common  Council  of  New  York  they  are  destitute  of  religion,  and  give  a 
"purely  civil  and  secular  education,"  at  Albany  they  can  be  in  favor  of 
religion. 

But  there  is  still  further  evidence  on  this  point.  In  page  18  of  the 
report  of  the  debate  before  the  Common  Council,  we  have  the  explanation 
of  Mr.  Ketchum,  and  it  was  one  of  the  nicest  managed  points  imaginable. 
Indeed,  I  could  not  but  admire  the  sagacity  of  that  gentleman  and  his  asso- 
ciate, Mr.  Sedgwick,  in  steering  so  adroitly  between  the  teaching  of  religion 
and  the  not  teaching  of  it,  so  that  they  taught  it,  but  yet  you  must  not  call 
it  religion.  We  put  the  gentlemen  between  the  horns  of  a  dilemma.  We 
said,  If  you  do  not  teach  religion,  then  you  are  chargeable  with  making  our 
common  schools  seminaries  of  infidelity ;  if  you  do  teach  it,  then  you  do 
exactly  what  you  say  excludes  religious  societies  from  a  right  to  participate 
in  the  fund.  But  these  gentlemen,  with  great  skill  and  critical  acumen,  and 
a  little  sophistry,  were  able  to  steer,  by  a  line  invisible  to  my  mind,  between 
the  horns  of  .the  dilemma. 

In  describing  the  different  kinds  of  instruction,  Mr.  Sedgwick  says  : 

But,  beyond  that,  there  is  still  another  branch  of  instruction  which  is 
properly  called  religious  ;  and  it  is  because  those  two  phrases—"  religious  " 
and  "  mbral " — have  been  used  occasionally  without  an  accurate  apprehen- 
sion of  their  signification,  that  the  documents  of  the  trustees  have  been  mis- 
construed. But  when  the  term*"  moral "  education  is  used,  it  only  means 
that  education  which  instructs  the  children  in  those  fundamental  tenets  of 
duty  which  are  the  basis  of  all  religion. 

That  is  to  say,  you  build  the  roof  before  you  lay  the  foundation.  For 
whence,  I  ask,  will  men  get  their  knowledge  of  duty,  if  not  based  on  a  sub- 
stratum of  religion  ?  But  here,  morality,  so  called,  is  made  the  basis  of 
religion.  Well,  let  us  apply  this  to  the  schools,  and  see  whether  any  Chris- 
tian parent  would  submit  to  have  his  children  placed  under  such  a  system. 

There  is  a  child  at  one  of  these  schools.  They  tell  him  not  to  lie ;  but 
children  are  inquisitive,  and  he  asks,  "  Why  should  I  not  lie  ?  "  You  must 
answer,  "  Because  God  abominates  a  lie."  There  you  teach  religion.  You 
explain  the  reason  why  the  child  should  not  lie— that  religion  requires  and 
affords  the  reason  of  the  performance  of  the  duty  ;  not  that  the  duty  is  the 
basis  of  religion.  It  is  not  enough  to  tell  the  child,  "  You  are  to  speak  the 
truth,  and,  when  you  know  and  fulfil  your  duty,  then  you  may  learn  that 
there  is  a  God  to  whom  you  are  responsible."  Washington  himself,  in  his 
"  Farewell  Address,"  cautioned  the  nation  against  the  man  who  would 
attempt  to  teach  morality  without  religion.  He  says : 

Of  bll  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political  prosperity, 
religion  and  morality  are  indispensable  supports.  In  vain  would  that  man 


4:36  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

claim  the  tribute  of  patriotism,  who  should  labor  to  subvert  these  great  pil- 
lars of  human  happiness,  these  firmest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and  citi- 
zens. The  mere  politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  respect 
and  to  cherish  them.  A  volume  could  not  trace  all  their  connections  with 
private  and  public  felicity.  Let  it  be  simply  asked,  Where  is  the  security 
for  property,  for  reputation,  for  life,  if  the  sense  of  religious  obligations 
desert  the  oaths  which  are  the  instruments  of  investigation  in  courts  of  jus- 
tice ?  And  let  us  with  caution  indulge  the  supposition  that  morality  can 
be  maintained  without  religion.  Whatever  may  be  conceded  to  the  influ- 
ence of  refined  education  on  minds  of  peculiar  structure,  reason  and  expe- 
rience both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  morality  can  prevail  in  exclu- 
sion of  religious  principle. 

Had  we  not,  then,  I  would  ask  very  respectfully,  a  right,  when  every 
petition  had  been  rejected  on  the  ground  that  the  petitioners  had  a  religious 
belief,  to  infer  that  religion  formed  no  part  of  their  system  of  education, 
and  that  the  consequence  which  we  charged  upon  them,  and  that  Mr.  Cor- 
nell repudiated  with  so  much  horror,  inevitably  and  justly  followed — name- 
ly, that  the  Public  School  Society  was  favorable  to  the  sectarianism  of  infi- 
delity ? 

I  now  go  on  to  show  what  the  Public  School  Society  boast  of  having 
done  in  our  regard.  They  had  offered,  in  reply  to  our  objections  to  passages 
in  their  books — as,  for  instance,  where  it  was  stated  that  "  John  Huss  was  a 
zealous  Reformer,  but,  trusting  to  the  deceitful  Catholics,  he  was  taken  by 
them  and  burned  at  the  stake" — to  expunge  such  objectionable  passages 
when  they  were  pointed  out.  They  said,  "  Bishop,  we  submit  our  books  to 
you,  and  if  you  will  have  the  goodness  to  point  out  any  objectionable  pas- 
sages, we  will  expunge  them."  Well,  certainly  there  was  something  very 
plausible  and  apparently  very  liberal  in  this  offer.  But  when  the  matter 
was  pressed,  it  was  found  that  all  this  was  merely  the  expression  of  individ- 
uals ;  there  was  no  guarantee  that  the  boofcs  would  be  amended.  Weeks, 
months,  might  be  spent  in  examining  the  books,  and  then  the  approbation 
of  the  board  was  necessary  in  order  to  effect  the  alteration.  Did  they  say 
that  it  should  be  given  ?  Never. 

I  pass  now  to  another  point ;  for,  observe,  I  do  not  at  all  think  myself 
called  on  to  say  one  word  in  vindication  of  the  able  and  eloquent  and  satis- 
factory report  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  That  is  not  necessary.  The  lan- 
guage of  that  document  will  be  its  own  vindication  when  the  petty  sophis- 
tries raised  against  it  shall  have  been  long  forgotten  ;  for  be  assured,  gentle- 
men, that,  whatever  may  be  the  temporary  opposition  to  any  public  measure, 
from  the  moment  that  there  is  discovered  to  be  inherent  in  it — of  its  essence 
—a  principle  of  justice  and  equality,  its  ultimate  triumph  is  certain,  and  all 
the  opposition  which  it  encounters  will  have  no  more  effect  on  it  than  that 
of  the  breeze  which  passes  over  the  ocean,  ruffling  its  surface,  but  destroy- 
ing nothing  of  the  mighty  and  majestic  element  which  it  seems  to  fret  and 
disturb. 

I  take  up  this,  then,  not  to  vindicate  the  report,  but  rather  in  reference 
to  the  insulting  attempt,  as  I  will  call  it,  to  deprive  Catholics  of  the  free 
exercise  of  their  own  consciences,  and  the  respect  and  esteem  of  their  fellow- 
citizens.  In  reasoning  on  the  subject,  observe  the  course  that  is  taken  by 


SPEECH   OP  BISHOP   HUGHES.  437 

Mr.  Cornell.  He  enters  into  a  comparison  between  the  schools  of  the  Public 
School  Society  and  ours — ours,  supported  in  poverty,  the  humblest  that  may 
be,  but  still  supported  in  a  way  sufficient  to  show  our  determination  not  to 
give  up  our  rights  or  relinquish  the  maintenance  and  defence  of  a  sound  and 
patriotic  principle.  But  this  gentleman  compares  these  our  schools  with 
theirs — on  which  more  than  a  million  of  the  public  money  has  been  expend- 
ed, whilst  we  have  been  virtually  shut  out  from  all  benefit  from  the  public 
funds,  not  by  any  law  of  the  State,  but  by  a  vicious  interpretation  of  the 
law.  He  requires  us  to  furnish  as  perfect  a  system  as  they  do  with  the 
expenditure  of  a  million  of  dollars !  He  is  reasoning  with  the  Secretary, 
telling  him,  in  effect,  that  we  are  troublesome  and  designing  people,  and  he 
says: 

But  having  in  view  the  stringency  with  which  the  same  party  insisted 
on  the  necessity  of  religious  in  juxtaposition  with  secular  education,  and  the 
warmth  with  which  they  denounced  the  public  school  system  when  they 
saw  fit  to  charge  it  with  excluding  religion,  and  particularly  when  reference 
is  had  to  their  avowed  dogma,  that  there  is  no  hope  of  salvation  to  those 
not  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church ;  which  dogma  is  now  taught  in  their 
schools. 

I  thank  God  that  the  Catholics — the  long-oppressed  of  three  hundred 
years,  during  which  the  ear  of  the  world  was  poisoned  with  calumnies 
against  them — have  now  liberty  of  speech,  and  ability  to  exercise  it ;  and  I 
call  Mr.  Cornell  to  account  for  what  he  has  here  written,  and  to  which  he 
has  affixed  his  name.  He  says : 

When  reference  is  had  to  their  avowed  dogma,  that  there  is  no  hope  of 
salvation  to  those  not  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  ;  which  dogma  is  now 
taught  in  their  schools. 

The  Catholics  "  avow "  every  dogma  of  their  religion ;  but  the  two 
statements  employed  by  Mr.  Cornell  are  both  false.  It  never  was  and  never 
can  be  a  dogma  of  ours,  that  there  is  "  no  hope  of  salvation  to  those  not  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church."  Neither  is  that  dogma  taught  in  our  schools. 
This  false  statement  must  be  accounted  for  by  Mr.  Cornell's  ignorance  of  our 
doctrine  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  his  disposition  to  injure  us.  I 
call  upon  him — I  arraign  him  before  the  people  of  New  York,  and  the  Sen- 
ate whose  confidence  he  has  attempted  to  abuse,  to  prove  his  statement,  or 
else  to  retract  it. 

And  here  it  may  be  proper  for  me  to  explain  something  of  this  matter ; 
for  I  know  that,  in  the  minds  of  Protestants,  almost  universally,  there  is 
that  idea ;  and  that,  in  the  theological  language  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
there  is  apparent  ground  for  entertaining  it.  But,  at  the  same  time,  I  do 
know  that  that  language,  properly  understood  and  fairly  interpreted,  does 
not  imply  the  dogma  imputed  to  us  by  Mr.  Cornell. 

It  is  very  true  that  we  believe  that  out  of  the  true  Church  of  Christ 
there  is  no  salvation  :  first  proposition. 

It  is  true  that  we  believe  the  Catholic  Church  to  be  the  true  Church  of 
Christ :  second  proposition. 

It  is  very  true  that,  notwithstanding  these  propositions,  there  is  no  dog- 


438  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

% 

ma  of  our  creed  which  teaches  that  a  Protestant  may  not  hope  to  be  saved, 
or  may  not  go  to  heaven.  Now,  how  is  this  explained  ?  In  this  way : 
When  we  speak  of  the  Church,  we  mean  the  Church  as  Christ  and  His  apos- 
tles did — in  the  sense  that  the  ordinary  means  for  the  salvation  of  mankind 
are  the  doctrines  and  institutions  which  Jesus  left  on  earth,  which  have  all 
descended  in  the  Church  with  our  history  and  our  name.  This  we  believe  ; 
but  we  do  not  believe  that  God  has  deprived  himself,  because  Be  instituted 
these  things,  of  the  means  of  saving  whom  He  will.  We  do  not  believe 
that,  on  this  account,  the  power  of  the  Almighty  is  abridged.  Hence  it  is 
consistent  with  our  dogmas  to  believe  that  God,  who  is  a  just  Judge  as  well 
as  a  merciful  Father,  will  not  condemn  any  one  for  involuntary  error.  Their 
judgment  will  be  individual.  They  were  externally  out  of  the  Church  ;  but 
was  it  by  their  own  will,  or  the  accident  of  their  birth  and  education  in  » 
false  religion  ?  Did  they  believe  that  religion  to  be  true  in  good  faith,  and 
in  the  simplicity  of  their  hearts  ?  Were  they  ready  to  receive  the  light  and 
grace  of  truth  as  God  might  offer  it  to  them  ?  Then,  in  that  case,  though 
not  belonging  to  the  Catholic  Church  by  external  profession,  they  belonged 
to  it  by  their  internal  disposition. 

Consequently,  we  are  not  authorized  to  deny  hope  of  salvation  to  those 
not  of  the  Catholic  Church,  unless  so  far  as  the  errors  in  which  they  have 
been  involved  have  been  voluntary  and  culpable  on  their  part.  And  this  is 
no  new  doctrine,  as  our  opponents  would  have  seen  had  they  consulted  the 
writings  of  the  highest  authorities  in  our  Church.  St.  Thomas  Aquinas, 
one  of  the  greatest  minds  that  ever  contributed  to  enlighten  the  human 
race,  as  Protestants  themselves  acknowledge,  writing  in  the  eleventh  or 
twelfth  century,  speaks  of  a  man  who  is  not  even  a  Protestant,  but  a  pagan, 
a  man  who  has  never  heard  of  Christ  or  of  Christianity  ;  and  he,  supposing 
that  man  to  be  moral,  sincere,  acting  according  to  the  best  lights  God  has 
given  him,  tells  us  God  would  sooner  send  an  angel  to  guide  him  to  the  way 
of  salvation,  than  that  such  a  one  should  perish.  Such  is  the  sentiment  of 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  expressed  in  his  works ;  and  his  works  are  approved 
of  by  our  Church.  How,  then,  can  Mr.  Cornell,  or  any  other  individual,  say 
that  we  enter  into  judgment  respecting  those  who  die  out  of  the  pale  of  our 
Church  ?  I  publicly  call  upon  Mr.  Cornell  to  retract  or  qualify  his  official 
statement. 

Sentiments  according  with  these  I  have  quoted  from  St.  Thomas  Aquinas, 
I  have  myself  preached  in  the  cathedral  of  New  York,  and  similar  ones 
have  been  abundantly  proclaimed  by  others ;  and  amongst  them  I  would 
mention  a  very  distinguished  French  bishop,  then  the  Abbe  Fressinous.  In 
the  third  volume  of  his  "  Conferences,"  he  has  one  special  sermon  on  the 
subject  of  exclusive  salvation,  and  he  shows  that,  of  all  Christian  denomi- 
nations, there  is  no  one  more  abounding  in  charity  on  this  point  than  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  same  explanations  are  to  be  found  in  the  writings 
of  Bossuct,  St.  Francis  of  Sales,  and  St.  Augustine.*  With  these  facts  well 


SALVATION  OUT  OF  THK  CHURCH. — In  concluding  this  simple  and  brief  view  of 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  439 

known,  how  did  those  gentlemen  venture  to  take  advantage  of  their  and 
our  relative  situations,  and  calumniate  us  when  we  had  no  opportunity  of 
repelling  the  unfair  attack  ? 

Besides,  Mr.  Cornell  says,  "  which  is  now  taught  in  their  schools."  I 
deny  the  truth  of  that  statement,  and  demand  his  authority. 

But  now,  would  it,  think  you,  be  improper  on  mypart,  considering  that 
Mr.  Cornell  is  not  present,  to  imitate  some  of  the  liberties  which  he  has 
taken  with  us  in  our  absence  ? 

Throughout  this  document  he  has  labored  to  prove  that  we  are  Catho- 
lics ;  and  not  only  that,  but  to  show  what  our  religion  is ;  though  I  am 
rather  at  a  loss  to  imagine  where  he  studied  Catholic  theology,  in  which,  if 
he  should  persevere,  I  would  suggest  to  him  to  consult  better  authorities 
than  the  Journal  of  Commerce  and  "  Tristram  Shandy." 

Now,  it  never  occurred  to  us  to  ask,  Of  what  religion  is  Mr.  Cornell  and 
the  Public  School  Society  ?  The  whole  ground  assumed  by  them  is,  that 
they  are  not  a  "  religious  society."  Well,  what  are  they  ?  Are  they  an  irre- 
ligious society  ?  Not  at  all.  They  are  members  of  churches ;  and  I  have 
taken  the  pains  to  ascertain  that  Mr.  Cornell  is  a  member  of  Dr.  Spring's 
church  ;  and,  if  he  lectures  the  Catholics,  would  it  be  very  wrong  in  me  to 
speak  of  the  doctrines  of  his  creed  ?  Let  us  look  at  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  the  rule  of  Presbyterian  dogma,  and  see  whether  Mr.  Cor- 
nell opens  the  gates  of  heaven  to  all  religious  denominations.  I  quote  from 
the  Westminster  Confession  as  adopted  and  amended  in  the  United  States, 
and  published  by  Towar  and  Hogan,  Philadelphia,  in  1827.  In  page  111  it 
is  said : 

The  visible  Church  consists  of  all  those  throughout  the  world  who  pro- 
fess the  true  religion.  •, 

So,  to  be  a  member  of  the  visible  Church,  you  must  "  profess  "  the  true 
faith.  "  Together  with  their  children."  Happy  children  !  "  And  this  is 

the  Catholic  doctrine,  it  may  be  well  to  state  here  what  is  to  be  correctly  understood 
of  that  Catholic  sentiment,  "  Out  of  the  Church  there  is  no  salvation." 

"  We  do  not  pretend  to  deny  (says  Mr.  Bergier)  that  there  are  numbers  of  men  born 
ia  heresy,  who,  by  reason  of  their  little  light,  are  in  invincible  ignorance,  and,  conse- 
quently, excusable  before  God.  These,  in  the  opinion  of  all  judicious  divines,  ought 
not  to  be  ranked  with  heretics."  This  is  the  very  doctrine  of  St.  Augustine  (Epit,  43, 
ad  gloriam  ct  alias,  n.  1.)  St.  Paul  tells  us,  in  his  Epistle  to  Titus,  chap.  iii. :  "  A 
man  that  is  a  heretic,  after  the  first  arid  second  admonition,  avoid  ;  knowing  that  he 
that  is  such  a  one  is  subverted,  and  einneth,  being  condemned  by  his  own  judgment." 
As  to  those  who  defend  an  opinion,  either  false  or  perverse,  without  obstinacy,  and 
who  have  not  invented  it  from  a  daring  presumption,  but  received  it  from  their  parent's 
after  they  were  seduced  and  had  fallen  into  error,  if  they  diligently  and  industriously 
seek  for  the  truth,  and  if  they  hold  themselves  ready  to  embrace  it  as  soon  as  they 
shall  have  found  it,  such  as  these  also  are  not  to  be  classed  with  heretics."  L.  1,  </-• 
Bafit.  contra  Donat.  c.  4,  n.  5. 

"  Those  who  fall  with  heretics  without  knowing  it,  believing  it  to  be  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ,  are  in  a  different  case  from  those  who  know  that  the  Catholic  Church  is 
spread  over  the  whole  world."  L.  4,  c.  1,  n.  \. 

"  The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  may  have,  through  the  power  of  her  spouse,  chil- 
dren and  servants.  If  they  grow  not  proud,  they  shall  have  part  in  his  inheritance  ; 
but  if  they  are  proud,  they  shall  remain  without."  Ibid.  c.  16,  n.  23. 


440  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  house  and  family  of  God,  out  of 
which  there  is  no  ordinary  possibility  of  salvation." 
Here  is  another  statement  of  Mr.  Cornell : 

They  are  not  merely  the  incidental  remarks  of  the  historian,  or  extracts 
from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  "  without  note  or  comment,"  to  which  such  strong 
exception  has  been  taken  in  relation  to  the  public  schools,  but  they  are  such 
as  ever  have,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  your  remonstrants,  must  ever  tend,  if 
sustained  by  tax  imposed  upon  the  anathematized  portion  of  the  commu- 
nity, to  destroy  public  harmony  ;  and  such  as  would  prove  any  thing  rather 
than  a  "  social  benefit." 

Now,  by  using  the  word  "  anathematized,"  he  conveys  the  impression 
that  all  out  of  the  pale  of  our  Church  are  under  our  anathema.  I  demand 
the  proof.  I  have  studied*  our  holy  religion  many  a  day,  but  never  yet  have 
I  discovered  any  such  anathema,  and  I  defy  Mr.  Cornell  to  point  it  out. 

Mr.  Cornell  goes  on  to  say :. 

Your  remonstrants  had  supposed  that  the  fact  of  the  Public  School  Soci- 
ety being  composed  of  men  professing  every  variety  of  religious  faith,  would 
neutralize  sectarian  tendencies  and  secure  it  against  abuse. 

Now,  there  is  something  exceedingly  specious  in  this,  but  it  is,  indeed,  a 
very  spurious  position.  They  refuse  our  application  on  the  ground  that  we 
are  a  religious  society ;  and  when  we  then  charge  them  with  not  being  a 
religious  society,  they  repudiate  it  as  a  stigma  on  their  character.  And 
what  is  their  remedy  ?  That  they  "  will  neutralize  sectarian  tendencies  by 
the  variety  of  the  religions  that  they  introduce."  How  is  this  ?  They  are 
all  members  of  churches,  and  that  does  them  honor ;  but  whenever  they 
come  within  the  magical  circle  of  their  official  character,  then,  like  negative 
and  positive  brought  together  in  just  proportions,  they  neutralize  each 
other.  Is  this  really  the  position  that  these  gentlemen  assume  ?  How  are 
the  trustees  chosen  ?  In  the  most  beautiful  manner  !  One  or  two  Catholics 
are  taken,  a  Universalist,  perchance,  and  so  of  other  denominations,  and 
then  they  say,  "  We  are  of  all  religions  !  "  You  will  find  that  the  mass  of 
the  Society  belong  to  one  sect,  of  which  little  or  nothing  is  said,  and  that 
an  odd  one  is  taken  from  each  of  the  other  sects  to  sanctify  their  acts. 
There  is  a  sufficient  majority  of  one  denomination.  There  is  a  tendency 
and  aim  which  I  am  not  unwilling  to  proclaim,  a  secret  understanding — not 
so  very  secret,  either — to  the  effect  that,  "  as  there  is  a  large  foreign  popu- 
lation in  New  York,  and  mostly  Catholic,  our  liberties  would  not  be  safe 
unless  the  interests  of  Catholics  were  not  neutralized  in  their  education." 
We  reject  that  idea  with  scorn,  that  Catholics  have  to  learn  the  principles 
of  liberty  from  them.  At  a  period  when  Protestantism  was  as  little  dreamed 
of  as  steam  navigation,  Catholics  were  the  schoolmasters  to  the  nations  of 
the  world  in  the  principles  of  liberty.  They  were  Catholics  who  wrung  the 
great  charter  of  English  liberty  from  the  hands  of  the  tyrant.  And  was 
that  their  first  effort  in  the  cause  of  freedom  ?  No.  That  was  only  the 
written  recognition  of  their  rights,  which  the  encroachments  of  his  prede- 
cessors had  diminished ;  and,  having  thus  secured  their  rights,  they  main- 
tained them  down  to  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  when  their  high  and 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  441 

honorable  notions  of  liberty  were  trampled  in  the  dust,  and  were  never 
restored  till  the  Revolution ;  and  when  that  so  boasted  event  in  the  history 
of  England  took  place,  it  only  recognized  the  rights  lost  at  the  period  of 
the  Reformation,  which  Catholics  for  centuries  before  had  known  and 
enjoyed.  Let  them  not  say,  then,  that  our  religion  is  inimical  to  liberty. 
That  is  a  reproach  which  we  spurn — which  we  abominate  and  abhor.  We 
have  nothing  to  learn  from  them  of  human  liberty.  Their  part  is  to  imitate 
us ;  not  ours  to  imitate  them. 

If  that  is  the  principle  referred  to,  we  understand  it  perfectly  well,  and 
it  is  of  no  use  for  these  gentlemen  to  moot  it  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
that  our  claim  should  be  denied.  Was  that,  indeed,  their  object  ?  Not  at 
all.  But  their  object  was,  with  hands  that  should  have  been  better  em- 
ployed, to  rake  up  that  wretched  remnant  of  prejudice  against  us,  and  pan- 
der to  the  vitiated  taste  that  could  relish  it. 

We  see,  then,  that,  so  far  as  this  remonstrance  is  concerned,  there  is  not 
one  solitary  proposition  which  should  for  one  moment  have  arrested  the 
mind  of  the  Legislature.  The  bill  proposed  by  the  honorable  Secretary  of 
State  contemplated  no  special  favor.  Much  as  I  honor  that  distinguished 
individual,  I  would  not  esteem  him  as  I  do,  if  he  had,  in  his  bill,  proposed 
any  thing  which  should  have  raised  us  above  our  fellow-citizens  of  other 
denominations.  But  the  bill  only  places  us  on  an  equality  with  others ; 
with  that  we  are  satisfied — with  nothing  less  will  we  ever  be  satisfied. 

But,  hitherto,  these  gentlemen  have  assumed  various  shapes.  They  have 
viewed  with,  self-complacency  the  beauty  of  their  system  ;  and  as  for  their 
few  schools — few,  in  comparison  with  the  number  of  destitute  and  unpro- 
vided children — I  have  nothing  to  say  against  them.  I  proposed  to  place 
our  schools  under  their  direction,  so  far  as  regarded  their  police  and  man- 
agement. But  I  would  not  permit  them  to  teach  our  children  that  Catho- 
lics were  deceitful — that  Galileo  was  put  into  the  Inquisition,  and  punished 
for  the  heresy  that  the  earth  revolved  on  its  own  axis  around  the  sun.  That, 
and  similar  statements  of  partisan  writers,  long  and  generally  believed, 
begin  to  be  better  understood.  Behind  the  anti-Catholic  credulity  in  which 
they  have  hitherto  been  entrenched,  there  is  now  going  on  a  deeper  and 
sounder  spirit  of  criticism,  conducted  by  eminent  Protestant  as  well  as 
Catholic  writers.  At  the  very  time  of  his  trial,  his  doctrine  was  held  and 
avowed  by  eminent  cardinals,  and  the  pope  himself  declared,  that,  as  a 
philosophical  proposition,  it  was  no  heresy.  His  case  is  entirely  misunder- 
stood. 

Galileo's  crime  was  not  teaching  sound  philosophy,  but  bad  theology — 
wishing  the  Church  to  declare  that  his  theory  was  in  accordance  with  the 
Scriptures.  For  reasons  like  this,  I  would  not  allow  them  to  mislead  our 
children,  but  was  willing  to  allow  the  gentlemen  the  external  management 
of  our  schools.  They,  however,  would  have  universal  rule,  or  none  at  all. 

What  has  been  their  panacea  for  all  complaints?  To  invite  the  city 
Council  to  visit  the  schools.  And,  certainly,  I  presume  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  visit  their  schools  without  being  satisfied  with  their  appearance. 
But  had  I  been  able  to  have  made  my  voice  heard  in  the  Senate  of  the  State, 


442  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

\vhen  they  made  the  proposition  to  visit  their  schools,  I  should  have  pro- 
posed something  like  an  amendment.  I  would  have  prayed  these  senators, 
in  the  name  of  humanity  and  their  country,  of  all  the  benevolence  that 
beats  in  the  human  breast,  to  visit  not  the  schools,  but  the  lanes  and  alleys 
and  obscure  resorts  of  the  poor  neglected  children  of  New  York,  and  there 
see,  not  how  much  is  done,  but  how  much  is  left  undone.  These  are  the 
portions  of  the  city  tfyat  should  be  visited.  It  is  utterly  impossible,  owing 
to  their  scattered  condition,  to  learn  the  numbers  of  children  in  this  city 
who  are  deprived  by  these  gentlemen  of  the  blessings  of  education.  We 
who  mingle  with  the  people  have  the  opportunity  of  learning  their  dis- 
like of  this  system — that  they  would  no  more  trust  their  children  to  it  than 
to  that  tyrannical  system  of  British  misgovernment  which  their  fathers 
knew  so  well,  and  from  which  they  derived  the  sad  legacy  of  ignorance  and 
poverty.  I  refer  to  the  laws  which  made  education  a  crime  in.  Ireland,  and 
which  have  left  the  inhabitants  of  that  country  the  degraded  but  unbroken 
people  that  they  are  this  day,  after  a  persecution  of  near  three  hundred 
years. 

It  is  for  these  poor,  neglected,  uneducated  children  that  I  plead.  Their 
parents  will  not  send  them  to  the  public  schools  whilst  constituted  as  at 
present,  and  I  approve  of  their  resolution.  I  trust  that  they  never  will  send 
their  children  to  schools  managed  by  men  who  can  send  to  the  Senate  of 
this  State  a  burlesque  upon  our  creed,  and  represent  it  as  a  genuine  exhi- 
bition of  our  faith  and  principles.  Rather  will  we  trust  to  the  kind  and 
merciful  providence  of  God,  than  voluntarily  relinquish  a  principle  by  which 
we  maintain  the  right  implanted  in  the  breast  of  every  parent  and  secured 
by  the  laws,  to  have  a  voice  in  the  education  of  his  child.  It  is  these  chil- 
dren that  should  be  visited.  Then  would  these  honorable  senators,  whom  I 
know  to  be  above  all  these  petty  prejudices  which  have  been  appealed  to, 
do  justice,  and  apply  a  remedy  so  far  as  the  law  would  authorize  them. 

I  must  now  soon  conclude  my  remarks  for  this  evening.  I  will  merely 
refer  to  the  objection  of  the  Society  to  the  bill  of  Mr.  Spencer :  its  tendency 
to  introduce  party  politics.  Every  thing  is  held,  in  this  country,  tp  be  in 
the  hands  of  the  people;  yet  these  gentlemen,  after  enjoying  a  monopoly  for 
sixteen  years,  think  it  a  great  misfortune  if  the  taxpayers  should  be  allowed 
a  voice  at  all  in  the  selection  of  the  teachers  in  the  schools  which  they  sup- 
port, or  any  share  whatever  in  their  management. 

The  next  objection  to  the  bill  is  its  want  of  uniformity.  Because  they 
happen  to  have  school-houses  exactly  one  like  the  other,  and  have  a  uniform 
style  of  books,  the  large  and  liberal  and  statesmanlike  plan  of  the  honor- 
able Secretary  should  be  given  up  ;  because,  forsooth,  these  "  humble  almo- 
ners "  pronounce  it  void  of  uniformity.  "  Humble  almoners,"  who,  after 
coiling  their  roots  around  the  Common  Council,  and  making  them  judges  in 
the  cause,  go  to  Albany  to  defeat  our  claims.  "Well,  they  may  call  them- 
selves "  humble  almoners,"  if  they  please ;  but  they  remind  me  very  much 
of  the  beggar  in  Gil  Bias,  who,  when  he  asked  alms,  always  took  good  care 
to  have  his  musket  ready. 

I  have  now  gone  briefly  through  this  part  of  the  subject,  and  I  ask  you 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  443 

whether  we  can  have  any  confidence  in  men  who  can  stoop  to  such  artifices 
as  I  have  exposed  ?  I  call  upon  them  to  vindicate  themselves  from  the  dis- 
honor of  having  circulated  that  document  from  "  Tristram  Shandy."  It  was 
done  by  one  of  their  colleagues  and  their  official  agent,  who,  when  charged 
with  it,  replied  that  he  had  done  so  under  instructions.  What  instructions? 
Did  they  instruct  him  ?  If  not,  let  them  say  so  by  a  public  act.  Until  they 
do  so,  we  justly  charge  them  with  being  the  traducers  of  our  reputation.  I 
charge  them  on  the  ground  that  they  are  responsible  for  the  act  of  their 
agent ;  and  they  should  have  known  better.  Gentlemen  claiming  to  be 
exclusively  the  judges  of  what  is  a  proper  system  of  education — who  held 
that  you  are  unworthy  of  having  any  thing  to  do  with  the  schools  of  New 
York — should  have  known  that  that  document  was  from  "  Tristram  Shan- 
dy," written,  I  presume,  for  his  amusement,  by  Mr.  Sterne,  who,  though 
numbered  amongst  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England,  was  believed  to  be 
an  infidel — a  man  who  secretly  scoffed  at  every  thing  sacred,  and  the  work- 
ing of  whose  rank  imagination  is  too  offensive  for  the  eye  of  delicacy. 
Surely,  then,  these  gentlemen  should  not  have  drawn  weapons  from  such  a 
source  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  reputation  of  any  class  of  their 
fellow-citizens.  . 

This  is  not  the  first  occasion  on  which  we  have  been  misrepresented ; 
and  religious  gentlemen,  whose  avowed  purpose  it  is  to  preach  the  gospel 
of  peace,  have  taken  up  the  habit  of  abusing  us,  and  have  rung  the  changes 
on  this  topic,  till,  in  some  instances,  some  of  their  audiences,  more  liberal 
than  they,  have  left  the  place  disgusted.  They  remind  me  of  a  saying  of 
this  same  Sterne,  who,  when  quizzing  the  credulity  of  the  people  of  Eng- 
land:— for  he  was  a  great  wag — said  that,  occasionally,  he  was  straitened  for 
the  price  of  a  dinner,  but  he  could  always  manage  to  make  a  good  meal  of 
Cheshire  cheese ;  but  it  also  happened  that  oftentimes  he  was  in  a  similar 
strait  in  his  official  capacity,  and  was  called  on  to  preach  when  he  had  not  a 
word  of  a  sermon  prepared,  and  then  he  took  "  a  fling  at  popery."  The 
people  went  away  edified  and  delighted.  For  this  reason,  he  says,  I  call 
popery  my  "  Cheshire  cheese."  It  seems  to  me  that  the  occupants  of  half 
the  pulpits  of  New  York  are  nearly  in  the  same  predicament,  and  would  die 
of  inanimation,  were  it  not  that  their  stock  of  "  Cheshire  cheese  "  is  still 
unexhausted. 

I  think  I  can  safely  say,  that  in  none  of  our  churches  will  you  hear  such 
abuse.  We  never  touch  upon  secular  affairs ;  you  will  not  even  hear  from 
our  pulpits  harangues  about  abolition.  We  explain  and  defend  our  creed, 
and,  I  trust,  preach  charity  and  peace  and  order.  But  it  is  not  so  with 
those  who  assail  us  as  I  have  described,  as  I  will  have  occasion  to  show 
when  treating  of  Mr.  Ketchum's  speech,  which  I  intend  to  do  on  to-morrow 
evening. 

THURSDAY  EVENING. 

BISHOP  HUGHES  resumed  bis  remarks,  as  follows : 
The  question,  gentlemen,  which  has  called  us  together,  has  had  two* 


444  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

stages  of  progress,  -which  must  be  kept  distinct  in  order  to  comprehend  its 
present  position.  We  have,  from  time  to  time,  applied  to  the  Common 
Council  of  this  city  for  relief,  -which  we  knew  they  had  the  power  to  grant ; 
and  we  had  applied,  as  it  were,  in  an  isolated,  and,  if  you  please,  as  to 
appearance,  in  a  somewhat  sectarian  character.  The  reasons  of  this  will  be 
easily  understood,  when  you  reflect  that  we  had  no  intention  to  disturb  the 
system  of  education  so  generally  approved  by  our  fellow-citizens.  Our 
object  was  not  to  destroy  that  which  was  good  for  others,  if  they  thought 
it  so,  but  to  find  something  that  might  be  equally  good  for  ourselves.  Ac- 
cordingly, we  applied  as  Catholics,  because  it  appeared  that  there  were  no 
other  denominations  whose  consciences  suffered  under  the  operation  of  that 
system.  And  we  did  suppose  that  these  considerations  would  have  had 
some  weight  with  the  honorable  Council.  We  might — as  we  are  re- 
proached with  not  having  done — we  might  have  interfered  with  the  regu- 
lations of  these  schools — asked  for  a  different  order  of  books — required  the 
erasure  of  such  and  such  passages,  and  the  insertion  of  others.  They 
reproach  us  with  not  doing  so  ;  but  if  we  had  done  so,  it  would,  in  the  first 
place,  have  been  pains  thrown  away ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  we  might 
thereby  have  disobliged  many  of  our  fellow- citizens  of  other  denominations. 
Without  our  at  all  pressing  the  question  upon  them,  farther  than  observing 
that  even  the  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  according  to  the  Protestant 
version,  was  looked  upon  by  us  as  an  invasion  of  our  conscientious  rights, 
they  took  it  up  as  an  objection  against  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  at  all, 
as  if  the  presence  of  a  Bible  within  the  walls  of  a  school  was  a  thing  we 
could  not  bear.  It  is  needless  to  say  how  wrong  that  inference  was  ;  but  we 
did  not  at  all  wish  to  disturb  the  Protestant's  approbation  of  his  version  of 
the  sacred  volume,  nor  the  order  that  seemed  so  generally  approved ;  and 
that  was  the  reason  of  the  mode  of  our  application. 

In  the  course  of  my  speech,  therefore,  you  will  understand  that  we  did 
not  so  apply  for  relief  because  we  wished  to  be  apart,  separate  from  the  rest 
of  the  community — that  it  was  not  because  we  were  exclusive  or  intolerant, 
as  they  have  charged  upon  us,  but  because  we  supposed  that  they  would 
not  wish  to  have  their  children  hear  the  Catholic  version  of  the  Bible  read  ; 
and  therefore  they  had  no  right  to  impose  on  onr  children  the  hearing  of 
the  Protestant  version.  If  that  be  sectarianism,  then  we  plead  guilty  to  the 
charge ;  but,  without  feeling  and  acting  so,  we  could  not  have  our  con- 
sciences simple,  and,  in  their  integrity,  upright  toward  God. 

When,  however,  after  having  gone  through  the  ceremony — for  it  was 
nothing  else — of  appearing  before  the  Common  Council,  and  having  been 
heard — and  denied,  as  a  matter  of  course — when  we  had  gone  through  this 
ceremony  required  by  the  formulary  of  the  law,  then,  indeed,  we  threw  our- 
selves on  our 'general  rights  as  citizens,  and  appealed  to  that  tribunal  to 
which  we  must  always  look  with  confidence  for  the  redress  of  every  griev- 
ance that  presses  on  us  in  our  social  condition.  Nevertheless,  our  opponents 
followed  us  there,  and  fastened  upon  us  the  character,  in  which  it  had  been 
the  duty  imposed  on  us  by  necessity,  to  appear  before  the  Common  Council. 

We  have  had  occasion  already  to  point  out  some  evidences  of  the  use 


SPEECH    OF   BISHOP    HUGHES.  445 

made  of  that  in  the  remonstrance.  You  saw  with  what  recklessness  of 
truth,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  it  was  charged  in  that  document  that  we  were 
intolerant — that  we  taught  there  was  no  salvation  out  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  so  forth.  There  are  in  that  document  of  the  Public  School 
Society  many  other  passages  requiring  examination ;  but  as  the  substance 
of  them  is  contained  in  the  speech  of  the  learned  gentleman  who  was  their 
official  organ  before  the  Senate,  I  suppose  that  the  refutation  of  the  one  will 
be  the  refutation  of  both,  and  therefore  I  deem  it  unnecessary  to  refer  far- 
ther to  that  memorial. 

They — that  gentleman  particularly — referred,  in  the  course  of  the  debate,, 
to  a  proposition  for  accommodation,  which  was  made  on  the  part  of  the 
Society  previous  to  the  last  decision  of  the  public  Council.  They  alleged 
that  nothing  could  be  fairer ;  but  when  we  had  examined  that,  we  found 
that  of  not  a  solitary  grievance  of  which  we  had  complained  did  it  take 
notice — not  the  slightest  notice.  The  whole  proposal  was,  that  they  should 
correct  the  books,  so  far  as  their  guardianship  of  the  rights  of  conscience — 
for  they  are  conscience-keepers  for  the  several  sects  in  this  community  ! — 
would  allow.  They  would  accommodate  us  by  striking  out  passages  insult- 
ing and  offensive  to  our  minds  and  injurious  to  our  children.  That  was  all 
the  amount  of  the  concession.  Then,  the  second  proposition  was,  that  they 
would  purchase  from  us — they  can  afford  to  do  so — the  only  school-house 
which  our  humble  means  have  enabled  us  to  erect  during  the  sixteen  years 
of  privation  from  the  benefits  of  common  school  education.  These  were  the 
only  two  features  that  distinguished  that  offer  of  accommodation.  But  Mr. 
Ketchum  did  not  find  it  convenient  to  read  the  propositions  that  we  submit- 
ted at  the  same  time,  and  which,  candor  should  have  acknowledged,  re- 
moved from  us  every  imputation  of  being  actuated  by  sectarian  motives,  or 
having  in  view  the  appropriation  of  the  public  money  to  the  propagation 
of  our  religion. 

I  will  now  commence  with  the  reading  of  but  a  small  portion  of  that, 
sufficient,  however,  to  show  you  that,  on  this  ground,  so  far  as  information 
was  concerned,  they  had  it ;  and  if,  with  that  in  their  possession,  they  con- 
cealed the  truth,  and  suppressed  it,  on  'their  heads  be  the  responsibility 
tnat  attaches  to  such  conduct. 

What  is  the  great  difficulty — the  legal  difficulty  ?  That  public  money 
cannot  be  applied  to  sectarian  uses.  Very  well ;  we  met  that.  "We  said, 
Here  are  propositions  that  cover  our  whole  ground  : 

That  there  shall  be  reserved  to  the  managers  or  trustees  of  these  schools 
respectively  the  designation  of  the  teachers  to  be  appointed,  who  shall  be 
subjected  to  the  examination  of  a  committee  of  the  Public  School  Society, 
shall  be  fully  qualified  for  the  duties  of  their  appointment,  and  of  unexcep- 
tionable moral  character ;  or,  in  the  event  of  the  trustees  or  managers  fail- 
ing to  present  individuals  for  these  situations  of  that  description,  then  indi- 
viduals having  like  qualifications  of  unexceptionable  character,  to  be  select- 
ed .and  appointed  by  the  Public  School  Society,  who  shall  be  acceptable  to 
the  managers  or  trustees  of  the  schools  to  which  they  shall  be  appointed ; 
but  no  person  to  be  continued  as  a  teacher  in  either  of  the  schools  referred 
to  against  the  wishes  of  the  managers  or  trustees  thereof. 


446  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

That  was  the  first  proposition  ;  showing  them  that,  so  far  as  the  teachers 
were  concerned,  all  we  wanted  was,  men  in  whom  we  could  place  confidence. 
The  second  proposition  was : 

That  the  schools  shall  be  open  at  all  times  to  the  inspection  of  any  au- 
thorized agent  or  officer  of  the  city  or  State  government,  with  liberty  to 
visit  the  same,  and  examine  the  books  used  therein,  or  the  teachers,  touch- 
ing, the  course  and  system  of  instruction  pursued  in  the  schools,  or  in  rela- 
tion to  any  matter  connected  therewith. 

So  that  there  was  no  concealment  there,  they  themselves  should  be  the 
inspectors  ;  and  I  will  say  it  boldly,  that,  if  %hey  had  been  actuated  by  that 
deep  feeling  of  humanity  for  which  they  claimed  credit,  they  would  have 
accepted  that  proposal  to  take  our  children  under  their  care,  affording  to 
them  the  same  means  of  gaining  future  happiness  as  they  did  to  others. 

The  document  goes  on : 

The  undersigned  are  willing  that,  in  the  superintendence  of  their  schools, 
every  specified  requirement  of  any  aud  every  law  passed  by  the  Legislature 
of  the  State,  or  the  ordinances  of  the  Common  Council,  to  guard  against 
abuse  in  the  matter  of  common  school  education,  shall  be  rigidly  enforced 
and  exacted  by  the  competent  public  authorities. 

They  believe  that  the  benevolent  object  of  every  such  law  is  to  bring  the 
means  of  education  within  the  reach  of  the  child  of  every  poor  man,  with- 
out damaging  their  religion,  whatever  it  may  be,  or  the  religious  rights  of 
any  such  child  or  parent. 

It  is  in  consequence  of  what  they  consider  the  damaging  of  their  religion 
and  their  religious  rights,  in  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  that 
they  have  been  obliged  to  withdraw  their  children  from  them.  The  facts 
which  they  have  already  submitted,  and  which  have  been  more  than  sus- 
tained by  the  sentiments  uttered  on  behalf  of  the  Society  in  the  late  discus- 
sion, prove  that  they  were  not  mistaken. 

As  regards  the  organization  of  their  schools,  they  "are  willing  that  they 
should  be  under  the  same  police  and  regulations  as  those  of  the  Public 
School  Society— the  same  hours,  the  same  order,  the  same  exercises,  even  the 
same  inspection. 

But  the  books  to  be  used  for  exercises  in  learning  to  read  or  spell,  in  his- 
tory, geography,  and  all  such  elementary  knowledge,  as  could  have  a  ten- 
dency to  operate  on  their  hearts  and  minds  in  reference  to  their  religion, 
must  be,  so  far  as  Catholic  children  are  concerned,  and  no  farther,  such  a^ 
they  shall  judge  proper  to  put  in  their  hands.  But  none  of  their  dogmas, 
nothing  against  the  creed  of  any  other  denomination,  shall  be  introduced. 

Reference  is  here  made  to  the  sentiments  uttered  by  the  advocates  of  the 
Public  School  Society  in  their  opposition  to  our  claims  before  the  Common 
Council.  Many  of  my  present  audience  were  perhaps  there,  and  they  can 
remember  what  an  array  of  individuals,  otherwise  distinguished  by  their 
character — what  an  arrray  of  bigotry  and  prejudice,  and,  we  must  say,  of 
profound  ignorance,  was  presented  against  us.  One  reverend  gentleman 
came  there,  and  said,  in  reference  to  our  objection  respecting  the  Protestant 
version  of  the  Bible,  that  one  of  our  comments  taught  "  the  lawfulness  of 
murdering  heretics."  Before  the  Common  Council  I  brought  that  gentle- 
man to  account,  and  I  assure  you  that,  considering  his  gray  hairs,  and  the 
respect  that  is  due  to  age  and  the  sacred  character  of  a  minister  of  peace,  I 
felt  humbled  at  beholding  the  degraded  position  in  which  he  found  himself 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  447 

before  I  had  done.  He  had,  however,  obtained  a  copy  of  an  old  version  of 
the  Scriptures,  published  by  the  Catholic  refugees  in  the  time  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  who,  wishing  to  prepare  the  way  for  an  invasion  by  the  Spanish, 
wrote  a  series  of  notes  on  the  Scriptures,  which  they  thought  would  tend  to 
effect  that  end.  So  soon,  however,  as  these  notes  became  known  in  England 
and  Ireland,  they  were  scouted  with  horror  by  all  professing  the  Catholic 
name.  A  few  copies  of  that  version,  however,  remained  lost  and  forgotten, 
and  an  ignorant  publisher  in  Cork,  thinking  to  make  a  profitable  specula- 
tion, obtained  one  of  them  ;  and  not  knowing — as  was  afterward  proved — 
the  difference  between  it  and  the  authorized  version,  he  undertook  to  pub- 
lish another  edition  of  it.  In  the  process  of  publication,  however,  the 
character -of  the  work  became  known,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  for- 
bade the  publication.  The  publisher  was  ruined,  and  he  commenced  a  suit 
for  damages.  The  matter  was  referred  to  in  committees  of  the  House  of 
Commons  and  of  the  House  of  Lords,  and  to  all  the  particulars  of  the  case 
was,  of  course,  thus  given  the  greatest  possible  publicity.  Well,  the  pub- 
lisher, being  deprived  of  his  anticipated  sale  in  Ireland,  where  the  Catholics 
would  not  purchase  such  a  book,  thought  that,  by  sending  some  to  this 
country,  people  as  ignorant  as  himself  might  purchase  them,  and  thus  the 
work  might  not  prove  a  dead  loss.  In  this  way  a  copy  fell  into  the  hands 
of  one  of  these  gentlemen  ;  and  what  did  they  do  ?  Why,  about  the  very 
same  period  that  "Maria  Monk"  was  published — and  I  know  not  but  from 
the  same  press — they  emitted  an  edition  of  this  Bible,  in  order  to  excite 
public  odium  against  their  Catholic  fellow-citizens !  It  was  then,  with  a 
copy  of  that  in  his  hand,  that  that  clergyman  came  forward  to  prove,  by 
means  of  that  forgery,  that  we  taught  the  lawfulness  of  murdering  heretics. 
Then,  besides  that,  there  was  another  gentleman,  and  he,  in  speaking  on  the 
subject  of  these  very  schools,  and  offering  reasons  why  we  should  be  denied 
the  benefits  of  education,  instituted  a  comparison — all  the  others  had,  with 
great  professions  of  respect  and  benevolent  feeling  for  us,  said  "  it  was  not 
because  we  were  Catholics  "  that  they  opposed  us ;  oh !  no ;  they  always 
qualified  it — but  he  instituted  a  comparison  between  the  religion  of  Fene- 
lon  and  Voltaire,  and  with  marvellous  candor,  forgetting  the  preface,  ad- 
mitted that  he  opposed  us  because  we  were  Catholics !  .  This  gentleman 
said,  that,  if  he  had  no  alternative,  he  would  sooner  be  of  the  rejigion  of 
Voltaire  than  of  that  of  Fenelon.  These  are  the  sentiments  to  which  I 
allude,  and  to  •which  reference  is  here  made,  when  we  say  that  such  senti- 
ments are  only  calculated  to  strengthen  the  conviction  that  our  Catholic 
children,  from  the  prejudices  against  their  parentage  and  religion,  had  no 
chance  of  justice  in  those  schools.  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  an 
examination  of  the  schools,  make  a  report,  and  in  that,  after  quoting  the 
two  propositions  for  an  accommodation,  they  take  occasion  to  say  : 

Your  committee  deem  it  proper  to  remark,  in  vindication  of  the  School 
Society,  that  they  were  only  one  of  the  numerous  remonstrants  against  the 
prayer  cf  the  petitioners.  Their  views  were  represented  at  the  late  discus- 
sion' before  the  board  only  by  their  legal  advisers,  Messrs.  Sedgwick  and 
Ketchum.  The  other  gentlemen  who  participated  in  the  discussion  repre- 


448  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

sented  other  bodies,  which  are  not  in  any  manner  connected  with  them. 
Sentiments  were  uttered  by  them  which  the  School  Society  do  not  entertain, 
and  for  which  they  are  not  justly  accountable. 

So  they  say ;  but  by  whom  ?  It  would  go  abroad  that  this  was  a  decla- 
ration from  the  whole  body  of  the  Public  School  Society.  I  do  not  believe 
that  was  the  fact,  and  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  it.  Because  I  do  know 
that  these  gentlemen  used,  or  at  least  admitted  this  sentiment— this  bad 
sentiment  of  their  associates — for  the  purpose  of  defeating  us,  and  they 
were  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  victory,  without  at  all  disclaiming  the  dis- 
honorable means  they  had  employed  to  secure  it.  But  as  easily  could  the 
English  efface  the  stigma  that  rests  upon  them  from  their  employment  of 
.  the  Indian's  tomahawk  during  their  warfare  with  America. 

And  I  ask  them,  Is  there  on  their  records  a  disapproval  of  the  declara- 
tion of  Dr.  Spring  or  of  Dr.  Bond  ? — the  one,  that  we  would  murder  here- 
tics, and  the  other,  that  the  religion  of  Voltaire  was  to  be  preferred  to  that 
of  Fcnelon.  Have  they,  in  any  one  official  document,  disavowed  that  ?  We 
challenge  them  to  show  that  the  question  of  a  disclaimer  has  ever  been 
mooted.  On  the  contrary,  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  they  approved  of 
these  statements  made  by  Drs.  Spring  and  Bond,  and  that  from  their  own 
document  too,  signed  by  their  President  and  Secretary,  which  goes  nearly 
as  far.  And  yet  these  are  the  men  to  whom  we  are  required  to  give  the 
management  of  the  education  of  our  children  !  They  have  hedged  educa- 
tion around  with  an  impenetrable  wall,  beyond  which  no  applicant  from  our 
body  can  be  admitted,  except  on  terms  that  violate  our  civil  and  religious 
rights.  A  state  of  ignorance  and  degradation  is  the  destiny  assigned  to 
those  who  will  not  submit  to  their  Procrustean  system,  to  the  dimensions  of 
which  all  must  submit  to  be  adapted. 

The  Society  acknowledge  that  Messrs.  Ketchum  and  Sedgwick  are  their 
official  organs.  Well,  we  find  Mr.  Sedgwick,  in  the  speech  referred  to  on 
last  evening,  absolutely  disclaiming  the  teaching  of  religion.  He  said  it 
was  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  what  was  called  religious  instruction  meant 
any  thing  more  than  simple  morality,  which  he  stated  to  be  the  basis  of  all 
religion.  And  do  these  gentlemen  intend  to  reverse  the  order  of  the  Al- 
mighty, and,  by  giving  this  precedence  to  morality,  to  say  that  men  must  be 
good  without  a  motive,  and  then  they  may  learn  religion  ?  How,  then,  can 
they  quarrel  with  us  for  saying  that  they  attempted — what  Mr.  Spencer  says 
well,  is  impossible— to  divorce  religion  from  education  ?  It  was  on  that 
ground  that  they  appeared  before  the  Common  Council  and  defeated  our 
claim ;  for,  as  you  saw  yesterday,  and  see  to-day,  the  crime  charged  upon  us, 
the  disqualifying  circumstance,  was,  that  we  belonged  to  a  religious  society, 
and  the  public  money  was  not  to  be  appropriated  in  any  way  except  in  the 
promotion  of  a  "  purely  civil  and  secular  education."  When  we  told  them 
that  we  supposed  they  were  sincere  in  their  declarations,  and  that,  by  divorc- 
ing religion  from  education,  thus  leaving  the  children  without  the  necessary 
motive  to  virtue  and  morality,  and  wholly  destitute  of  any  principle  to  curb 
their  rising  passions,  they  seemed  to  exclaim,  "  Oh  !  what  an  impious  set  of 
men  you  suppose  us  to  be — atheists  ! "  No,  not  exactly ;  but  I  accuse  you 


SPEECH    OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  449 

of  being  what  you  yourselves  assume.  You  defeat  all  applications  made  by 
applicants  professing  religion.  You  contend  that  religion  must  not  be  any 
part  of  State  education.  Well,  then,  how  can  you  be  dissatisfied  if  we  call 
you  anti-religious,  according  to  the  principles  you  have  yourselves  assumed  ? 
The  fact  is,  that,  in  order  to  conciliate  those  whose  minds  are  haunted  by  a 
certain  spectre  of  a  union  between  Church  and  State,  and  in  order  to  bring 
them  to  the  support  of  the  Society,  they  pretended  to  meet  their  views  ex- 
actly ;  and  then  again,  on  the  other  hand,  attempted  to  satisfy  the  scruples 
of  conscientious  parents  by  playing  the  several  sects  one  against  the  other, 
and  with  so  much  adroitness,  that  the  whole  community  came  to  the  desired 
conclusion  that  the  interests  of  education  and  morality  were  perfectly  safe 
in  the  hands  of -the  Society,  and  could  not  be  safe  in  the  hands  of  any 
other. 

In  taking  up  the  speech  of  Mr.  Ketchum,  I  must  premise  that  he  has 
divided  it  into  two  parts,  and  that,  of  the  many  columns  by  which  it  is  sup- 
ported, the  first  two  or  three  are  occupied  with  a  detailed  history  of  the 
legislation,  so  called,  of  the  Common  Council,  on  this  question.  Now,  I 
understand  the  part  of  this  gentleman — who  has,  perhaps,  as  deep  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  mystery  of  political  wire-drawing  as  any  other  gentleman  of  his 
profession  in  the  State — I  understand  his  introduction  of  this  matter  entirely 
foreign  to  the  subject.  His  object  was,  to  impress  the  mind  of  the  senators 
with  the  idea  that,  in  New  York,  the  question  had  been  decided — that  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  had  been  changed — the  position  of  parties  changed — 
applications  had  been  made  from  time  to  time,  for  sixteen  years,  and  that, 
after  the  gravest  reflection,  under  all  possible  variety  of  circumstances,  the 
answer  uniformly  was,  that  it  would  be  a  violation  of  something  that  he 
calls  "a  great  principle" — which,  however,  be  does  not  think  proper  to 
define — if  our  claim  were  admitted.  He  wished  to  convey  the  idea  that,  if 
there  had  been  any  thing  just  or  proper  or  true  in  our  claims,  it  could  not 
have  escaped  the  notice  of  public  officers  in  New  York — the  immediate  rep- 
resentatives of  the  people ;  and  that,  consequently,  the  senators  should 
approach  the  subject  with  minds  already  biased  and  prejudiced  against  us. 
The  gentleman  wished  ,to  lead  the  honorable  legislators  to  say,  "  What ! 
shall  we,  on  the  examination  of  one  hour,  at  this  distance  from  the  city  of 
New  York,  undertake  to  reverse  the  judgment  sustained  by  the  uniform  con- 
currence of  the  various  boards  that  have  constituted  the  public  councils  of 
that  city  for  sixteen  years  ?  "  There  was  great  generalship  in  all  that  on  the 
part  of  the  learned  gentleman. 

But  I  dispute  the  principle  in  toto  which  the  gentleman  assumes,  and, 
before  that  honorable  Senate,  I  would  maintain  that  the  gentleman  has  no 
foundation  whatever  for  his  assumption,  and  that  this  question  should  be 
viewed  by  them  as  if  approached  for  the  first  time. 

And  what  is  my  reason  for  assuming  this  position  ?  You  will  mark,  that 
the  learned  gentleman  frequently  styles  the  Common  Council  "  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  people."  My  argument  in  reply,  then,  is,  that,  so  far  as  re- 
gards this  school  question,  they  never  were  the  "  representatives  of  the  peo- 
ple "  for  that  question  never  was  made  one  that  could  affect  their  election 
29 


450  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

in  the  most  remote  degree.  At  least,  so  we  thought.  So  far  as  we  are  con- 
cerned, we  are  right.  True,  whilst  we  were  meeting  to  study  this  subject 
and  bring  it  under  public  notice,  these  gentlemen  of  the  Society  were  ever 
and  anon  charging  us  with  political  designs ;  and  I  recollect  something  of 
an  amusing  nature  connected  with  that.  It  was  my  duty,  on  the  day  suc- 
ceeding the  debate  before  the  Common  Council,  to  proceed  to  Albany  for 
the  purpose  of  giving  "  confirmation."  I  went ;  preached  three  times  on 
next  day,  Sunday.  On  Monday  I  drove  to  Troy,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting 
the  churches  there;  and  on  Tuesday  I  returned  to  this  city.  Well,  what 
was  the  story  ? — of  course,  I  do  not  say  got  up  by  these  gentlemen,  nor  by 
the  Public  School  Society — but  it  was  said  that  I,  having  taken  tea  with  the 
aldermen,  a  bargain  was  struck  between  us,  and  I  was  to  go  to  Albany  to 
get  the  Catholics  to  vote  against  the  Governor,  and  then  all  would  be  right. 
That  was  a  specimen  of  the  stories  that  were  circulated.  But,  while  we 
were  thus  charged,  they  who  brought  the  accusation  were  themselves  not 
idle  in  that  very  department.  The  subject  was  introduced  to  their  pulpits, 
and  their  congregations  were  lectured  on  it,  and  from  that  may  be  traced 
the  attempt  to  defeat  Governor  Seward. 

But  we  never  made  this  a  political  question,  and  the  Common  Council 
have  never  acted  on  it  "  as  the  representatives  of  the  people,"  because  it 
never  was  applied  as  a  test ;  but  if  the  question  were  put  between  the  Sec- 
retary's plan  and  the  Public  School  Society,  the  latter  would  soon  break 
•down  any  board  that  would  undertake  to  support  them. 

We  were  denied,  it  is  true,  by  the  Common  Council ;  but  we  never 
looked  on  them  as  acting,  in  that  matter,  as  the  representatives  of  the  peo- 
ple. We  regarded  them  as  independent  judges.  And,  really,  there  is  little 
ground  for  surprise  at  their  decisions  in  the  premises. 

Now,  I  will  suppose  a  case.  Let  us  take  that  of  a  bank ;  for  it  is  per- 
haps as  good  an  illustration  as  I  can  furnish  at  the  moment.  A  citizen  has 
a  controversy  with  the  bank,  and  that  controversy  comes  to  a  trial.  The 
citizen  complains  that  he  is  injured  by  the  directors  of  the  bank ;  he  makes 
out  his  case,  but,  in  the  end,  he  finds,  contrary  to  all  hia  just  anticipations 
and  all  his  views  of  justice,  that  he  is  defeated,  and  judgment  given  against 
him.  Well,  he  thinks  this  very  hard.  But  he  happens  to  learn  that  the 
judge  before  whom  the  case  was  tried,  and  the  jury  who  rendered  the  ver- 
dict, are  all  directors  of  the  bank,  and  his  wonder  at  the  result  of  .the  trial 
ceases.  Do  you  see  the  application  ?  These  gentlemen,  after  having  ex- 
cluded all  religious  societies,  made  the  word  "  religion  "  a  kind  of  disquali- 
fication in  a  Christian  community,  in  the  year  1824;  after  that,  witli  the 
subtlety  which  proves  that  they  are  wise  in  their  generation,  they  got  an  act 
passed,  .by  which  the  Common  Council  are  made  ex-officio  members  of  the 
Public  School  Society,  and  thus  constituted  them  parties  and  judges  in  the 
cause. 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  I  do  not  suppose  for  a  moment  that  any 
gentleman  of  that  Common  Council  would  at  any  time  knowingly  deviate 
from  the  path  of  justice  and  duty  on  account  of  his  official  connection  with 
that  Society ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  I  do  know  that  there  is  a  powerful 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP    HUGHES.  451 

influence  in  association,  against  which  the  laws,  with  great  wisdom,  have 
guarded  the  judicial  bench,  when  they  declare  that  a  judge  should  be  of  a 
single  inind,  elevated  above  all  selfish  considerations,  and  whose  interests 
could  never  be  affected  by  the  result  of  any  official  act  which  he  might  be 
called  on  to  execute,  or  any  sentence  which  it  might  be  his  duty  to  pro- 
nounce. Here,  then,  were  aldermen  of  different  parties  elected  from  time  to 
time,  and  so  made  members — part  and  parcel — of  this  Society ;  and  I  ask, 
Would  it  have  been  a  gracious  thing  in  them,  after  having  been  so  honored 
with  a  place  in  it,  to  become  adverse  to  the  interests  of  that  body  ?  Let  us 
bear  in  mind,  too,  that  there  is  with  most  people  a  regard  for  consequences ; 
and  no  alderman  could  imagine  he  would  greatly  benefit  his  interests  by 
opposing  a  corporation  that  has  acquired  nearly  the  entire  control  of  all 
the  public  money  appropriated  for  the  purpose  of  education  in  New  York, 
and  having  its  dependents  spread  from  one  end  of  the  city  to  the  other.  I 
think  it  would  require  a  strong  and  elevated  mind,  an  unusual  amount  of 
moral  courage,  to  enable  any  man  so  situated  to  oppose  such  a  corporation. 

I  do  not,  then,  admit  the  reasoning  of  Mr.  Ketchum,  for  I  deny  his  pre- 
mises that  the  Common  Council  ever  were  "  the  representatives  of  the  peo- 
ple "  on  this  subject* 

I  will  now  commence  my  review  of  this  speech.  I  read  it  carefully  from 
beginning  to  end,  and  I  was  myself  impressed  with  the  idea  that  it  scarcely 
required  an  answer.  I  was  quite  convinced  of  that,  so  far  as  the  honorable 
senators  were  concerned,  because  I  knew  that,  to  the  minds  of  men  accus- 
tomed to  reasoning,  and  to  detect  at  a  glance  where  the  strength  of  a  posi- 
tion rested,  that  speech  must  have  appeared  a  thing  altogether  out  of  place. 
Nevertheless,  it  was  hinted  to  me  that  the  speech  was  not  intended  for  sena- 
tors alone,  and  the  readiness  with  which  Mr.  Ketchum  could  furnish  the 
report  went  considerably  to  strengthen  that  opinion.  It  was  said  that, 
though  to  me  the  speech  might  seem  weak,  yet  to  the  generality  of  readers, 
particularly  those  unacquainted  with  the  subject,  it  might  seem  very  spe- 
cious, and  produce  in  their  minds  the  very  conclusions  opposite  to  those 
which  we  would  wish  to  see  established.  On  that  ground  I  have  taken  it 
up ;  and  I  must  say  that,  with  regard  to  Mr.  Ketchum  himself,  I  have  the 
kindest  possible  feeling  ;  and  if,  in  the  course  of  my  remarks,  I  should  hap- 
pen to  speak  in  a  manner  seemingly  disrespectful,  I  beg  that  it  may  not  be 
considered  as  having  been  so  intended.  Of  the  gentleman  himself  I  cannot 
say  any  thing  disrespectful ;  of  his  speech  I  hope  I  am  permitted  to  say 
whatever  the  evidence  may  authorize.  I  mention  his  name  with  perfect  free- 
dom, because  his  name  is  attached  to  the  speech,  and  because,  principally, 
he  is  the  official  organ  of  that  Society,  and  what  he  says  is  already  endorsed 
by  them. 

After  his  introduction,  Mr.  Ketchum  says : 

This,  probably,  may  account  very  sensibly  for  the  fact  that,  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  the  portion  of  the  school  fund  allotted  to  her  was  to  be  dis- 
tributed by  those  almoners  of  her  charity  whom  her  representatives  thought 
proper  to  designate.  Now,  I  ask,  was  there  any  thing  inconsistent  with 
sound  principle  in  this  ?  Is  there  any  thing  in  it  which  violates  the  princi- 


452  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

pie  of  the  largest  liberty  and  the  purest  democracy,  of  which  we  hear  some- 
thing in  this  report  ? 

Stop,  Mr.  Ketchum  !  I  tell  you  that  there  is  not  one  word  in  that  whole 
report  against  such  a  state  of  things  as  that  you  represent  to  the  minds  of 
the  senators,  by  making  a  wrong  application.  What  is  represented  as  con- 
trary to  the  principle  of  our  Constitution,  was  the  monopoly — the  exclusive 
system  that  has  succeeded  to  the  former  ;  and  Mr.  Ketchum  is  kind  enough 
to  make  an  anterior  reference  to  the  period  when  all  enjoyed  the  appropria- 
tion for  the  purposes  of  education.  I  stop  him  there,  and  say  that  he  makes 
a  wrong  application.  He  ought  not  to  prejudice  the  minds  of  senators,  or 
the  community,  by  pretending  that  the  Secretary's  report  trenches  on  the 
enjoyment  of  the  largest  liberty. 

Mr.  Ketchum  goes  on  : 

In  the  city  of  New  York,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  show  by  and  by — 
and  more  or  less,  I  suppose,  it  is  so  in  all  the  States  of  Christendom — there 
are  voluntary  associations,  charitable  associations,  associations  composed  of 
men,  incorporated  or  otherwise,  who  are  willing  to  proffer  their  services  to 
feed  the  hungry,  to  clothe  the  naked,  to  visit  the  destitute,  and  to  see  to  the 
application  of  funds  set  apart  for  their  relief.  Such  men  are  always  to  be 
found  in  large  cities — men  of  fortune,  men  of  leisure,  men  of  benevolence, 
who  are  willing  to  associate  together  for  benevolent  objects,  and  who  are 
usually  made  the  almoners  of  the  charity  of  others. 

Now,  Mr.  Ketchum,  in  the  whole  of  this,  is  gliding  imperceptibly  to  the 
point  he  wishes  to  reach.  And  what  is  that  point  ?  It  is,  to  fix  on  the 
minds  of  the  senators  that,  as  religious  societies  formerly  took  care  of  their 
poor,  and  as  other  associations  take  care  of  other  objects  of  benevolence,  so 
they  were  to  look  upon  the  Public  School  Society  as  taking  care  of  educa- 
tion. In  endeavoring  to  effect  this  conclusion,  his  reasoning  glides  imper- 
ceptibly, as  on  a  colored  surface  which  is  black  at  one  extremity  and  white 
at  the  other,  but  in  which  the  various  shades  are  so  nicely  mingled  that  you 
cannot  ascertain  the  point  where  the  change  of  color  begins,  so  does  the 
progress  of  his  sophistry  elude  observation.  "  Charitable  associations ! " 
Now,  I  will  examine  Mr.  Ketchum's  philosophy  here.  I  consider  that  there 
is  here  what  may  be  called  a  rhetorical  picture.  He  personifies  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  calls  it  "  she ; "  then  he  takes  her  and  places  her  on  one 
side,  and  places  all  the  religious  societies  and  benevolent  societies,  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  amongst  the  rest ;  and,  that  being  done,  he  says  the  city 
of  New  York  made  them  her  "  almoners."  But  when  we  take  these  socie- 
ties away,  where  is  "  she  ?  "  What  becomes  of  her  ?  This  is  what  I  call  a 
rhetorical  fiction.  Mr.  Ketchum  need  not  pretend  to  say  that  the  city  of 
New  York  made  "  almoners."  They  were  self-created.  When  you  take  the 
religious  societies,  each  having  its  charity  school,  and  this  Society — which 
we  must  not  call  irreligious,  although  it  has  always  defeated  its  opponents 
by  saying  that  they  profess  religion — these  constitute  the  people  of  New 
York,  and  they  received  the  money  set  apart  for  that  specific  purpose,  and 
in  their  sovereign  power  and  wisdom  they  applied  it  as  they  thought  prop- 
er. They  managed  it  with  perfect  harmony,  for  I  never  heard  of  the  occur- 
rence of  a  dispute  when  each  section  of  the  community  assumed  the  man- 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP  HUGHES.  453 

agement  of  their  own  schools,  and  it  was  on  account  of  a  charge  against  one 
society  of  misappropriating  the  public  money  that  the  controversy  arose. 

Afterward,  referring  to  the  Legislature  by  which  that  state  of  things 
was  changed  to  the  present,  he  says  : 

Hence,  after  many  discussions  in  the  Assembly  chamber  (discussions  at 
which  all  the  members  were  invited  to  attend — and  almost  all  of  them  did 
attend,  for  we  had  generally  a  quorum,,  although  it  was  before  a  committee 
night  after  night),  the  committee  of  the  Assembly  at  length  made  a  report 
favorable  to  the  prayer  of  the  memorial ;  but  suggesting,  in  that  very  report, 
whether  even  so  much  as  was  granted  in  the  proposition  referred  to  was  not 
a  violation  of  sound  principle ;  whether,  in  fact,  religious  societies  ought  to 
participate  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  fund  at  all,  because,  by  such  participa- 
tion, the  Jew  might  be  made  to  support  the  doctrine  of  the  Christian';  and, 
vice-versa,,  the  Christian  that  of  the  Jew,  the  Catholic  of  the  Protestant,  the 
Protestant  of  the  Catholic,  and  so  on. 

What  a  splendid  discovery  !  The  people  hitherto  living  in  perfect  har- 
mony, all  enjoying  that  appropriation  of  public  money — not,  perhaps,  ex- 
pending it  in  the  wisest  manner,  but,  at  all  events,  without  disturbance  or 
dispute.  But  all  at  once  it  is  discovered  that,  because  they  are  religious 
societies,  it  would  be  a  violation  of  sound  principle  to  allow  them  the  pub- 
lic money.  And  why  ?  Because,  in  that  case,  the  money  paid  by  a  Protes- 
tant might  pass  to  the  support  of  a  Catholic  school — or,  if  you  please,  to 
the  school  of  a  Jew ;  and  that  involved  a  violation  of  conscience.  I  con- 
fess, however,  I  cannot  see  that,  nor  do  I  think  any  reflecting  man  can  see 
it.  But  what  is  the  fact  respecting  the  turn  of  the  legislation  in  relation  to 
the  Public  School  Society,  called,  at  that  time,  "  The  Free-School  Society"  ? 
Simply  that,  because  at  that  Bethel  Baptist  Church  money  had  been  im- 
properly appropriated,  occasion  was  taken  to  punish  not  the  guilty  party, 
if  there  was  guilt,  but  those  who  had  memorialized  against  the  abuse  of 
public  money,  and  to  disfranchise  every  man  professing  religion,  because  the 
members  of  one  particular  Church  had  abused  their  trust !  And  it  is  sus- 
pected that  all  this  was  not  done  without  the  secret  instrumentality  of  that 
very  Free-School  Society  itself,  which  then,  as  at  the  present  day,  professed 
to  have  no  religion  at  all.  So  that,  in  this  very  Legislature — though  I  know 
that  another  view  of  it  is  perfectly  lawful — we  see  that  the  reasoning  ap- 
proved by  Mr.  Ketchum  would  go  to  brand  a  stigma  on  the  sacreduess  of 
religion ;  it  would  lead  to  the  inference  that,  because  the  adherents  of  one 
religious  sect  have  abused  their  trust  in  the  employment  of  the  public 
money,  that,  therefore,  all  profession  of  religion  should  be  an  everlasting 
disqualification  !  But  I  pronounce  such  an  inference  unworthy  the  citizens 
of  a  land  in  whose  Constitution  Christianity  is  recognized.  And  I  ask, 
Where  was  the  usual  penetration  of  Mr.  Ketchum  when  he  employed  such 
reasoning  ?  By  the  laws  of  this  State,  church  property  is  exempted  from 
taxation  ;  and  I  am  surprised  that  gentlemen  of  such  tender  apprehensions 
can  rest  quietly  at  night,  when  they  reflect  that,  possibly,  Protestant  money 
is  going  to  make  up  the  deficiency  in  the  revenues  of  the  State  caused  by 
the  exemption  from  taxation  granted  to  Catholic  churches  !  But  I  see  no 
harm  at  all  in  the  state  of  things  by  which  money  is  thus  transferred.  All 


THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  churches  are  represented  by  all  the  people,  and  it  matters  not  an  iota  if 
churches  are  exempted  ;  the  tax  is  paid  by  the  members  in  another  form. 

So  with  the  public  school  money.  Although,  in  the  manipulation  of  the 
money,  it  might  happen  that  the  identical  dollar  paid  by  a  Protestant  might 
pass  into  the  treasury  of  a  Catholic  school,  the  Catholic  dollar  -would  go 
back  to  replace  it  in  the  Protestant  school ;  it  would  be,  in  the  end,  all  the 
name,  for  the  question  is  not  at  all  about  the  identity  of  the  money.  If  the 
taxes  could  be  kept  separate,  and  the  money  paid  by  the  Protestant  go  into 
tue  Protestant  box,  and  the  money  paid  by  the  Catholic  go  into  the  Catho- 
lic box,  sure  enough,  they  would  get  their  own  money;  but  it  would  be  all 
the  same  if  no  such  care  had  been  taken.  Here  I  would  refer  to  the  case  of 
chaplains  in  our  prisons,  &c.,  not  one  of  whom  is  a  Catholic,  but  who  have 
often  received  the  contributions  of  Catholics ;  have  they  ever  complained 
that  that  was  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  ?  Certainly  not ;  and  that 
practical  view  of  the  matter  should  have  taught  the  gentleman  the  futility 
of  his  reasoning,  that,  if  the  money  of  one  sect  went  into  the  hands  of  an- 
other, it  was  all  the  same ;  it  was  the  money  of  the  people,  received  from 
them  in  one  form  and  returned  to  them  in  another,  allowing  them,  in  its 
employment,  the  noble  and  grand  privilege — of  which,  I  trust,  they  will  not 
allow  themselves  to  be  deprived,  no  matter  how  they  exercise  it — of  obey- 
ing the  dictates  of  their  own  free  consciences. 

In  the  course  of  his  speech,  the  gentleman  makes  a  grand  display  of  all 
the  sects  that  were  set  aside  by  the  Society.  Then  he  asks  the  Senate, 
"  Will  this  honorable  body  grant  to  Catholics  what  was  denied  to  all  these  ? " 
But  there  is  a  difference  here  ;  and  what  is  it  ?  There  is  not  on  record  an 
instance  of  a  complaint  on  the  part  of  any  of  these  sects  that  their  rights 
of  conscience  were  invaded.  Episcopalians  never  made  any  such  complaint, 
nor  did  Presbyterians,  nor  Methodists,  nor  did  any  of  the  other  sects ;  but 
it  happened  that  they  had  charity  schools  attached  to  their  churches,  and 
they  thought,  by  giving  such  education  as  the  State  required,  they  were 
entitled  to  their  share  of  the  State  bounty.  But  very  different  was  the  case 
of  the  Catholics.  And  now,  suppose  the  circumstances  of  the  case  were 
reversed,  and  Catholics  had  the  majority  on  which  the  Society  depends,  and 
would  employ  the  power  conferred  by  it  in  forcing  on  the  whole  community 
Catholic  books  and  Catholic  versions  of  the  Bible,  and  give  the  children  les- 
sons about  the  burning  of  Servetus,  and  the  ignorance  of  a  whole  nation  in 
supposing  the  machine  for  winnowing  corn  to  be  an  impious  invention,  and 
denouncing  those  employing  it  as  guilty  of  a  crime  against  the  God  who 
supplies  the  zephyrs  and  the  breeze — suppose  that  case,  and  that  the  ag- 
grieved minority  complained  and  applied  for  redress,  I  trust  that  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  there  would  not  be  found  a  Common  Council  of  Catholics  who 
would  refuse  to  listen  to  so  just  a  prayer. 

Mr.  Ketchum  says  farther,  when  speaking  of  the  action  of  the  Common 
Council  on  this  application,  that  it  had  been  referred  to  a  Law  Committee  ; 
and  he  quotes  the  decision  of  that  committee.  We,  knowing  the  manner  in 
which  our  former  applications  were  disposed  of,  need  not,  of  course,  be  sur- 
prised at  the  manner  in  which  this  report  was  expressed.  To  our  last  appli- 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  455 

cation,  made  in  the  spring  of  1840 — "when  I  was  absent  from  this  country — 
to  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen,  the  usual  negative  was  given ;  but  then 
it  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  board  was  surrounded  by  the  advocates  of  the 
Society,  and  these  things  which  we  have  stated,  and  which  they  have  since 
acknowledged,  were  denied  by  them ;  and  on  that  denial  was  grounded  the 
refusal  of  our  application.  The  advocates  of  the  Society  denied  that  there 
were  any  passages  in  their  books  with  which  we  could  find  fault ;  averred 
that  they  contain  nothing  disrespectful  to  our  religion.  But,  since  then, 
they  have  been  obliged  to  retract  that,  and  to  acknowledge  repeatedly  that, 
in  making  these  assertions,  they  were  not  sustained  by  truth ;  that  there 
were  passages  in  those  books  reflecting  upon  our  faith ;  that  these  passages 
had  been  taught  to  the  children  for  years,  and  would  have  been  retained  till 
this  very  day,  had  it  not  been  for  our  detection  and  exposure.  But  it  was 
not  at  all  surprising  that,  under  the  influence  of  a  Society  stretching  its 
gigantic  branches  over  every  quarter  of  the  city,  and  hearing  such  assertions 
from  its  advocates,  the  board  should  deny  our  claim.  But  let  us  glance  at 
the  conclusion  which  Mr.  Ketchum  draws  from  such  denial.  He  says : 

That  conclusion  was  ratified  by  their  constituents ;  and  I  believe  that 
every  one  of  the  religious  societies,  or  nearly  so,  excepting  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics, acquiesced  in  that  decision.  But  that  society,  year  after  year,  has 
come  before  the  Common  Council,  and  renewed  their  request  for  a  separate 
portion  of  the  school  fund.  With  the  best  feelings  for  the  applicants,  in  a 
spirit  of  kindness,  with  every  disposition  to  do  whatever  could  be  done  for 
them,  year  after  year,  and  without  respect  to  politics,  whether  the  one  party 
was  in  the  ascendant  or  the  other  party  was  in  the  ascendant,  the  Common 
Council  have,  with  almost  entire  unanimity,  disallowed  that  request ;  and  I 
believe  that  never,  in  either  board,  since  the  division  of  that  body  into  two 
boards,  has  there  been  but  one  dissenting  voice  raised  against  the  ratifica- 
tion of  that  decision.  Now,  if  the  committee  please,  who  have  complained  ? 
The  Roman  Catholics. 

I  repeat,  that  I  deny  the  philosophy  of  this  reasoning.  I  deny  that,  in 
any  case,  that  portion  at  least  of  the  community  that  has  petitioned  for  a 
reform  of  this  system  ever  looked  to  the  Common  Council  as  their  represen- 
tatives on  this  question.  And  another  argument  against  Mr.  Ketchum's 
position  is,  that  this  public  Council  were  partisans  in  the  case  in  which  they 
were  called  to  deliver  judgment.  And  I  think  that  it  would  be  well  for 
that  Public  School  Society  and  the  Common  Council,  if  the  latter,  by  their 
election  to  office,  are  to  be  engrafted  into  the  former,  that  the  duty  of  judg- 
ing between  them  and  the  community  were  delegated  to  disinterested  par- 
ties. Mr.  Ketchum  goes  on  to  say  : 

No  disrespect  was  intended  them.  The  Common  Council,  and  every 
person  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  the  question  on  behalf  of  the  Common 
School  Society,  took  great  care  to  say,  "  "We  do  not  reject  you  because  you 
are  Roman  Catholics ;  and,  as  evidence  of  this  truth,  we  give  you  the  fact 
that  we  have  rejected  similar  applications  from  powerful  Protestants ;  but 
we  reject  your  request  because  we  believe  that  a  sound  general  principle  will 
not  allow  us  to  grant  it." 

So  there  was  always  a  precaution  observed.  Indeed,  I  myself  remarked 
that  before  the  Common  Council.  They  uniformly,  with  one  exception,  said 
that  they  did  not  oppose  us  because  we  were  Catholics.  But  Dr.  Spring, 


456  TUB  PUBLIC   6CIIOOL    SOCIETY. 

with  great  magnanimity  and  candor,  neglected  to  take  the  hint,  but  de- 
clared that  he  was  apprehensive  of  our  faith  gaining  ground.  He  would 
oppose  us,  and  preserve  the  Society  as  it  was,  even  though  the  rights  of  the 
Catholics  should  be  damaged,  and  that,  for  his  part,  he  preferred  the 
religion  of  Voltaire  to  that  of  Feuelon.  The  sentiment  was  indeed  a  black 
one,  and  it  was  rendered  blacker  by  the  brightness  of  the  candor  with 
which  it  was  uttered. 

Here  again  Mr.  Ketchum  states  what  is  incorrect.     He  says  : 

We  have  rejected  similar  applications  from  powerful  Protestants. 

I  deny  that.  I  refer  him  to  the  records  of  the  Common  Council,  and  I 
will  venture  to  affirm  that  he  will  not  find  there  one  "  similar  application." 
And  why  ?  Simply  because  there  was  no  ground  for  any  such  application. 
For,  although  one  denomination  of  Protestants  may  differ  from  another,  and 
may  carry  their  attachment  to  their  respective  dogmas  to  great  length,  yet 
there  is  one  common  ground  on  which  they  all,  so  far  as  I  know,  without 
exception,  meet.  What  is  it  ?  That  the  Bible  alone,  as  understood  by  each 
individual,  is  their  rule  of  faith.  They  could,  therefore,  unite  on  their  pub- 
lic school  question  so  far  as  the  Bible  was  concerned.  But  then  they  re- 
quired that  Catholic  children,  whose  creed  never  admitted  that  principle, 
should  be  taught  that  doctrine.  They  had  not  the  same  reason  that  we  had 
to  go  before  the  Common  Council.  We  felt  that  we  might  as  well  at  once 
give  up  to  them  our  children,  and  allow  them  to  educate  them  as  they 
pleased,  as  to  send  them  to  their  schools.  I  deny,  then,  the  statement,  that 
"  similar  applications  "  were  made. 

Mr.  Ketchum  proceeds : 

I  say,  that  the  Corporation  have  been  desirous,  so  far  as  that  body  possi- 
bly could,  so  far  as  they  felt  themselves  at  liberty,  consistently  with  the 
maintenance  of  a  sound  general  principle,  to  accommodate  these  parties. 
They  have  granted  a  privilege  out  of  this  fund  to  the  Roman  Catholic  de- 
nomination, which  has  not  been  granted  to  any  other.  The  Sisters  of  Char- 
ity, so  called,  under  direction  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  connected 
with  it  (I  believe  I  am  right;  if  not,  I  should  be  happy  to" be  corrected), 
established  a  most  benevolent  institution  in  the  city  of  New  York,  called 
the  Orphan  Asylum — the  Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum.  They  took  into 
this  institution  poor  and  destitute  orphans.  They  fed  them  and  clothed 
them  most  meritoriously,  and  they  thus  relieved  the  city  of  New  York  of 
the  maintenance  of  many  who  would  otherwise,  probably,  have  been  a 
charge  upon  it.  After  long  discussion,  and  with  some  hesitancy,  yet  over- 
come by  the  desire  to  oblige,  and  aware  of  the  limitation  arising  from  the 
very  nature  of  that  institution,  the  Corporation  did  permit  the  Catholic 
Orphan  Asylum  to  receive  money  from  this  fund ;  and,  during  the  last  year, 
it  received  some  $1,462  for  the  education  of  about  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  children — in  common  with  the  Institution  for  the  Blind,  and  the  Deaf 
and  Dumb,  and  those  other  benevolent  and  Christian  institutions  which  are 
altogether  of  a  Catholic  character,  in  the  most  comprehensive  acceptation 
of  that  term,  as  they  are  under  no  sectarian  influence  or  government. 

And  pray,  what  sort  of  an  institution  is  the  Protestant  Orphan  Asylum  ? 
la  religion  not  taught  there  ?  And  yet  Mr.  Ketchum  singles  out  the  Catho- 
lic Orphan  Asylum,  and  speaks  of  the  favor  conferred  upon  it,  in  order  to 


SPEECH    OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  457 

show  the  liberality  of  the  Common  Council.  We  are  indeed  grateful  to  that 
•body  for  having  placed  ours  on  the  same  footing  with  other  institutions  of 
a  kindred  character.  But  the  Common  Council  have  granted  money  to  the 
Protestant  Half-Orphan  Asylum,  and  denied  an  application  of  a  similar 
grant  to  the  Catholics.  How  can  Mr.  Ketchum  assert  that  a  "  privilege  " 
has  been  granted  to  us  exclusively  ? 

In  reference  to  our  last  application,  Mr.  Ketchum  proceeds  : 

The  subject,  I  repeat,  underwent  a  very  full  and  free  discussion ;  and, 
after  that  had  terminated,  the  Board  of  Aldermen  gravely  considered  and 
discussed  the  subject,  and  at  length,  after  some  delay,  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  they  would  go  and  visit  the  schools.  Some  of  the  members  of  the 
Board  of  Public  Schools,  feeling  sensibly  alive  on  the  subject,  expressed  to 
me  an  apprehension  that  this  was  a  mere  evasion,  and  they  feared  that  the 
question  had  now  become  mingled  with  politics.  But  I  said,  "  Wait,  gen- 
tlemen ;  let  them  go  and  see  your  schools ;  it  is  a  natural  desire.  They 
ought  to  go.  It  is  a  great  and  delicate  question,  and  they  ought  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  it  in  all  its  details."  They  went  and  visited  the  public 
schools  and  the  Roman  Catholic  schools,  and  they  incorporated  the  result  of 
their  deliberations  in  a  report  which  I  have  before  me,  and  from  which  I 
shall  quote  by  and  by.  It  is  drawn  up  with  great  ability,  and  the  decision 
was,  with  but  one  dissenting  voice,  that  the  prayer  of  the  petition  should 
be  rejected  ;  and  it  was  rejected. 

On  this  I  remark,  in  reference  to  what  I  have,  I  believe,  already  referred 
to,  that  there  has  been  always  a  panacea  for  every  evil — the  appointment  of 
a  committee  to  visit  the  schools.  Why,  this  is  one  of  the  easiest  things  in 
the  world  !  A  little  training,  a  little  arrangement,  a  judicious  wink  to  the 
teachers,  will  prepare  every  thing,  so  that  it  will  be  very  hard  if  a  pleasiug 
exhibition  could  not  be  got  up  in  any  one  of  these  schools  for  one  hour,  on 
any  day  out  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  in  the  year. 

But  this  has  been  the  invariable  remedy — no  looking  at  the  wounds 
which  the  system  was  from  year  to  year,  and  from  day  to  day,  inflicting  on 
less  favored  portions  of  the  community ;  no  visit  to  the  back  streets  and 
miserable  lanes  of  this  city,  in  which  so  large  a  portion  of  its  future  inhab- 
itants are  grovelling  in  exposure  to  vice  and  degradation.  Nothing  of  that 
was  thought  of.  But  the  schools,  enriched  and  adorned  by  the  expenditure 
of  more  than  a  million  of  money,  were  inspected,  and  the  gratified  and 
approving  visitors  returned  to  the  Common  Council,  to  make  their  report 
that  it  was  an  excellent  system,  perfect  in  its  details  and  admirable  in  its 
workings,  and  it  was  only  the  absurd  bigotry  and  extreme  ignorance  of  the 
Catholics  that  prevented  them  from  reaping  its  benefits. 

Then  he  compares,  with  all  this,  the  state  of  our  humble  schools.  Well, 
I  will  not  pretend  to  say  that  the  Catholic  schools  were  in  the  best  order.' 
But  here  I  remark,  that,  whilst  at  every  stage  and  step  of  the  progress  of 
this  question  I  have  been  obliged  to  controvert  false  statements,  I  can  chal- 
lenge them  to  point  to  a  single  instance  in  which  they  could  dispute  the 
truth  of  any  of  our  documents.  And  now  I  will  give  a  passing  notice  to 
that  visit  to  the  Catholic  schools.  Hear  this  statement.  This  committee 
say: 

We  also  visited  three  of  the  schools  established  by  the  petitioners,  and 


458  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

•we  found  them  as  represented,  lamentably  deficient  in  accommodations,  and 
supplies  of  books  and  teachers ;  the  rooms  were  all  excessively  crowded  and 
poorly  ventilated ;  the  books  much  worn,  as  well  as  deficient  in  numbers, 
and  the  teachers  not  sufficiently  numerous ;  yet,  with  all  these  disadvan- 
tages, though  not  able  to  compete  successfully  with  the  public  schools,  they 
exhibited  a  progress  which  was  truly  creditable  ;  and  with  the  same  means 
at  their  disposal,  they  would  doubtless  soon  be  able,  under  suitable  direc- 
tion, greatly  to  improve  their  condition. 

Such  is  their  testimony. 

And  now,  shall  I  pass  over  this  opportunity  of  making  a  comparison  ? 
When  questioned  before  the  Senate,  the  Society  stated  that  they  could  not 
get  the  children  to  come  ;  and  here  are  our  schools  crowded  to  excess  !  I 
can  show  you,  in  a  room  not  much  larger  than  the  square  of  the  distance 
between  two  of  the  columns  supporting  the  gallery  of  this  building  in 
which  we  are  now  assembled,  upward  of  two  hundred  children  crowded 
together.  Yet  the  Public  School  Society  are  obliged  to  pay  $1,000  a  year 
of  public  money  to  visitors  for  the  purpose  of  gathering  children  to  their 
schools.  For  the  fact  came  out,  in  the  course  of  the  investigation,  that 
they  paid  that  sum  yearly  to  tract  distributors  for  the  purpose  I  have  stated ; 
whilst  we,  in  our  poverty,  could  not  find  room  or  books  or  teachers  for  the 
multitudes  of  children  that  thronged  upon  us,  and  whom  this  exclusive  sys- 
tem consigns  to  degradation  and  ignorance  and  vice,  unless  something  be 
done  for  them  by  others. 

Such  is  the  testimony  of  that  very  committee.  And  yet  the  decision  to 
which  they  came  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Ketchum  as  proof  that  a  "  great  princi- 
ple " — of  which  no  definition  known  is  given  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
of  his  speech — prevented  them  from  granting  our  petition.  Well,  I  have 
called  your  attention  already,  and  would  do  so  again,  to  a  point  that  shows 
as  clear  as  noonday  that  this  denial  was  not  benevolent  toward  us,  nor  in 
accordance  with  equal-handed  justice.  They  had  opposed  us  as  a  sect — as 
being  Catholics.  The  Secretary  of  State,  however — a  man  whose  integrity 
of  character,  legal  knowledge,  and  profound  and  statesmanlike  views  have 
elevated  him  to  the  highest  rank  in  the  community — placed  the  question  on 
entirely  different  grounds.  Mr.  Ketchum,  in  the  last  sentence  of  his  speech 
before  the  Common  Council,  declared,  that  to  the  Public  School  Society  the 
discharge  of  their  duties  was  rather  a  burden,  which  nothing  but  the  ex- 
treme benevolence  of  their  nature  had  prompted  them  to  assume ;  and, 
unless  they  were  saved  from  this  continued  agitation,  they  would  throw  it 
off.  Well,  Mr.  Spencer  excludes  all  these  objectionable  features,  and  places 
the  question  on  a  broad  basis,  entirely  removed  from  all  sectarianism  ;  and 
then,  where  are  these  benevolent  gentlemen  who  are  burdened  with  their 
charge — these  "humble  almoners"  of  the  public  bounty?  At  Albany, 
ready  for  a  new  fight !  Not  for  their  schools,  but  to  oppose  the  Secretary  ; 
for  Mr.  Spencer  only  wishes  to  make  education  like  the  air  we  breathe,  the 
land  we  live  in— like  other  departments  of  human  industry  and  enterprise — 
free  !  He  would  not  hold  the  balances  so  as  to  afford  the  least  advantage 
to  any  party,  but  would  make  all  equal,  and  secure  to  them  the  enjoyment 
of  the  rights  established  by  the  Constitution  of  the  country.  And  who 


SPEECH   OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  450 

opposed  him?  The  Public  School  Society.  Their  interests  were  not  in- 
vaded, but  they  could  not  admit  the  principle  that  we  were  to  receive  edu- 
cation consistently  with  the  laws  of  the  State.  Why  ?  You  will  find  that, 
in  the  course  of  Mr.  Ketchum's  speech,  he  says  the  Public  School  Society 
could  not  stand  one  day  if  education  were  made  free.  If  the  monopoly 
which  they  have  wielded  for  sixteen  years  should  be  touched  by  the  little 
finger  of  free  trade,  they  would  perish.  "  They  cannot  live  a  day."  And, 
gentlemen,  if  they  cannot  live  one  day  on  the  principles  of  justice  and  free- 
dom, then  I  say  that  half  a  day's  existence  is  quite  enough  for  their  exclu- 
sive system. 

We  have  seen  that  Mr.  Ketchum  has  introduced  the  committee  to  the 
schools,  and  now  he  comes  to  the  point : 

Who,  then,  complain  of  the  operation  of  this  system  ?  Our  fellow-citi- 
zens, the  Roman  Catholics. 

Failing  to  get,  from  the  hands  of  a  body  thus  constituted,  the  redress  for 
the  grievance  which  they  complained  of,  they  come  here  and  now  ask  it  of 
you.  I  say,  they  come  here,  because  I  will  presently  show  you,  from  their 
memorials,  that  none  but  they  come  here. 

He  has  brought  it  round  to  that,  and  he  thinks  that,  if  that  be  estab- 
lished, the  same  prejudices,  the  same  means,  that  were  employed  to  defeat 
us  in  New  York,  would  be  equally  efficacious  at  Albany.  He  says  : 

Failing  to  accomplish  their  purpose  through  the  Common  Council  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  they  come  and  ask  it  here.  Failing  in  their  application 
to  a  body  of  representatives  to  whom  they  have  applied  year  after  year, 
and  who  represent  a  population  in  which  is  intermingled  a  greater  mass  of 
Roman  Catholic  voters  than  in  any  other  district  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

See  the  advantage  that  he  takes  of  our  known  forbearance,  and  their 
activity.  Because  we,  with  honorable  motives  that  should  have  been  better 
appreciated,  abstained  from  making  this  question  a  political  one.  But  they 
did  make  it  such  a  question,  and  endeavored  to  deter  all  public  men  from 
rendering  justice  to  the  oppressed  Catholics. 

Now,  I  am  no  politician  ;  I  belong  to  no  party,  and  I  can  also,  perhaps, 
speak  with  the  greater  freedom,  because  we  have  high-minded  friends,  and 
opponents  too,  amongst  both  political  parties,  and  I  caa  perhaps  give  a  sat- 
isfactory answer  to  Mr.  Ketchum's  allusion  to  "  voters." 

After  the  election  of  the  Governor,  the  papers  in  the  views  of  this  Soci- 
ety referred  to  it  as  a  warning ;  and  not  only  so,  but  individuals  here  wrote 
to  the  Governor  in  terms  of  reproach  against  the  Catholics  and  the  Irish,  for 
not  having  been  more  grateful  to  him.  They  taunted  him  with  it.  And 
how  is  that  to  be  answered  ?  I  should  be  sorry  that  ever  the  Irish  should 
be  ungrateful  under  any  circumstances,  or  ever  forget  a  friend :  and  espe- 
cially at  a  time  when  the  high  and  noble  principles  of  justice  and  equality 
laid  down  by  the  fathers  of  this  country  seem  to  be  passing  rapidly  into 
oblivion.  If  a  public  man  stands  up  for  the  rights  of  even  the  humblest 
portion  of  the  community,  he  is  entitled  to  the  gratitude  and  esteem  of 
every  man  who  loves  his  country.  Not  that  the  Governor  conferred  on  us 
any  peculiar  favor.  I  disclaim  that ;  he  never  asked  any  thing  for  us  but 
what  we  conceived  our  right.  But  still  he  was  taunted  with  references  to 


460  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  ingratitude  of  the  Irish.  It  was  said,  "  There  is  what  you  got  by  advo- 
catinf  the  cause  of  the  Irish  !  "  That  shows  whether  we  made  our  question 
a  political  one ;  and  I  am  glad,  in  one  sense,  that  the  Irish  did  not  vary, 
from  the  principles  in  politics  to  which  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  attach- 
in"1  themselves ;  because  that  demonstrates  that,  whatever  may  be  the  opin- 
ion of  calculating  politicians  respecting  the  Irish,  that  portion  of  this  com- 
munity have,  perhaps,  after  all,  an  integrity  of  character  and  purity  of  prin- 
ciple which  is  not  unfrequently  found  wanting  amongst  more  elevated  classes 
of  both  political  parties.  It  was  discovered,  then,  that  the  Irish  would  not 
abandon  their  principles  from  selfish  motives.  But  now  let  me  ask,  What 
was  the  case  on  the  other  side  ?  Many  of  them  turned  quietly  round,  aban- 
doning all  their  old  political  associations  and  friends,  in  order  to  let  Gov- 
ernor Seward  know  how  much  he  had  dared,  when  he  declared  for  justice 
and  equal  rights  to  all. 

Such  was  the  case,  and  our  opponents  cannot  deny  it.  Mr.  Ketchum, 
then,  is  unfortunate  in  his  allusion.  He  ought  not — if  he  had  what  I  shall 
not  now  mention — if  he  had  had  presence  of  mind,  I  will  say,  he  ought  not 
to  have  alluded  to  that  matter  at  all,  because  it  has  brought  up  the  proofs 
of  what  was  done  by  his  own  clients,  whilst  our  vindication  is  triumphantly 
effected. 

We  have  thus  been,  enabled  to  refute  all  the  charges  urged  against  us 
from  the  pulpits  and  religious  presses  at  the  disposition  of  the  Society,  that 
we  made  a  political  question  of  it,  and  so  forth.  They  did,  but  we  did  not. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  dwelt  longer  on  some  topics  than  I  intended,  and 
made  less  progress  in  my  review  of  this  speech  than  I  anticipated.  On  to- 
morrow evening  I  will  proceed  with  my  remarks. 

On  Friday  evening  a  severe  storm  prevailed,  and  the  meet- 
ing was  adjourned  to  Monday,  when  Bishop  HUGHES  proceeded 
as  follows : 

MONDAY  EVENING. 

BISHOP  HUGHES  rose,  and  proceeded  as  follows : 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  had  occasion  already  to  ob- 
serve, that  the  question  we  are  now  discussing  has  passed,  or,  at  least,  is 
now  passing,  through  the  second  stage  of  its  progress.  In  the  first  stage  we 
had  to  apply  to  the  city  authorities ;  and  we  were  obliged,  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  and  for  reasons  that  I  have  already  mentioned,  to  apply 
in  a  character  which  we  did  not  desire,  but  which  was  forced  upon  us  by 
circumstances  over  which  we  had  no  control.  The  issue  of  that  application 
is  known.  Then  we  laid  our  grievances  before  the  Legislature  of  the  State  ; 
and  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  the  question  had  been  referred,  placed 
it  upon  grounds  altogether  different  from  those  on  which  it  had  hitherto 
been  considered.  Consequently,  it  was  necessary  for  me,  in  reviewing  Mr. 
Ketchum's  speech,  to  consider  it  under  two  heads.  And  hitherto  my 
remarks  on  it  have  applied  to  the  question  under  the  circumstances  in 


SPEECH    OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  461 

which  it  was  previous  to  its  reference  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State.  We 
have  now,  however,  to  consider  it  on  the  ground  on  which  it  has  been 
placed  in  the  able  and  eloquent  and  liberal  report  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Spencer. 
And  I  cannot  avoid  observing,  in  the  first  place,  that,  taking  into  account 
the  principles  of  equality  and  of  justice  that  pervade  that  document,  I  did 
conceive  that  the  Public  School  Society  could  not  have  found  any  objections 
against  it.  For  you  will  recollect  that  Mr.  Spencer  removes  entirely  the 
objections  urged  before  the  Common  Council  against  the  recognition  of  our 
claims.  These  objections  were  grounded  on  the  principle  that  no  sect  or 
religious  denomination  had  any  thing  to  do  with  the  money  appropriated 
for  the  purpose  of  education.  The  Secretary  has  completely  obviated  that 
objection.  He  has  regarded  the  petitioners  in  their  civil  capacity.  He  has 
exhibited  the  broad  and  general  grounds  on  which  every  public  institution 
in  this  country  is  conducted ;  but  we  find  these  gentlemen,  nevertheless,  as 
zealous,  and  their  advocates  as  eloquent,  against  Mr.  Secretary  Spencer  as 
they  had  been  against  us.  There  can  be  no  charge,  now,  that  a  recognition 
of  our  claims  would  favor  sectarianism — a  union  of  Church  and  State.  All 
that  has  disappeared,  and  with  it,  we  had  hoped,  would  have  disappeared 
the  opposition  to  our  claims. 

I  will  now  follow  Mr.  Ketchum  in  his  arguments  before  the  Senate. 
And,  first  of  all,  I  would  direct  your  attention  to  the  number  of  times  in 
which  he  repeats  that  the  petitioners  are  Catholics.  He  twists  and  turns 
that  in  a  variety  of  ways,  in  order  to  convince  the  senators  that,  though  we 
applied  in  the  character  of  citizens,  that  advantage  was  to  be  taken  away 
from  us,  and  we  were  to  be  clothed  before  that  honorable  body  with  our 
religious  character,  by  the  hand  of  Mr.  Ketchum.  I  should  have  less  confi- 
dence in  the  stability  of  this  Government,  less  affection  for  its  constituted 
authorities,  if  I  thought  that  such  a  circumstance  could  militate  against  us 
in  the  minds  of  those  gentlemen  who  have  been  elected  by  the  suffrages  of 
the  people  to  the  guardianship  of  equal  rights.  I  conceive,  therefore,  that 
Mr.  Ketchum  has  mistaken  the  character  of  that  assembly — that  he  has 
exerted  himself  in  vain  to  fix  on  us  the  epithet  of  Roman  Catholics,  when 
we  appeared  in  the  character  of  citizens,  and  when  our  right  to  worship 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  our  conscience  had  been  already,  d  priori, 
recognized  by  the  Constitution  of  the  country.  And  I  ask,  Is  there  any 
crime  in  being  a  Roman  Catholic  ?  Is  there  any  advantage  to  be  gained  in 
bringing  that  against  us  ?  Is  there  any  thing  in  the  history  of  the  country 
which  could  justify  the  hope  of  prejudicing  the  minds  of  senators  by  such 
an  allusion  ?  No.  In  the  days  when  men  stood  side  by  side  and  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  and  blood  touched  blood  in  the  battle-strife,  and  with  their 
brave  swords  they  won  the  freedom  of  their  country,  was  it  asked,  Who  is 
a  Catholic  ?  or,  Who  is  a  Protestant  ?  Had  Mr.  Ketchum  forgotten  the 
names  and  deeds  of  Kosciusko,  of  Pulaski,  of  La  Fayette,  and  the  Catholic 
soldiers  of  Catholic  France  ?  Was  there  any  thing  said  against  that  religion 
by  the  fathers  of  our  country,  when  they  laid  the  foundation  of  the  liber- 
ties we  now  enjoy  ?  Was  there  any  such  charge  against  Charles  Carroll, 
when  he  came  and  signed  that  glorious  Declaration,  risking  more  than  all 


462  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  other  signers  together  ?  No.  Nor  have  we  any  cause  to  be  ashamed  of 
our  religion,  and  God  forbid  \ve  ever  should !  I  throw  back,  then,  that 
manoeuvre  of  Mr.  Ketchum,  and  tell  him,  This  is  not  the  country  whose 
Constitution  makes  apparent  to  the  world  that,  to  be  a  Roman  Catholic, 
involves  a  deprivation  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizenship. 

Last  year,  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  Senate,  signed  by  Catholics 
alone ;  this  year,  the  petition  had  other  signatures.  True,  the  petitioners 
were  generally  Catholics,  but  others  signed  it  too ;  and  I  hope  and  believe 
that  they  thought  they  asked  but  for  justice.  However,  Mr.  Ketchum,  in 
order  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  takes  up  the  petition  presented  last  year, 
and  taunts  the  Secretary,  as  if  he  were  guilty  of  artifice  in  making  it  appear 
that  the  members  of  other  religious  denominations  had  joined  in  our  peti- 
tion. He  says : 

Probably  that  circumstance  was  discovered  by  the  Secretary's  sagacity, 
between  1840  and  1841. 

What  does  he  mean  by  that  allusion,  except  to  remind  the  Secretary  that 
it  was  by  prejudicing  the  public  mind  by  misrepresentations,  that  certain 
partisans  succeeded  in  diminishing  the  vote  for  his  Excellency  the  Gov- 
ernor ?  If  Mr.  Ketchum  does  not  intend  that  by  this  delicate  hint,  I  should 
like  to  know  what  he  does  mean.  He  then  affects  to  take  up  the  objections : 

One  of  their  complaints  is,  that  the  people  are  not  represented  in  this 
Public  School  Society  ;  that  here  is  an  agency  used  for  a  great  public  pur- 
pose which  the  people  do  not  directly  choose ;  and  they  complain  of  the 
Public  School  Society  being  a  close  corporation. 

Certainly,  all  these  are  grounds  of  complaint,  and  all  these  are  so  clearly 
set  forth  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary,  that  you  have  but  to  read  that  docu- 
ment to  see  that  Mr.  Ketchum  cannot  shake  one  solitary  position  of  that 
honorable  gentleman.  Is  not  the  Public  School  Society  a  close  corporation  ? 
And  is  not  Mr.  Secretary  Spencer's  report  calculated  to  place  it  on  the  same 
basis  on  which  all  our  free  public  institutions  are  founded  ?  Is  the  Secre- 
tary not  a  reformer,  then,  in  reference  to  that  Society  ?  He  does  here  pre- 
cisely what  Lord  John  Russell  attempts  to  do  in  England,  when  he  endeav- 
ors to  break  down  the  monopoly  of  the  corn  laws,  and  to  make  bread  cheap ; 
Mr.  Spencer  wishes  to  break  down  the  monopoly  of  education,  and  to  make 
voting  and  education — the  bread  of  knowledge — cheap.  That  is  to  say, 
that  the  same  people  who  are  supposed  to  be  capable  of  choosing  a  sheriff, 
or  a  governor,  or  a  president,  without  paying  for  the  privilege,  should  also 
have  the  right  of  choosing  the  teachers  of  their  children  without  paying  ten 
dollars  for  it.  Mr.  Ketchum  passes  over  that  very  lightly.  That  is  a  point 
not  to  be  seriously  dwelt  upon,  and  he  glides  into  the  old  charge  preferred 
before  the  Common  Council,  and  takes  up  the  old  objections,  although  not 
one  of  them  was  presented  in  the  petition  before  the  Senate.  Keeping 
always  before  the  mind  of  the  senators  that  we  are  Catholics,  he  affects  to 
take  up  these  objections,  and  says : 

Now,  I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  the  committee  to  the  fact  now  to  be 
stated :  there  is  no  complaint  in  these  memorials,  nor  will  you  hear  any  from 


SPEECH  OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  463 

any  source,  that  the  Public  School  Society  does  not  furnish,  to  all  the  chil- 
dren who  attend  their  schools,  a  good  literary  education. 

Let  me  caution  Mr.  Ketchum  not  to  be  so  fast,  and  I  -will  give  him  my 
reasons.  From  the  manner  in  which  the  examinations  are  conducted,  it  is 
the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  have  all  ready  prepared  for  the  day  of  visi- 
tation. When  the  examiners  present  themselves,  pet  classes  are  arranged, 
and  in  them  pet  pupils,  who  will  perform  their  part  admirably  well.  It  is 
easy  to  have  all  this  array,  and  so  it  is  to  be  regarded  rather  as  an  exhibi- 
tion than  an  examination.  But  if  they  desire  their  examinations  to  create 
universal  confidence,  let  them  have  them  as  they  are  conducted  in  European 
universities,  where  the  pupils  stand  forward,  and  any  person  who  chooses 
examines  them ;  when  not  the  choice  and  prepared  pupils  are  taken,  but  the 
subjects  of  examination  are  selected  indiscriminately  from  the  classes.  Let 
such  a  method  be  adopted  here,  and  I  will  venture  to  say  that  Mr.  Ketchum 
will  not  have  any  thing  to  boast  of  over  other  schools.  I  do  not,  however, 
blame  the  visitors  for  not  finding  fault  with  the  external  management  of 
these  schools.  I  think  it  excellent ;  and  the  best  proof  of  the  sincerity  of 
that  opinion  was  afforded  in  our  willingness  to  adopt  and  place  the  superin- 
tendence of  our  schools  in  the  hands  of  these  very  gentlemen. 

But  Mr.  Ketchum  goes  on  : 

The  Koman  Catholics  complain,  in  the  first  place,  that  they  cannot  con- 
scientiously send  their  children  to  the  public  schools  because  we  do  not  give 
religious  instruction  in  a  definite  form  and  of  a  decided  and  definite  char- 
acter. They  complain,  in  the  second  place,  that  the  school-books  in  com- 
mon use  in  the  Society  contain  passages  reflecting  upon  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  And  they  complain,  in  the  third  place,  that  we  use  the  Bible  with- 
out note  or  comment ;  that  the  school  is  opened  in  the  morning  by  calling 
the  children  to  order  and  reading  a  chapter  in  the  Bible — our  common  ver- 
sion. These  are  the  three  grounds  on  which  they  base  their  conscientious 
scruples. 

Now,  it  is  a  fact  that  we  do  not  complain  of  any  one  of  these  things  in 
our  petition  to  the  Senate.  One  of  these  complaints  was  expressed  in  the 
petition  to  the  Common  Council,  and  I  have  already  explained  the  reasons 
of  that  presentation.  But,  in  the  petition  to  the  Senate,  we  said,  in  general 
terms,  that  the  conscientious  scruples  of  a  large  portion  of  our  fellow- citi- 
zens were  violated  by  the  system  pursued  in  these  schools.  I  will,  however, 
take  up  these  objections  in  order. 

Mr.  Ketchum  says  that  we  complain,  in  the  first  place,  that  we  cannot 
send  our  children  to  the  schools  of  the -Public  School  Society  "because 
religion  is  not  there  taught  of  a  decided  and  definite  character."  Mr. 
Ketchum  certainly  has  not  stated  the  objection  correctly,  for  I  defy  him  to 
find  such  words  in  our  petition.  "We  complained  in  general  against  these 
schools,  that,  by  divorcing  religion  and  literature,  they  endangered  the  best 
interests  of  children  who  were  to  grow  up  to  be  men,  and  who,  to  be  useful 
members  of  the  community,  should  have  their  minds  imbued  with  correct 
principles,  and  could  not  be  so  without  being  made  acquainted  with  some 
religious  principles.  But  we  never  complained  that  they  did  not  give  "  defi- 
nite religious  instruction."  Far  from  it ;  and  when  Mr.  Ketchum  asserted 


464:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

that  we  did,  I 'am  sorry  to  say  that  he  asserted  what  he  must  or  might  have 
known  to  be  untrue.  And  how  do  I  prove  it  ?  In  our  propositions  to  the 
committee  of  the  Common  Council,  when  they  had  gone  through  with  their 
ceremony  of  visiting  the  schools,  and  the  Society  had  offered  their  propo- 
sitions, the  very  last  article  of  our  proposal  was  in  these  words  :  "  But  noth- 
ing of  their  (i.  «.,  Catholic)  dogmas,  nothing  against  the  creed  of  any  other 
religious  denomination,  shall  be  introduced."  Mr.  Ketchum  saw  that ;  and 
I  ask  him,  How  could  he  undertake  to  make  an  argument  by  substituting 
language  entirely  different  from  ours,  and  presenting  it  as  our  objection  ? 
How  could  he  say  that  we  found  fault  with  the  Public  School  Society  for 
not  teaching  religion  in  a  "  definite  form,"  when  they  always  disclaimed  the 
right  to  teach  it  at  all,  and  considered  it  a  crime  for  any  denomination  to 
ask  for  it  ?  This  is  what  I  call  substitution — invention — a  course  unworthy 
of  Mr.  Ketchum,  of  his  profession,  and  of  that  Society  of  which  he  was  the 
organ. 

I  am  well  aware  that,  to  a  hasty  reader,  Mr.  Ketchum's  speech  will 
appear  very  logical  indeed.  But  I  have,  at  the  same  time,  to  observe  that, 
while  he  reasons  logically,  by  drawing  correct  inferences  from  his  premises, 
he  has  taken  care  previously  to  change  the  premises,  and,  instead  of  taking 
our  principle  as  submitted  by  us,  he  gradually  shifts  it ;  preserving,  how- 
ever, enough  to  deceive  a  cursory  reader,  until  he  substitutes  one  entirely 
different,  from  which  he  reasons  very  logically,  of  course.  Let  us  suppose 
Mr.  Ketchum  a  professor  of  law  in  some  university — for  I  have  no  doubt  he 
could  fill  such  a  chair,  and  adorn  it,  too,  if  he  would — and  imagine  him 
addressing  a  class  of  students.  He  says,  "  Gentlemen,  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant things  in  our  profession  is,  to  know  how  to  conduct  an  argument, 
which  you  must  always  do  with  logical  precision.  And,  to  effect  this,  you 
are  to  follow  this  excellent  rule :  if  your  facts  sustain  your  conclusions, 
well ;  if  not,  you  must  find  other  facts  that  will.  The  principle  of  this  rule 
I  call  the  principle  of  substitution,  and  an  admirable  principle  it  is ;  but 
you  must  be  cautious  how  you  use  it,  especially  before  a  judge  and  jury. 
But  if  it  is  before  a  public,  which  reads  fast — for  there  is  a  great  deal  to  be 
read — you  will  find  it  work  very  well.  Recollect,  then,  gentlemen,  this 
great  principle — '  substitute '  in  your  reasoning." 

In  such  a  way  we  might  imagine  Mr.  Ketchum  addressing  his  students. 
And  you  will  find  that  few  reason  illogically.  Even  the  inmates  of  the 
Lunatic  Asylum  reason  very  logically.  One  of  them,  perhaps,  imagines 
himself  a  clock.  He  says,  "  Stand  off !  Don't  shake  me  ;  I  am  obliged  to 
keep  time."  That  is  logical  reasoning.  The  only  mistake  is,  that  he  "  sub- 
stitutes "  a  clock  for  a  living  creature ;  and,  reasoning  from  this  substitu- 
tion, he  draws  the  conclusion  admirably.  So  it  is  with  Mr.  Ketchum. 

We  did  not,  I  tell  Mr.  Ketchum,  ask  the  Public  School  Society  to  teach 
religion  in  any  definite  form.  We  never  complained  of  th^ir  not  teaching 
it.  We  never  did  ask  such  an  unreasonable  thing  from  men  who  made  it  a 
crime  for  religious  societies  to  have  any  thing  to  do  with  the  public  money. 

He  then  states  another  objection  :  "  that  the  books  used  in  the  schools 
contain  passages  reflecting  on  the  Catholic  Church."  That  is  true  ;  and  he 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP    HUGHES.  465 

*  says,  in  the  third  place,  that  we  object  that  "  the  Protestant  version  of  the 
Bible  is  used,  and  that  the  schools  are  opened  by  calling  the  children  to 
order  and  reading  a  passage  from  that  Bible."  Not  a  word  of  that  in  our 
petition.  That  is  "  substitution  "  again — removing  the  objections  presented 
by  us,  and  substituting  others  which  might,  as  he  supposed,  lead  to  the 
denial  of  our  claims,  on  the  ground  that  we  object  unreasonably. 

Mr.  Ketchum  takes  up  the  objection,  and,  in  order  to  show  how  unrea- 
sonable that  was,  he  submits  the  proposition  of  the  Public  School  Society, 
passing  altogether  over  ours,  which  common  justice  required  should  have 
been  also  presented,  as  it  would  have  discovered  on  our  part  a  similar  dis- 
position, and  have  entirely  undeceived  the  senators  as  to  any  alleged  claim 
to  have  religion  taught  in  a  definite  form. 

There  was  no  official  declaration  guarding  against  the  possibility  that, 
next  year,  another  board  might  alter  all  these  books  to  a  worse  state  than 
ever ;  and,  consequently,  their  offer  to  expunge  their  books  was  altogether 
nugatory.  Mr.  Ketchum  says,  however  : 

This  portion  of  the  report,  as  will  be  seen,  has  reference  to  these  offensive 
passages.  Now,  every  body  will  say  that  is  a  fair  offer — we  will  strike  them 
out.  But,  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  I  submit  whether  here,  in  this  coun- 
try, we  must  not,  in  matters  of  conflicting  opinions,  give  and  take  a  little  ? 

"Well,  I  do  not  find  the  Public  School  Society,  although  very  good  at 
taking,  at  all  disposed  to  give  any  thing.  ^ 

I  have  no  doubt  that  I  can  find  something  in  any  public  school-book, 
of  much  length,  and  containing  much  variety  of  matter,  reflecting  upon  the 
Methodists — upon  the  heated  zeal,  probably,  of  John  Wesley,  and  his  fol- 
lowers ;  reflecting  upon  the  Episcopalians,  the  Baptists,  and  Presbyterians. 
Occasional  sentences  will  find  their  way  into  public  discourses,  which,  if 
viewed  critically,  and  regarded  in  a  captious  spirit,  rather  reflect  upon  the 
doctrines  of  all  those  churches. 

In  this  way  he  gets  over  these  passages,  most  insulting  to  us  and  our 
religion,  which  I  pointed  out  to  these  gentlemen,  after  their  having  incul- 
cated them  in  the  minds  of  the  children  for  sixteen  years  past.  We  have 
to  add,  however,  that,  in  examining  these  books,  we  found  no  passages 
reflecting  on  those  denominations. 

Now,  I  will  call  your  attention  to  Mr.  Ketchum's  views  respecting  con- 
science and  conscientious  scruples.  We  supposed  that,  when  a  man  could 
not  do  a  thing  in  conscience,  the  reason  was,  that  he  thought,  by  doing  it, 
he  would  offend  God.  This  is  what  we  supposed  to  be  a  conscientious  diffi- 
culty ;  and  therefore  it  was  that  we  did  not  object  (as  he  says,  and  as  I  shall 
have  occasion  to  treat  of  presently)  to  the  Protestants  reading  their  version 
of  the  Bible  ;  because,  believing  it  right,  they  could  use  it  with  a  good  con- 
science. But  we  Catholics  did  not  approve  of  that  version ;  many  other 
denominations  do  not  approve  of  it — the  Baptists  and  Unitarians,  for 
instance  ;  and  our  objection  was,  that  Mr.  Ketchum  and  the  Public  School 
Society  would  force  on  us  the  reading  of  that  version  against  which  we  had 
conscientious  objections.  We  believe  that,  to  yield  to  that,  would  damage 
the  faith  which  we  hold  to  be  most  pleasing  to  God.  Suppose  us  to  be  in 
30 


466  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

error,  if  you  please,  but  certainly  the  Public  School  Society  have  no  right  to 
rule  that  we  are.  They  are  not  infallible,  and,  consequently,  should  recog- 
nize our  right  of  conscience,  as  we  recognize  theirs. 

But  Mr.  Ketchum  has  battled  bravely  against  these  principles,  and, 
thinking  it  would  be  better  for  us  to  agree  to  offend  our  God  and  coincide 
with  the  Public  School  Society,  wishes  to  beat  down  these  scruples.  And 
now,  would  you  have  his  idea  of  a  conscientious  scruple  ?  He  institutes  a 
comparison,  in  order  to  show  how  trifling  such  things  are,  and  he  says : 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  many  passages  from  the  speeches  of  Mr. 
Webster  which  have  found  their  way  into  school-books ;  and  a  Democrat 
may  say,  "  I  cannot  go  Mr.  Webster ;  my  children  shall  not  be  taught  to 
admire  him."  And  thus,  if  we  are  captious,  we  can  find  conscientious  scru- 
ples enough. 

So  that  Mr.  Webster's  writings  are  placed,  as  it  were,  on  a  parallel  with 
the  Word  of  God  himself;  and  a  difficulty  of  which  he  is  the  subject  is 
spoken  of  in  the  same  way  as  if  it. were  a  difficulty  in  reference  to  God. 
And  what  is  Mr.  Ketchum's  conclusion  ?  That,  whilst  he  would  trample  on 
our  conscientious  scruples  about  the  deity,  he  bows  with  great  deference  to 
the  scruple  about  Mr.  Webster,  and  of  this  he  goes  on  : 

However,  if  it  is  bond  fide  a  conscientious  scruple,  there  is  the  end  of  it ; 
we  cannot  reason  with  it.  But,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Common  Council, 
and  as  I  think  must  be  the  case  in  the  judgment  of  every  man,  the  difficulty 
is  got  over  by  the  proposition  which  has  been  made. 

Well,  now,  just  let  him  extend  a  little  of  that  indulgence  to  us,  in  the 
case  in  which  our  account  to  our  Creator  and  eternal  Judge  is  involved. 
But  not  so.  He  next  says  : 

The  next  complaint  is,  that  we  do  not  give  religious  education  enough. 

Where  did  Mr.  Ketchum  find  that  ?  That  is  "  substitution  "  again.  He 
has  not  found  that  in  any  thing  from  us.  He  proceeds  : 

The  memorials,  all  of  which  are  public — and  the  speeches  and  documents 
which  have  been  employed,  and  which,  if  necessary,  can  be  furnished  to  the 
committee — all  go  conclusively  to  demonstrate  that,  in  the  judgment  of  those 
who  spoke  for  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  we  ought  to  teach  religion  in 
our  public  schools ;  not  generally,  not  vaguely,  not  the  general  truths  of 
religion,  but  that  specific  religious  instruction  must  be  given.  Now,  I 
hardly  suppose  that  this  deficiency  can  be  made  the  subject  of  conscientious 
objection. 

But  that  is  a  false  issue.  On  none  of  these  points  has  he  stated  our 
objection.  We  never  objected,  as  far  as  Catholic  children  were  concerned, 
that  they  did  not  teach  religion.  We  complained  of  a  system  from  which 
religion  was  (according  to  them)  excluded  by  law.  But  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, they  did  attempt  surreptitiously  to  introduce  such  teaching,  in  a  form 
that  we  did  not  recognize.  What  does  he  say  then  ? 

The  third  and  last  complaint  is,  that  our  Catholic  brethren  cannot  con- 
sent to  have  this  Bible  read  in  the  hearing  of  their  children.  Now,  on 
«very  one  of  these  points  the  trustees  have  been  disposed  to  go  as  far  as 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP    HUGHES.  407 

they  possibly  could  in  the  way  of  accommodation ;  but  they  never  yet  con- 
sented to  give  up  the  use  of  the  Bible  to  the  extent  to  which  it  is  used  in 
the  schools.  I  say,  the  trustees  have  never  yet  consented  to  this  surrender. 
But  if  they  can  have  good  authority  for  doing  it,  they  will  do  it. 

If  this  Legislature,  by  its  own  act,  will  direct  that  the  Bible  shall  be  ex- 
cluded, I  will  guarantee  that  it  shall  be  excluded. 

Now,  perhaps  one  of  the  rarest  talents  of  an  orator  is  that  which  enables 
him  to  accommodate  his  discourse  to  the  character  of  the  audience  whom 
he  addresses.  But,  like  all  rare  talents,  it  should  be  exercised  with  discre- 
tion. That  the  learned  gentleman  possesses  it,  however,  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  the  very  declarations  made  by  him  before  the  Senate  are  contra- 
dicted by  his  statements  before  the  Common  Council,  and  vice-versa.  Before 
the  Common  Council,  in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  the  clergy,  he  elo- 
quently denounced  the  exclusion  of  the  Bible  from  the  schools.  If  a  com- 
promise depended  on  this,  he  must  say,  "  No  compromise  !  "  Before  the 
Senate,  however,  he  is  all  obsequiousness.  "  Gentlemen,  if  you  give  us 
authority  to  exclude  the  Bible,  I  guarantee  that  it  shall  be  so." 

I  recollect  the  beautiful  period  with  which  the  gentleman  wound  up  his 
sentiments  before  the  Common  Council.  I  remember  him  saying  that  "  it 
would  be  hard  to  part  with  that  translated  Bible — hard,  indeed ;  for  it  had 
been  the  consolation  of  many  in  death,  the  spring  of  hope  in  life,  and 
wherever  it  had  gone,  there  was  liberty  and  there  was  freedom  ;  and  where 
it  had  not  gone,  there  was  darkness  and  there  was  despotism."  But  I  must 
apologize  for  attempting  to  repeat,  as  I  spoil  the  poetry  of  his  eloquent  lan- 
guage. At  the  time,  however,  I  thought,  What  a  beautiful  piece  of  decla- 
mation that  would  be  at  a  Bible  Society  meeting !  for  on  such  occasions, 
owing  to  the  enthusiasm — the  sincere  enthusiasm — of  the  auditors,  and  the 
oftentimes  artificial  enthusiasm  of  the  speakers,  all  history,  philosophy,  and 
common  sense  occasionally,  are  rendered  quite  superfluous.  The  most  beau- 
tiful phrases,  resting  on  no  basis  but  fancy,  may  be  strung  together,  and  will 
produce  the  deepest  impression.  But  I  doubt  much,  when  we  come  to 
examine  the  sober  reality  of  the  matter,  whether  the  poetical  beauties  of 
Mr.  Ketchum's  picture  will  not  be  seen  vanishing  into  thin  air.  I  doubt 
much,  indeed,  whether  the  liberty  whose  origin  and  progress  history  has 
recorded,  will  be  found  to  have  sprung  from  "  that  translated  Bible"  in  any 
sense,  and  especially  in  the  sense  of  Mr.  Ketchum.  I,  of  course,  yield  to  no 
man  in  profound  veneration  for  the  Book  of  God ;  but  there  is  a  point  of 
exaggeration  which  does  no  credit,  but  injury,  to  that  Holy  Book. 

Let  us  look  at  these  translations  of  the  Bible.  The  first  was  Tyndal's, 
then  Coverdale's,  and  then  the  Bishops'  Bible  ;  these  remained  till  the  time 
of  James  L  ;  and  during  all  that  time — a  period  of  about  a  century — if  ever 
there  was  a  period  of  degrading  and  slavish  submission  to  tyrannical  power 
in  Engand,  it  was  then,  beyond  all  comparison.  At  the  close  of  this  period, 
a  new  translation  was  made,  and  dedicated  to  the  king.  It  was  discovered 
that  the  "  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice  "  during  all  this  time  was  full  of 
errors  and  corruption.  Every  one  knows  that  James  was  one  of  the  poorest 
of  the  poor  race  from  whom  he  was  descended.  Yet,  in  their  dedication, 


468  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  translators  appointed  to  amend  the  "  rule  of  faith  "  by  a  new  transla- 
tion, call  him  the  "  Sun  in  his  strength,"  and  that,  from  his  many  and  ex- 
traordinary graces,  he  might  be  called  "  The  Wonder  of  the  World." 

Now,  during  the  succeeding  sixty  or  eighty  years,  what  were  the  doc- 
trines of  liberty  in  England  ?  It  was  then  that  the  schoolmen  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  taught  from  that  translated  Bible  the  dogma  of  "  non- 
resistance  to  the  royal  authority ;  "  that  "  passive  obedience  "  was  the  duty 
of  subjects ;  that  no  crime  nor  possible  tyranny  of  the  prince  could  author- 
ize a  subject  to  rebel.  How  could  Mr.  Ketchum  forget  all  that  ? 

Let  us  examine  the  facts  of  the  case,  and  ascertain  how  correct  Mr. 
Ketchum  is,  when  he  said  that  liberty  had  always  followed  the  progress  of 
that  translated  Bible.  You  will  find  that,  from  the  period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion down  to  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  England  was  sunk  to  the  lowest 
degree  of  slavish  submission  to  tyrannical  authority.  The  spirit  of  old 
English  freedom  had  disappeared  at  the  Reformation ;  and  it  was  only  at 
the  Revolution  that,  like  a  ship  recovering  its  equilibrium  after  having  long 
been  capsized  by  the  storm,  that  the  old  spirit  righted  itself  again.  But  do 
I  speak  poetry,  like  Mr.  Ketchum  ?  Let  me  appeal  to  facts. 

We  find  the  fundamental  principles  of  liberty  as  well  understood  by  our 
Catholic  ancestors,  centuries  before  the  Reformation,  as  they  are  at  the  pres- 
ent day.  They  well  understood  the  principles,  that  all  civil  authority  is 
derived  from  the  people,  and  that  those  elected  to  exercise  it  are  responsible 
to  those  from  whom  they  derive  their  power. 

By  one  of  the  laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  confirmed  by  the  Con- 
queror, the  duties  of  the  king  are  defined ;  and  it  is  provided  that,  unless 
he  should  properly  discharge  them,  he  should  not  be  allowed  even  the  name 
of  king  as  a  title  of  courtesy,  and  this  on  the  authority  of  a  pope.  The 
coronation  of  Henry  I.  was  based  on  as  regular  a  contract  as  ever  yet  took 
place  in  market-overt.  By  the  coronation  oaths  of  the  several  monarchs 
between  him  and  John,  a  similar  contract  was  implied.  By  Magna  Charta, 
and  its  articles  for  keeping  the  peace  between  the  king  and  the  kingdom, 
this  implied  contract  was  reduced  to  writing,  and  "signed,  sealed,  and 
delivered  by  the  parties  thereto."  In  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  Bracton,  one 
of  his  judges,  tells  us  that,  since  the  king  "is  God's  minister  and  deputy, 
he  can  do  nothing  else  on  earth  but  that  only  which  he  can  do  of  right. 
.  .  .  Therefore,  while  he  does  justice,  he  is  the  deputy  of  the  Eternal 
King  ;  but  the  minister  of  the  devil,  when  he  turns  to  injustice.  For  he  is 
called  king  from  governing  well,  and  not  from  reigning ;  because  he  is  king 
while  he  reigns  well,  but  a  tyrant  when  he  violently  oppresses  the  people 
entrusted  to  him.  .  .  .  Let  the  king,  therefore,  allow  to  the  law  what  the 
law  allows  to  him. — dominion  and  power ;  for  he  is  not  a  king  with  whom 
his  will,  and  not  the  law,  rules." — Dublin  Review. 

There  was  the  language  of  a  judge  in  the  times  before  either  the  Refor- 
mation or  James'  translation  of  the  Bible  were  dreamed  of.  I  pass  to  an- 
other historical  event — the  crowning  of  John  ;  on  which  occasion  Hubert, 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  fearing  that  the  monarch^  from  supposing  . 
that  his  royal  blood  alone  entitled  him  to  receive  the  kingly  office,  should 
throw  the  kingdom  into  confusion,  reminded  him  that  no  one  had  such  a 
right  to  succeed  another  in  the  government  unless  chosen  by  the  people. 


SPEECH  OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  469 

That  no  one  had  a  right  by  any  precedent  reason  to  succeed  another  in 
the  sovereignty,  unless  he  were  unanimously  chosen  by  the  entire  kingdom, 
and  preelected  according  to  the  eminency  of  his  morals,  after  the  example 
of  Saul,  the  first  anointed  king,  whom  God  had  set  over  His  people,  though 
not  a  king's  son  or  sprung  of  a  royal  race,  that  thus  he  who  excelled  all  in 
ability,  should  preside  over  all  with  power  and  authority.  But  if  any  of  a 
deceased  king's  family  excelled  the  rest  of  the  nation,  to  his  election  they 
should  more  readily  assent.  For  these  reasons  they  had  chosen  Count  John, 
the  brother  of  their  deceased  king,  on  account  as  well  of  his  merits  as  of 
his  royal  blood.  To  this  declaration  John  and  the  assembly  assented. 

I  wonder  whether  an  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  now,  with  this  trans- 
lated Bible  in  his  hands,  would  dare  to  utter  such  language  in  the  presence 
of  the  monarch,  when  he  was  about  to  officiate  at  a  coronation  ?  Let  us 
now  turn  to  what  occurred  after  this  translation  of  the  Bible.  At  the  exe- 
cution of  the  Earl  of  Monmouth,  there  were  a  number  of  Protestant  divines 
who  exhorted  him  to  die  like  a  "  good  Christian  ;  "  and  the  great  point  on 
which  they  insisted  was,  that  the  subject  was  bound  to  obey  the  prince 
with  "  passive  obedience." 

But  the  noble  Earl,  in  whose  breast  there  still  burned  something  of  the 
principles  of  the  olden  times  of  England,  could  not  agree  to  that  dogma, 
and  then  the  divines,  under  the  influence  of  this  translated  Bible,  refused  to 
pray  for  him.  Their  last  words  were  : 

Then,  my  lord,  we  can  only  recommend  you  to  the  mercy  of  God,  but  we 
cannot  pray  with  that  cheerfulness  and  encouragement  as  we  should  if  you 
had  made  a  particular  acknowledgment. 

The  same  doctrine  was  prevalent  in  the  time  of  Tillotson,  and  he  speaks 
of  it  not  only  as  his  own  opinion,  but  as  that  of  those  for  whom  Mr.  Ketch- 
urn  claims  the  honor  of  being  considered  the  apostles  of  English  liberty.  I 
quote  from  the  Dublin  Review  : 

Among  those  who  importuned  the  unfortunate  Lord  Russell  to  make  a 
similar  acknowledgment,  was  Tillotson,  who,  by  letter,  told  him  that  this 
doctrine  of  non-resistance  "  was  the  declared  doctrine  of  all  Protestant' 
Churches,  though  some  particular  persons  had  thought  otherwise,"  and 
expressed  his  concern  "  that  you  do  not  leave  the  world  in  a  delusion  and 
false  hope  to  the  hinderance  of  your  eternal  happiness,"  by  doubting  this 
saving  article  of  faith.  Within  the  same  period,  Bishop  Sanderson  deliv- 
ered the  doctrine  in  the  following  clear  and  explicit  language.  He  declares 
that  "  to  blaspheme  the  holy  name  of  God,  to  sacrifice  to  idols,"  &c.,  &c., 
"  to  take  up  arms  against  a  lawful  sovereign,  none  of  these,  and  sundry 
other  things  of  the  like  nature,  being  all  of  them  simple  and,  de  toto  genere, 
unlawful,  may  be  done  on  any  color  or  pretence  whatsoever,  the  express 
command  of  God  only  excepted,  as  in  the  case  of  Abraham  sacrificing  his 
son,  not  for  the  avoiding  of  scandal,  not  at  the  instance  of  any  friend,  or 
command  of  any  power  on  earth,  not  for  the  maintenance  of  the  lives  and 
liberties  of  ourselves  or  others,  nor  for  the  defence  of  religion,  nor  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Church  and  State ;  no,  nor  yet — if  that  could  be  ima- 
gined possible— for  the  salvation  of  a  soul ;  no,  not  for  the  redemption  of 
the  whole  world."  This  was  considered  a  very  orthodox  effusion. 

An  article  of  faith  that  you  dare  not,  under  any  circumstances,  resist  the 
kingly  power. 

Compare,  then,  the  language  of  Protestant  divines  having  this  translated 


470  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Bible  before  them,  with  that  of  Catholic  divines  at  a  former  period,  and  see 
the  ground  which  Mr.  Ketchum  has  found  in  England  for  his  poetical  asser- 
tion. But,  perhaps,  if  \ve  turn  our  attention  to  the  Protestant  governments 
on  the  continent  of  Europe,  -we  may  find  his  dream  realized.  Perhaps  he 
may  find  it  realized  in  Prussia.  In  that  country  there  are  two  principal 
communions  of  Protestants,  the  Lutheran  and  the  Calvinist.  Now,  the  king 
culls  his  officers  together,  and  tells  them  to  draw  up  a  liturgy — decrees  that 
both  will,  and  shall,  and  must  believe  or  practice  this  liturgy.  Or  he  may 
go  to  Norway,  or  Sweden,  or  Denmark,  and  the  dark  despotism  of  the 
North ;  perchance  there  he  may  find  that  liberty  of  which  he  speaks  pro- 
gressing with  this  translation.  What  kind  of  freedom,  let  me  ask  Mr. 
Ketchum,  followed  this  "translated  Bible"  to  Ireland — that  everlasting 
monument  of  Catholic  fidelity  and  Protestant  shame  ? 

But  to  come  to  this  country :  perhaps  it  was  in  New  England,  among  the 
Puritans,  that  Mr.  Ketchum's  dream  was  realized.  Ask  the  Quaker.  Per- 
haps it  was  in  Virginia.  Ask  the  Presbyterian.  Where  was  it  ?  Let  n\e 
tell  you.  It  was  in  Maryland,  among  the  Catholics.  They  knew  enough  of 
the  rights  of  conscience  to  raise  the  first  standard  of  religious  liberty  that 
ever  floated  on  the  breeze  in  America. 

You  may  be  told  that  Roger  Williams,  and  his  associates  in  Rhode 
Island,  declared  equal  rights.  Not  at  all ;  he  excluded  Roman  Catholics 
from  the  exercising  the  elective  franchise.  But  the  Catholics  did  not  ex- 
clude him.  They  may  refer  to  Pennsylvania ;  the  reference  is  equally  unfor- 
tunate, for  Penn  wrote  from  England,  remonstrating  with  Governor  Logan, 
I  believe,  for  permitting  the  scandal  of  Catholic  worship  in  Philadelphia. 
Turn,  now,  look  at  the  constellation  of  Catholic  republics,  before  Protestant- 
ism was  dreamed  of  as  a  future  contingency.  Look  at  Venice,  Genoa,  Flor- 
ence, and  that  little  republic  not  larger  than  a  pin's  head  on  the  map — San 
Marino — which  has  preserved  its  independence  for  such  a  long  course  of 
centuries,  lest  the  science  of  republicanism  should  be  lost  to  the  world. 
Look  at"  Poland,  when  the  Protestants  were  persecuting  one  another  to  the 
death  in  Germany :  Poland  opened  her  gates  to  the  refugees,  and  made  them 
equal  with  her  own  subjects ;  and  in  the  Diet  of  Poland,  at  which  the  law 
was  passed,  there  were  eight  Catholic  bishops,  and  they  must  have  sanc- 
tioned the  law,  for  the  liberisin  veto  gave  each  the  power  to  prevent  it.  I 
challenge  Mr.  Ketchum  to  point,  in  the  whole  history  of  the  globe,  to  one 
instance  of  similar  liberality  on  the  part  of  Protestants  toward  Catholics. 

Now,  what  becomes  of  that  beautiful  declaration  of  Mr.  Ketchum,  that, 
wherever  that  translation  had  gone,  liberty  had  followed  ?  I  know,  indeed, 
that  in  this  country  we  all  enjoy  equal,  civil  rights ;  but  I  know  also  that  it 
was  not  Protestant  liberality  that  secured  them.  They  grew  out  of  neces- 
sity ;  and  in  the  declaration  of  them  there  is  no  difference  made  between 
one  religion  and  another.  Catholics  contended  as  valiantly  as  any  other  in 
the  first  ranks  of  the  contest  for  liberty.  And  I  fervently  hope  that  it  is  too 
late  in  the  day  for  any  one  to  pretend  that  Catholics  have  been  so  blinded 
by  their  religion  as  to  be  unable  to  know  what  is  liberty  and  what  is  not. 

Be  it  understood,  then,  that  not  one  of  the  objections  which  Mr.  Ketch- 


SPEECH  OF  BISHOP  HUGHES.  471 

um  lias  put  into  our  mouths  respecting  the  Bible  was  presented  to  the  Sen- 
ate by  us. 

Mr.  Ketchum,  after  having  thus  disposed  of  our  pretended  objections, 
goes  on  to  speak  of  the  Secretary's  report : 

They  will  be  satisfied  with  it;  it  will 'give  them  what  they  ask.  Now, 
let  us  see  how.  There  is  no  proposition  contained  in  this  report  that  reli- 
gious societies,  as  such,  shall  participate  in  this  fund — none. 

Then,  sir,  I  ask,  What  is  your  objection  ?  In  New  York,  before  the 
Common  Council,  all  your  opposition  was  directed  against  "  religious  socie- 
ties." Mr.  Spencer  has  removed  every  ground  for  that,  and  I  therefore  ask, 
What  is  your  objection?  Your  object  is,  to  preserve  the  Public  School 
Society  in  the  possession  of  the  monopoly,  not  only  of  the  funds  contributed 
by  the  citizens  for  the  support  of  education,  but  also  of  the  children.  He 
says : 

The  trustees  of  districts  shall  indicate  what  religion  shall  be  taught  in 
those  schools.  That  is  to  say,  that  you  shall  have  small  masses  ;  that  these 
small  masses  shall  elect  their  trustees ;  and  as  the  majority  of  the  people  in 
those  small  masses  may  direct,  so  shall  be  the  character  of  the  religious 
instruction  imparted. 

Mr.  Spencer  wishes  to  take  from  the  Society  that  very  feature  which  is 
objected  to  ;  that  is  to  say,  he  wishes  that  religion  shall  neither  be  excluded 
nor  enforced  by  law.  And  yet  Mr.  Ketchum,  by  his  old  principle  of  substi- 
tution, makes  out  quite  a  different  proposition  from  the  report,  and  infers 
that  the  trustees  shall  have  the  power  to  prescribe  what  religion  shall  be 
taught.  I  do  not  see  that  in  the  report  at  all.  On  the  contrary,  the  Secre- 
tary leaves  parents  at  liberty  to  act  on  that  subject  as  they  see  proper.  Mr. 
Ketchum  supposes  a  case  to  illustrate  his  view  of  the  matter,  which,  I  must 
say,  does  not  do  him  much  credit.  He  says  : 

But  when  a  school  is  formed  in  the  Sixth  Ward  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  in  which  ward  (for  the  sake  of  the  argument  we  will  assume)  the 
Roman  Catholics  have  a  majority  in  the  district,  they  choose  their  trustees, 
and  these  trustees  indicate  that  a  specific  form  of  religion — to  wit,  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  religion — shall  be  taught  in  that  school ;  that  mass  shall  be 
said  there,  and  that  the  children  shall  cross  themselves  with  holy  water  in 
the  school,  having  the  right  to  do  so  according  to  this  report,  the  Catholics 
being  in  a  majority  there.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  can  these  Roman  Cath- 
olics conscientiously  send  their  children  to  school.  That  is  to  say,  their 
objections  to  this  system  are  to  be  overcome  by  having  a  school  to  which 
they  can  conscientiously  send  their  children ;  and  that  school  must  be  one 
in  which  religion  is  to  be  taught  according  to  their  particular  views. 

That  is  drawing  an  inference  without  the  facts,  for  we  never  said  so — 
never  even  furnished  him  with  authority  to  say  so;  and  although  Mr. 
Ketchum  has  the  authority  of  the  Public  School  Society  to  speak,  yet  that 
does  not  enable  him,  when  he  states  what  is  not  the  fact,  to  make  it  true. 
But  I  wish  to  know  why  he  brought  up  that  picture  at  all ;  why  the  Sixth 
Ward  should  have  peculiar  charms  in  his  imagination ;  or  why  he  should 
have  introduced  all  that  about  the  children  crossing  themselves  with  holy 
water.  And  pray,  is  it  for  Mr.  Ketchum  to  find  fault  with  what  he  supposes 


472  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

to  be  a  religious  error,  and  for  \vhich  he  is  not  at  all  accountable  ?  He  has 
not  shown,  nor  has  any  man  shown,  that  any  such  consequences  would  fol- 
low. It  is  impossible  that  the  trustees  could  act  so  ridiculously  us  to  per- 
mit such  a  thing ;  it  was  incredible  that  they,  being  responsible  to  the 
officers  appointed  by  the  State,  and  under  the  eye  of  such  vigilant  gentle- 
men as  Mr.  Ketchum  and  the  Public  School  Society,  could  permit  Mass  to 
be  celebrated  in  the  school.  Yet  such  is  the  picture  presented  by  Mr. 
Ketchnm — quite  in  accordance  with  his  old  course,  and  in  order  to  excite 
popular  prejudices,  for  which  purpose  this  speech  seems  to  have  been  so  stu- 
diously prepared.  For  he  well  knew  that,  amongst  a  large  portion  of  the 
Protestants,  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  traditional  prejudice  against  Catho- 
lics, which  has,  from  being  repeated  incessantly  and  seldom  contradicted, 
become  fixed,  occupying  the  place  of  truth  and  knowledge.  Their  case 
reminds  me  of  what  is  related  of  Baron  Munchausen.  It  is  said  that,  when 
this  celebrated-  traveller  was  old,  he  had  a  kind  of  consciousness  that  there 
was  some  former  period  of  his  life  when  he  knew  that  all  his  stories  were 
untrue ;  but  he  had  repeated  them  so  often,  that  now  he  actually  believed 
them  to  be  true. 

It  is  to  such  persons  as  are  under  the  influence  of  these  prejudices  and 
bigotries  that  Mr.  Ketchum  addresses  his  speech  ;  and,  if  he  utter  the  senti- 
ments of  the  Public  School  Society,  how,  I  ask,  can  we  confide  to  their 
hands  the  training  of  the  tender  minds  of  our  children  ? 

But  one  of  the  most  remarkable  things  in  this  speech  is,  that,  after  hav- 
ing beaten  off  in  succession  the  different  religious  denominations,  because, 
as  he  said,  they  would  teach  religion,  having,  in  fact,  played  the  one  sect 
against  the  other,  Mr.  Ketchum  turns  round  and  affirms  that  the  Society 
itself  does  teach  religion.  He  says  : 

No,  sir.  I  affirm  that  the  religion  taught  in  the  public  schools  is  pre- 
cisely that  quantity  of  religion  which  we  have  a  right  to  teach.  It  would 
be  inconsistent  with  public  sentiment  to  teach  less ;  it  would  be  illegal  to 
teach  more. 

The  "  exact  quantity  !  "  Apothecary's  weight !  Nothing  about  the 
quality,  except  that  Mr.  Ketchum,  having  made  it  an  objection  that  we 
wished  religion  in  a  definite  form,  he  will  give  it  in  an  indefinite  form — a 
fine  religion  ;  but,  at  all  events,  there  is  to  he  the  "  legal  quantity."  Well, 
now  let  us  see  something  about  the  quality  of  this  religion  ;  and  I  wish  to 
consider  the  subject  seriously.  And  here  let  me  refer  to  a  beautiful  senti- 
ment expressed  by  the  Secretary  in  his  report.  He  says  that  religion  and 
literature  have  become  so  blended,  that  the  separation  of  the  one  from  the 
other  is  impossible.  A  more  true  or  appropriate  declaration  could  not  pro- 
ceed from  the  lips  of  any  man  wishing  the  welfare  of  his  country  and  his 
kind. 

Now,  whenever  we  made  objections  to  that  Society  for  pretending  that 
religious  subjects  were  excluded  by  law,  it  was  on  these  grounds.  We  said, 
We  refer  you  to  the  experience  of  public  men — to  that  of  the  most  cele- 
brated statesmen  in  Europe,  even  the  infidels  of  France,  who  have  uniformly 
declared  that  society  cannot  exist  except  on  the  basis  of  religion.  All  of 


SPEECH   OF   BISHOP   HUGHES.  473 

them,  whether  believing  in  religion  or  not,  have  admitted  the  necessity  of 
having  some  kind  of  religion  as  a  basis  of  the  social  edifice.  But  these  gen- 
tlemen, in  all  their  debates,  have  contended  that  the  education  to  he  given 
should  be  "  purely  civil  and  secular."  That  is  their  official  language.  And 
now,  for  the  first  time,  Mr.  Ketchum,  before  the  Senate,  declares  that  the 
Society  does  teach  religion,  and  exactly  the  proper  quantity. 

Let  me  now  call  your  attention  to  a  passage  in  one  of  their  reading- 
books,  in  order  that  we  may  see  a  specimen  of  this  religion.  I  will  now 
make  a  few  comments  on  the  passage,  but  I  do  conceive  that  there  are  per- 
sons of  all  those  denominations  who  recognize  the  doctrine  of  the  Divinity, 
who  could  not  be  induced  to  have  the  minds  of  their  children  inoculated 
with  such  sentiments  as  it  contains.  Referring  to  our  blessed  Redeemer,  one 
of  their  school-books  says  : 

His  answers  to  the  many  insidious  questions  that  were  put  to  Him 
showed  uncommon  quickness  of  conception,  soundness  of  judgment,  and 
presence  of  mind,  completely  baffled  all  the  artifices  and  malice  of  His  ene- 
mies, and  enabled  Him  to  elude  all  the  snares  that  were  laid  for  Him. 

Are  these  the  ideas  of  the  divine  attributes  of  the  Redeemer  which  the 
Christian  portion  of  the  community  wish  impressed  on  the  minds  of  their 
children  ?  That  such  have  been  the  sentiments  taught  by  the  Society  for 
the  last  sixteen  years,  they  cannot  deny.  And  they  may  account  for  it  as 
they  please,  but  it  has  attracted  the  attention  of  many,  that,  for  the  last  six- 
teen years,  the  progress  of  that  young  and  daring  blasphemy  that  trifles 
with  all  that  is  sacred  has  increased  tenfold  iu  this  city.  How  do  I  account 
for  it  ?  In  two  ways :  first,  because  a  large  portion  of  the  young  are  de- 
barred from  the  benefits  of  education  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  the 
attempt  which  has  been  made  to  divorce  religion  from  literature.  When 
such  causes  exist,  you  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  that  infidelity  thickens 
its  ranks  and  raises  on  every  side  its  bold  and  impious  front. 

I  have  presented  you  with  a  specimen  of  the  quality  of  that  religion 
which  Mr.  Ketchum  says  is  dealt  out  with  exact  and  legal  measure. 

Mr.  Ketchum  contends  that  it  is  religion  of  a  decided  character  that  we 
want.  And  pray,  what  are  we  to  understand  by  a  religion  that  is  not 
decided  ?  A  religion  which  is  vague — a  general  religion  ?  What  is  the 
meaning  of  these  terms  ?  I  desire  to  have  a  definition  of  them. 

If  there  is  to  be  established  by  law  a  Public-School-Society-religion,  I 
should  like  to  have  its  confession  of  faith,  and  be  informed  of  the  number 
of  its  articles,  and  the  nature  of  the  doctrines  contained  in  them.  But  it 
seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Ketchum  and  this  Public  School  Society  resemble  a 
body  of  men  who  are  opposed  to  all  physicians  because  they  understand 
medicine ;  and  who,  although  themselves  opposed  to  all  practice  of  medi- 
cine, are  yet  disposed  to  administer  to  the  patients  of  the  regular  practition- 
ers. And  the  comparison  holds  good ;  for,  after  all,  children  are  born  with 
a  natural  moral  disease — want  of  knowledge  and  evil  propensities,  and  edu- 
cation and  religion  are  the  remedial  agents  to  counteract  these  evil  tenden- 
cies and  remove  the  natural  infirmity.  Then,  we  have  the  practitioners,  as 
they  may  be  termed,  coming  to  see  the  patient,  the  whole  community  sup- 


4:74r  THE    PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

plying  the  medicine-chest ;  and  we  have  these  men  surrounding  this  chest, 
and  exclaiming  to  the  physicians,  "Clear  off!  You  are  a  Thomsonian, 
and  you  are  a  Broussaist,  and  you  are  a  Homoeopathic,  and  you  are  a  regu- 
lar practitioner,  and  you  -wish  to  prescribe  remedies  of  a  decided  and  defi- 
nite character,  which  is  contrary  to  '  a  great  principle  ; '  "  and,  having  thus 
banished  all  the  physicians,  they  turn  doctors  themselves,  and  mix  up  their 
drugs  into  what  they  call  a  "  general  medicine,"  of  which  they  administer 
what  they  call  the  legal  quantity.  But  the  gentlemen  forget  that  neither 
the  patient  nor  the  medicine  are  theirs.  Those  who  furnish  the  patient  and 
supply  the  medicine-chest  should  have  a  voice  in  the  selection  of  the  doc- 
tors. 

What  do  the  gentlemen  really  intend  ?  They  object  to  religious  socie- 
ties, but,  after  they  have  got  them  pushed  out  of  the  house,  they  begin  to 
teach  religion  themselves.  Mr.  Ketchum  acknowledges  that.  He  and  Mr. 
Sedgwick,  his  associate,  however,  do  not  appear  to  have  studied  theology  in 
the  same  school.  One  says  that  religion  is  the  basis  of  all  morality ;  the 
other,  that  morality  is  the  basis  of  religion.  And,  after  all,  do  men  agree 
any  more  in  their  views  of  morality  than  religion  ?  Certainly  not.  And 
yet  you  must  give  to  the  children,  especially  those  of  that  class  attending 
these  schools — for  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  they,  for  the  most  part, 
do  not  enjoy  the  opportunity  of  parental  or  pastoral  instruction — some  sup- 
ply of  religious  education.  They  are  the  offspring  of  parents  who,  unfortu- 
nately, cannot  supply  that  deficiency ;  and  if  they  are  brought  up  in  this 
way,  with  a  kind  of  contempt  for  religion,  or  with  the  most  vague  idea  of 
it,  the  most  lamentable  results  must  necessarily  follow. 

I  now  come  to  another  point :  the  non-attendance  of  the  children  in  the 
schools.  Whilst  our  humble  school-rooms  are  crowded  to  excess,  the  Soci- 
ety has  been  obliged  to  give  $1,000  a  year  to  persons  for  recruiting  for  chil- 
dren. In  Grand  street  they  have  erected  a  splendid  building,  almost  suffi- 
cient to  accommodate  the  Senate  of  the  State  ;  and  besides  all  that,  we  find 
that  they  are  able  to  lavish  public  money  in  payment  to  agents  to  collect 
children.  Mr.  Seton,  who  has  been  a  faithful  agent  of  the  Society,  made 
that  fact  known,  and  stated  that,  by  this  means,  eight  hundred  children 
were  collected.  And  to  whom  was  this  money  given  ?  To  tract  distribu- 
tors. A  very  good  occupation,  theirs,  I  have  no  doubt,  but,  at  the  same 
time,  that  was  rather  a  singular  appropriation  by  men  so  extremely  scrupu- 
lous lest  any  portion  of  the  public  money  should  go  to  the  support  of  any 
sect.  But  I  suppose  that  was  on  the  principle  of  what  Mr.  Ketchum  calls 
"  giving  and  taking ;  "  that  is,  you  give  a  tract  and  take  a  child. 

Then,  we  have  quite  an  effort,  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Ketchum,  to  prove  that 
the  trustees  discharge  their  onerous  duties  much  better  than  officers  elected 
by  the  people.  I  will  quote  his  remarks  on  that  point : 

This  Public  School  Society  receives  its  daily  sustenance  from  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  ;  and  the  moment  that  sustenance  is  withdrawn,  it 
dies — it  cannot  carry  on  its  operations  for  a  day. 

A  most  beautiful  subversion  of  the  actual  order !  For,  so  far  from  the 
Common  Council  patronizing  the  Society,  it  is  the  Society  that  patronizes 


SPEECH    OF  BISHOP   HUGHES.  475 

the  Common  Council,  taking  them  into  partnership  the  moment  they  are 
elected ;  and,  so  far  from  being  dependent  on  the  Council,  as  was  well  re- 
marked by  a  greater  authority  than  I  am  on  this  subject,  the  Council  are 
dependent  on  the  Society.  The  schools  belong  to  the  Society,  just  as  much 
as  the  Harlem  Bridge  does  to  the  company  who  built  it.  What  remedy  is 
there,  then  ?  The  Society,  self-constituted,  a  close  corporation,  takes  into 
partnership  the  Common  Council,  which  then  becomes  part  and  parcel — 
bone  of  the  bone  and  flesh  of  the  flesh — of  the  Society ;  and  if  any  differ- 
ence arises  between  the  citizens  and  the  Society,  a  committee  of  that  very 
Society  adjudicates  in  the  Cause.  Thus  we  have  found  that  the  Common 
Council,  after  having  denied  our  claim,  and  even  when  about  to  retire  and 
give  place  to  their  successors,  followed  us  to  Albany  ;  and  their  last  act,  like 
that  of  the  retreating  Parthian  who  flung  his  dart  behind  him,  was,  to  lay 
their  remonstrance  on  the  table  of  the  tribunal  to  which  we  had  appealed. 
Mr.  Ketchum  says : 

Here  are  agents  of  the  people — men  who,  having  a  desire  to  serve  man- 
kind, associate  together ;  they  offer  to  take  the  superintendence  of  particu- 
lar works  ;  they  offer  themselves  to  the  public  as  agents  to  carry  out  certain 
benevolent  purposes ;  and,  instead  of  paying  men  for  the  labor,  they  volun- 
teer to  do  it  for  you,  "  without  money  and  without  price,"  under  your  direc- 
tions— to  do  it  as  your  servants,  and  to  give  an  account  to  you  and  an 
account  to  the  Legislature.  Voluntary  public  service  is  always  more  effi- 
cient than  labor  done  by  servants  chosen  in  any  other  way. 

So  that,  because  they  serve  gratuitously,  they  discharge  their  duties 
much  better  than  if  elected  by  the  people  !  Well,  let  us  improve  upon  the 
hint.  Perhaps  some  of  them  may  be  kind  enough  to  discharge  the  more 
important  functions  of  the  Government  for  nothing.  But  if  volunteers  be 
more  efficient  than  officers  chosen  by  the  votes  of  the  people,  let  us  abolish 
the  farce  of  elections  altogether.  Not  satisfied  with  this,  Mr.  Ketchum  also 
would  seem  to  contend,  that  the  volunteers  ought  not  to  be  held  respon- 
sible. 

To  establish  his  views  on  this  point,  Mr.  Ketchum  refers  to  charitable 
and  benevolent  institutions.  But  where  is  the  justice  of  the  comparison  ? 
The  sick  are  incompetent  to  secure  their  own  protection  and  recovery.  The 
inmates  of  the  House  of  Refuge,  on  which  Mr.  Ketchum  has  a  beautiful 
apostrophe,  referring  to  his  own  share  in  the  erection  of  that  one  established 
in  this  city,  are  likewise  unable  to  take  care  of  themselves.  And  here  let 
me  say,  in  all  sincerity,  to  Mr.  Ketchum,  that  if  he  and  the  Public  School 
Society  determine  to  perpetuate  their  system — if  they  continue  to  exclude 
religion  from  education,  and  at  the  same  time  deprive  four  fifths  of  the  chil- 
dren, as  now,  of  any  education  at  all.  then  he  had  better  stretch  his  lines 
and  lay  the  foundations  of  houses  of  refuge,  as  the  appropriate  supplement 
to  the  system.  •  Neither  does  the  comparison  hold,  as  I  have  before  shown, 
in  reference  to  lunatic  asylums,  &c. 

Then  Mr.  Ketchum  goes  on  to  illustrate  farther,  and  says : 

But  it  is  said — and  said,  too,  in  this  report  of  the  Secretary — that  he 
proposes  to  retain  these  public  schools.  How  retain  them  ?  One  of  the 


476  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

features  of  the  proposed  new  law  is,  that  all  school  moneys  shall  be  paid  to 
the  teachers.    Under  such  a  law  we  cannot  live  a  day — not  a  day. 

What  an  acknowledgment  is  that ! — thut  a  law,  which  would  make  edu- 
cation free,  giving  equal  rights  to  all,  would  be  the  death-warrant  of  the 
Public  School  Society  1 

There  is  another  point  on  which  Mr.  Ketchuui  does  not  now  dwell  so 
emphatically.  He  says  that  there  were  a  large  number  of  taxpayers  who — 
wonderful  to  relate  ! — asked  for  the  privilege  of  being  taxed — asked  for  that 
privilege  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  Public  School  Society  with 
money  to  carry  out  their  benevolent  purposes.  Mr.  Ketchum  seems  to  con- 
sider that,  at  that  time,  there  was  a  kind  of  covenant  made  between  these 
petitioners  to  be  taxed  and  the  State  authorities ;  that,  when  they  petitioned 
and  were  taxed,  the  authorities  of  the  State  bound  themselves  to  keep  up 
this  system  in  perpetuum.  But  did  these  persons  ask  to  be  taxed  exclusively 
out  of  their  own  pockets  ?  or  did  they  ask  for  a  system  of  taxation  which 
should  reach  all  the  tax-paying  citizens  of  New  York  ?  There  is  a  fallacy 
in  Mr.  Ketchum's  argument  here.  He  supposes  that,  because  these  persons 
are  large  property-holders,  that  they  are,  therefore,  par  eaxellence,  the  payers 
of  taxes.  He  forgets  that  it  is  a  fact  well  understood  in  the  science  of 
political  economy,  that  the  consumer  is,  after  all,  the  taxpayer ;  that  it  is 
the  tenants  occupying  the  property  of  those  rich  men,  and  returning  them 
their  large  rents,  who  are  actually  the  taxpayers.  And  what  peculiar  merit, 
then,  can  Mr.  Ketchum  claim  for  these  owners  of  property,  and  petitioners, 
to  have  all  the  rest  of  the  citizens  taxed  as  well  as  themselves  ?  But  he 
insists  there  was  an  agreement — a  covenant  entered  into  between  them  and 
the  State  authorities ;  and  if  you  interfere  with  its  provisions,  you  must 
release  these  taxpayers  from  their  obligations  as  such.  With  all  my  heart,  I 
have  no  objection.  All  we  want  is,  that  there  should  be  no  unjust  interfer- 
ence, no  exclusive  system,  no  extraneous  authority  interposed  between  the 
taxpayer  and  the  purpose  for  which  the  tax  is  collected.  But  the  fact  that 
others,  besides  these  petitioners,  are  equally  involved  in  the  burden,  demol- 
ishes this  argument  of  Mr.  Ketchum. 

In  his  conclusion,  the  learned  gentleman  insists  that,  unless  the  Society 
remain  as  it  is,  it  cannot  exist;  and  then  goes  on  further — for- it  would  be 
impossible  for  hyn  to  close  his  speech  without  again  reminding  the  Senate 
that  we  are  Roman  Catholics.  He  says : 

The  people  in  New  York  understand  the  subject,  and  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics cannot  say  that  they  will  not  be  heard  as  well  there  as  here.  Why  not 
leave  the  matter  to  us,  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York  ? 

Thus  Mr.  Ketchum,  after  having  first  endeavored  to  impress  the  minds 
of  the  Senate  that  we  had  had  all  imaginable  fair  play — that  other  denomi- 
nations had  made  applications  similar  to  ours,  which  is  not  the  fact — that 
our  petition  had  uniformly  been  denied  in  the  several  boards  representing 
the  people  of  New  York,  whereas  he  knew  that,  in  this  question,  the  people 
of  New  York  was  never  even  represented  by  the  Common  Council — he  goes 
on  to  say,  at  last :  "  Why  not  leave  the  matter  to  us,  the  people  of  the  city 


SPEECH   OF  BI8IIOP   HUGHES.  477 

of  New-York  ?  "  I  trust  not,  if  a  committee  of  the  Public  School  Society, 
called  the  Common  Council,  are  to  be  at  once  parties  and  judges.  I  hope 
that  the  question  will  not  be  referred  back,  although,  for  Mr.  Ketchum's 
satisfaction,  I  may  state  that,  if  it  were  so  referred,  the  Common  Council 
would  not,  I  will  venture  to  say,  now  decide  upon  it  by  such  a  vote  as  they 
did"  before,  when  one  man  alone  had  the  courage — whether  he  was  right  or 
wrong — to  say  "  nay,"  when  all  said  "  yes."  .  In  consequence  of  that  vote — 
as  they  have  since  taken  care  to  tell  us — this  gentleman  lost  his  election  ; 
but,  what  was  of  infinitely  greater  importance,  he  preserved  his  honor. 
Were  the  matter  now  before  the  Common  Council,  they  would  see  a  thou* 
sand  and  one  reasons  for  hesitation  before  deciding  as  before.  For  when 
public  men  see  that  any  measure  is  likely  to  be  popular,  they  can  find  abun- 
dant reasons  for  taking  a  favorable  view  of  the  question.  I  will  refer  Mr. 
Ketchum  to  a  sign  from  which  he  may  learn  what  he  pleases.  Since  the 
Common  Council  that  denied  our  claims  went  out  of  office,  their  successors 
have  had  the  matter  before  them  ;  and  when,  in  the  Board  of  Assistants,  it 
was  proposed  to  pass  a  resolution  requesting  the  Legislature  to  defer  the 
consideration  of  the  question,  the  motion  was  negatived  by  a  tie  vote. 

Still,  Mr.  Ketchum  will  have  the  end  of  this  speech  something  like  the 
end  of  the  last.  Then  he  said  that  this  was  a  most  distressing  topic  to  the 
gentlemen  of  the  Public  School  Society — that  they  were  men  of  peace. 
That  I  do  not  controvert ;  but  certainly  I  must  say  that,  in  the  course  of 
this  contest,  they  appear  to  have  exhibited  a  spirit  contrary  to  their  natures. 
But  so  peaceful  were  they,  Mr.  Ketchum  said,  that,  if  any  longer  annoyed, 
they  would  throw  up  their  office  and  retire.  But,  after  all,  they  could  send 
their  agents  to  Albany  to  oppose  us  there  :  the  one — Dr.  Rockwell — to  dis- 
seminate a  burlesque  on  our  faith,  from  "  Tristram  Shandy ; "  the  other— 
Mr.  Ketchum — to  plead  as  zealously,  but  I  think  not  as  successfully,  against 
the  recognition  of  our  claims.  Mr.  Ketchum  says  : 

Now,  the  contest  is  renewed,  and  the  trustees  engage  in  it  with' extreme 
reluctance ;  they  have  no  personal  interests  to  advance,  and  they  are  very 
unwilling  to  be  put  in  hostile  array  against  any  of  their  fellow-citizens. 

Mr.  Chairman,  the  lateness  of  the  hour  admonishes  me  that  I  have  tres- 
passed too  much  upon  your  patience.  I  have  but  one  observation  to  make 
in  conclusion. 

These  gentlemen  have  spoken  much  and  laid  great  emphasis  on  the  im- 
portance of  morality;  but,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  morality  is  not 
always  judged  of  by  the  same  criterion.  Let  me  illustrate  this.  According 
to  the  morality  which  my  religion  teaches,  if  I  rob  a  man,  or  injure  him  in 
his  property,  and  desire  to  be  reconciled  to  God,  I  must,  first  of  all,  if  it  be 
in  my  power,  make  reparation  to  the  man  whom  I  have  injured.  Again,  if 
I  should  unfortunately  rob  my  neighbor  of  his  good  name,  of  his  reputa- 
tion, either  by  accident  or  through  malice,  before  I  can  hope  for  reconcilia- 
tion with  an  offended  God,  I  must  repair  the  injury  and  restore  my  neigh- 
bor's good  name.  If  I  belied  him,  I  must  acknowledge  the  lie  as  publicly 
as  it  was  uttered.  That  is  Catholic  morality.  Well,  now,  these  gentlemen 
have  belied  us ;  they  have  put  forward  and  circulated  a  document  which 


478  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

existed  only  in  the  imagination  of  Sterne— a  foul  document — and  represent- 
ed it  as  a  part  of  our  creed.  I  do  not  say  that  they  directly  required  this  to 
be  done ;  but  their  agent  did  it,  and  he  cannot  deny  it.  I  wonder  now, 
then,  if  they  will  have  such  a  sense  of  morality  as  will  impel  them  to  en- 
deavor to  repair  the  injury  thus  done  to  our  reputation,  by  any  official  dec- 
laration that  that  is  a  spurious  document  ?  I  wonder  if  the  conscientious 
morality  that  presides  over  the  Journal  of  Commerce  will  prompt  its  editors 
to  such  a  course  ?  If  it  do  not,  then  it  is  a  morality  different  from  ours. 

I  apprehend  that  no  such  reparation  will  be  offered  for  the  injury  we 
•have  sustained  by  the  everlasting  harangue  of  abuse  and  vituperation  that 
has  been  poured  out  against  us  for  these  few  years  past.  Have  we  not  been 
assailed  with  a  foul  and  infamous  fiction,  in  the  pages  of  a  work  called 
"  Maria  Monk  "  ?  And  have  its  reverend  authors  ever  stood  forward  to  do 
us  justice,  and  acknowledge  the  untruth  which,  knowing  it  to  be  so,  they 
published  ?  Have  they  ever  attempted  to  counteract  that  obscene  poison 
which  they  disseminated,  corrupting  the  morals  of  youth  throughout  every 
hamlet  in  the  land  ?  Whilst  denouncing,  in  their  ecclesiastical  assemblies, 
the  works  of  Byron  and  Bulwer,  did  they  include  in  their  denunciations  the 
filthy  and  enormous  lie  published  under  their  auspices,  the  writings  of 
"Maria  Monk"? 

What  idea,  then,  must  we  form  of  their  morality  and  religion  ?  And 
here  it  would  be  unjust  to  omit  mentioning  that  many  Protestants,  not 
under  the  influence  of  blinded  bigotry,  have  done  us  justice  on  this  point. 
In  particular  I  refer  to  the  conduct  of  one  distinguished  Protestant  writer 
who  cannot  be  accused  of  great  partiality  for  us,  but  who  exposed  and  re- 
futed the  authors  and  abettors  of  this  filthy  libel  to  which  I  have  referred. 
I  know  that  it  would  be  incorrect  and  unjust  to  say  that  thousands  of  oth- 
ers, sincere  Protestants,  but  high-minded,  honorable  men,  have  not  taken 
the  same  view  of  the  subject.  But  I  speak  particularly  of  the  morality  of 
the  authors  and  publishers  of  these  abominable  slanders  ;  and  I  regret  that 
the  Public  School  Society,  by  their  recent  proceedings,  should  have  allowed 
themselves  to  sink  to  a  kindred  degradation. 

Mr.  Ketclmm  replied  to  tlie  speech  of  Bishop  Hughes  briefly, 
through  the  press,  and  several  rejoinders  followed  from  the  pens 
of  the  distinguished  advocates  of  the  opposing  interests.  The 
question  was  constantly  agitated,  and  became  a  very  exciting 
element  in  the  election  for  members  of  the  city  delegation  to  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Assembly,  in  the  month  of  November. 
An  independent  organization,  and  the  nomination  of  a  school 
ticket,  was  determined  upon  by  the  Catholics,  and  measures 
were  adopted  accordingly.  Inquiry  having  been  made  among 
the  candidates  of  the  "  Democratic  "  and  "  Whig  "  parties,  a 
selection  was  made,  and  three  new  names  were  placed  on  the 
school  ticket,  in  default  of  gentlemen  who  did  not  respond  satis- 
factorily to  the  wishes  of  the  committee. 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC   SCHOOL  TICKETS.  4:79 

The  Freeman's  Journal  of  October  23  published  a  call  for  a 
meeting  of  "  the  friends  of  civil  and  religious  freedom,  in.  favor 
of  extending  the  benefits  of  a  common  school  education  to  the 
neglected  and  indigent  children  of  this  city,"  to  be  held  on  the 
following  Tuesday,  the  26th  of  the  same  month.  The  "  Church 
Debt  Association  "  held  a  meeting  on  Monday  evening,  at  which 
Bishop  Hughes  was  present,  and  made  an  address.  He  spoke  at 
some  length  on  the  school  question,  and,  in  an  earnest  appeal  to 
the  audience,  urged  a  full  attendance  the  following  evening. 

On  Tuesday  evening,  Carroll  Hall,  the  place  of  meeting,  was 
crowded  at  an  early  hour  with  an  assemblage  attracted  by  the 
promise  of  a  speech  from  the  bishop,  as  well  as  by  the  object  of 
the  meeting,  which  was  to  decide  on  a  list  of  candidates  to  be 
voted  for  at  the  election  then  approaching.  Bishop  Hughes  rose, 
and  delivered  a  lengthy  address,  during  which  he  presented  a 
ticket  for  the  support  of  the  Catholics.  A  few  passages  will 
serve  to  show  the  spirit  and  enthusiasm  which  characterized  the 
meeting.  Said  the  reverend  gentleman  : 

With  political  controversies  and  party  questions  I  have  nothing  what- 
ever to  do.  .  .  .  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  say  any  thing  personally  of 
those  whose  names  have  been  recommended  to  be  placed  on  the  list  of  can- 
didates, and  I  would  not  for  one  moment  urge  that  they  should  be  placed 
there,  had  I  not  been  assured,  on  the  most  positive  evidence,  and  which  I 
could  not  doubt,  that  they  are  friendly  to  an  alteration  in  the  present  sys- 
tem of  public  education.  ...  I  will  now  request  the  Secretary  to  read  the 
names  placed  on  the  ticket.  Of  that  ticket  I  have  approved.  It  presents 
the  names  of  the  only  friends  we  could  find  already  before  the  public,  and 
those  whom,  not  being  so  prominently  before  the  public,  we  have  found  for 
ourselves. 

The  Secretary  then  read  the  following  list : 

SENATOKS. 

Thomas  O'Connor,  J.  G.  Gottsberger. 

ASSEMBLY. 

Tighe  Davey,  David  B.  Floyd  Jones, 

Daniel  C.  Pentz,  Solomon  Townsend, 

George  Weir,  John  L.  O' Sullivan, 

Paul  Grout,  Ajiguste  Davezac, 

Conrad  Swackhamer,  William  McMurray, 

William  B.  Maclay,  Michael  Walsh, 
Timothy  Daly. 

"  Each  name,"  says  the  report  of  the  Freeman's  Journal, 


480  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

"  was  received  with  the  most  deafening  and  uproarious  applause, 
and  three  terrific  cheers  were  given  at  the  close,"  on  the  subsi- 
dence of  which  the  Bishop  proceeded  : 

You  have  now,  gentlemen,  heard  the  names  of  men  who  are  willing  to 
risk  themselves  in  support  of  your  cause.  Put  these  names  out  of  view,  and 
you  cannot,  in  the  lists  of  our  political  candidates,  find  that  of  one  solitary 
public  man  who  is  not  understood  to  be  pledged  against  us.  What,  then,  is 
your  course  ?  You  now,  for  the  first  time,  find  yourselves  in  the  position  to 
vote  at  least  for  yourselves.  You  have  often  voted  for  others,  and  they  did 
not  vote  for  you  ;  but  now  you  are  determined  to  uphold,  with  your  own  votes, 
your  own  rights.  (Thunders  of  applause,  which  lasted  several  minutes.) 
Will  you,  then,  stand  by  the  rights  of  your  offspring,  who  have  for  so  long 
a  period,  and  from  generation  to  generation,  suffered  under  the  operation  of 
this  injurious  system  ?  (Renewed  cheering.)  Will  you  adhere  to  the  nomi- 
nation made  ?  (Loud  cries  of  "  We  will !  we  will !  "  and  vociferous  ap- 
plause.) Will  you  be  united  ?  (Tremendous  cheering — the  whole  immense 
assembly  rising  en  masse,  waving  of  hats,  handkerchiefs,  and  every  possible 
demonstration  of  applause.)  Will  you  let  all  men  see  that  you  are  worthy 
sons  of  that  nation  to  which  you  belong  ?  (Cries  of  "  Never  fear— we 
will !  "  "  We  will,  till  death  !  "  and  terrific  cheering.)  Will  you  prove 
yourselves  worthy  of  friends  ?  (Tremendous  cheering.)  Will  none  of  you 
flinch  ?  (The  scene  that  followed  this  emphatic  query  is  indescribable,  and 
exceeded  all  the  enthusiastic  and  almost  frenzied  displays  of  passionate  feel- 
ing we  have  sometimes  witnessed  at  Irish  meetings.  The  cheering,  the 
shouting,  the  stamping  of  feet,  waving  of  hats  and  handkerchiefs,  beggared 
all  powers  of  description.)  Very  well,  then ;  the  tickets  will  be  prepared 
and  distributed  amongst  you,  and,  on  the  day  of  election,  go,  like  freemen, 
with  dignity  and  calmness,  entertaining  due  respect  for  your  fellow-citizens 
and  their  opinions,  and  deposit  your  votes.  I  ask,  then,  once  for  all,  and 
with  the  answer  let  the  meeting  close,  Will  this  meeting  pledge  its  honor, 
as  the  representative  of  that  oppressed  portion  of  the  community  for  whom 
I  have  so  often  pleaded,  here  as  well  as  elsewhere — will  it  pledge  its  honor 
that  it  will  stand  by  these  candidates,  whose  names  have  been  read,  and 
that  no  man  composing  this  vast  audience  will  ever  vote  for  any  one  pledged 
to  oppose  our  just  claims  and  incontrovertible  rights  ?  (Terrific  cheering 
and  thunders  of  applause,  which  continued  for  several  minutes,  amid  which 
Bishop  Hughes  resumed  his  seat.) 

The  ticket  was  adopted  by  acclamation,  and  the  meeting 
adjourned. 

A  letter  of  inquiry  was  addressed  to  the  candidates  before 
the  public,  by  a  committee  selected  for  the  purpose,  in  which 
they  were  requested  to  state  their  views  on  the  school  question, 
and  whether  they  were  favorable  to  the  Public  School  Society, 


GEORGE    T.   TRI  MBLE 


ROMAN   CATHOLIC   SCHOOL   TICKET.  481 

or  to  a  change  .of  system.  Those  of  the  candidates  then  in  the 
city  replied  to  the  inquiry,  and  a  card  also  appeared,  signed  by 
Messrs.  Solomon  Townsend,  D.  K.  Floyd  Jones,  George  Weir, 
Paul  Grout,  Conrad  Swackhamer,  Auguste  Davezac,  William 
McMurray,  George  G.  Glazier,  David  Dudley  Field,  and  Ed- 
ward Sandford,  in  which  they  declared  that  they  "  discounte- 
nance altogether  the  schemes  and  the  objects  of  the  present  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State,"  who,  as  they  charged,  had  originated  all  the 
difficulties  of  the  school  question. 

The  election  for  members  of  Assembly  resulted  as  follows : 

Solomon  Townsend,         .....  18,374 

D.  R.  Floyd  Jones,    .....  18,349 

William  B.  Maclay,         .....  18,268 

George  Weir,  .....  18,231 

Paul  Grout,          ......  18,195 

C.  Swackhamer,         .....  18,092 

A.  Davezac,          ......  18,060 

William  McMurray,   .....  17,970 

John  L.  O'Sullivan, 17,644 

Daniel  C.  Pentz,        .....  16,889 

Joseph  Tucker,       ......  16,336- 

William  Jones,  .....  16,312 

Nathaniel  G.  Bradford,    ......  16,308 

The  last  three  names  in  the  above  list  are  those  of  candidates 
not  on  "  the  regular  ticket "  of  the  party  supposed  to  be  most 
favorable  to  the  objects  of  the  Carroll  Hall  party.  The  three 
names  voted  for  by  the  Catholics,  as  recommended  by  Bishop 
Hughes,  with  the  number  of  votes  they  received,  are  the  follow- 
ing: Michael  Walsh,  2,330;  Tighe  Davey,  2,172;  Timothy 
Daly,  2,163. 

The  vote  for  Senators  resulted  as  follows :  Thomas  O'Connor, 
2,202 ;  J.  G.  Gottsberger,  2,175. 

This  demonstration  at  the  ballot-box  of  a  religious  body, 
under  the  leadership  of  its  most  popular  and  prominent  digni- 
tary, occupying  the  chair  of  bishop  of  the  diocese,  was  univer- 
sally regarded  by  the  people  at  large,  and  especially  by  the 
members  of  other  communions,  as  highly  offensive  and  danger- 
ous as  a  precedent,  and  antagonistic  to  the  spirit  of  our  republi- 
can institutions.  It  created  a  profound  impression,  which,  how- 
ever, was  sensibly  relieved  when  the  canvas  had  been  completed, 
31 


482  THE   TDBLIO   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

and  the  strength  of  the  Carroll  Hall  party  was  ascertained  by 
the  test  vote  on  the  last  three  candidates.  The  comparatively 
small  number  of  votes  of  all  parties  who  were  willing  to  make 
the  sectarianism  of  our  schools  a  special  issue,  dissipated  the 
apprehensions  of  many  who  feared  that  a  powerful  organization 
would  be  created  for  further  movements.  It  was  the  last  effort 
made,  as  the  occasion  for  a  distinct  issue  was  removed  by  the 
action  of  the  Legislature  in  1842.  The  proceedings  during  that 
session,  and  the  change  introduced,  are  made  the  subject  of  the 
next  chapter. 

The  reader  of  the  speech  of  Bishop  Hughes  will  have  noticed 
several  allusions  to  "TRISTKAM  SHANDY,"  LAURENCE  STERNE, 
and  the  Journal  of  Commerce.  The  record  will  not  be  intelli- 
gible without  an  explanation  of  the  facts. 

After  Mr.  Spencer's  report  appeared,  the  session  of  the  Legis- 
lature being  far  advanced,  the  indications  of  success  on  the  part 
of  the  Catholics  threatened  the  friends  of  the  Society  with  the 
•decay  of  their  system.  One  of  them  wrote  a  reply  to  the  report 
of  the  Secretary,  which  was  published  in  the  columns  of  the 
Journal  of  Commerce  at  the  last  moment.  The  bill  had  been 
made  the  special  order  for  Friday,  May  21st.  On  Thursday,  the 
20th,  the  artrcle  appeared,  and  a  number  of  copies  were  sent  by 
a  gentleman  in  New  York  to  a  friend  in  Albany,  by  whom  they 
were  marked,  and  placed  on  the  tables  of  the  senators,  so  that 
they  would  attract  immediate  attention.  It  was  as  follows : 

From  the  Journal  of  Commerce  of  May  20,  1841. 
REPORT   OF  THE   SECRETARY  OF  STATE  BRIEFLY  EXAMINED. 

MR.  EDITOR  :  The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State  on  the  subject  of 
school  education  in  the  city  of  New  York,  having  been  before  the  public 
for  several  days,  and  feeling,  as  I  do,  a  deep  interest  in  the  cause,  I  am  con- 
strained to  make  a  few  suggestions  in  reply  to  it,  in  the  hope  that  I  may 
.contribute  a  little  to  a  full  understanding  of  this  interesting  question. 

The  importance  of  universality  in  the  systems  of  education  adopted  by 
the  people  has  not  been  overdrawn,  and  cannot  be  too  much  appreciated. 
No  one  should  be  left  without  the  opportunity  of  making  some  progress  in 
those  studies,  the  acquisition  of  which  will  qualify  him  for  a  high  and  hon- 
orable and  useful  station  in  society — at  least,  to  prepare  him  to  exercise  the 
responsible  privilege  of  deciding,  by  the  right  of  suffrage,  the  course  of 
legislation  under  which  he  would  prefer  to  live.  This  is  the  principal  fea- 
.ture  of  the  report  ;  this  is  its  professed  object.  Regarding  it  as  an  essential 


JOUBNAI.   OF   COMMERCE.  483 

principle,  that,  as  all  have  civil  equality,  they  should  also  enjoy  an  equality 
in  the  means  of  education,  the  Secretary  has  proposed  the  destruction  of  one 
system  and  the  substitution  of  another.  If  the  figures  he  presents  were  con- 
sistent with  facts,  and  the  new  system  were  not  open  to  powerful  objections, 
his  report  would  meet  with  even  more  general  approbation  than  it  receives 
at  present. 

The  statistics  which  he  furnishes  respecting  the  number  of  children  in 
and  out  of  school,  show  that  32,194  did  not  attend  any  school,  while  less 
than  that  number,  or  30,758,  were  registered  on  the  books  of  schools,  of 
whom  22,955  were  embraced  in  the  public  schools — the  average  attendance 
being  13,189. 

The  disparity  between  the  attendants  upon  the  means  of  instruction,  and 
those  children  not  attending,  is  far  less  than,  by  this  statement,  would 
appear  to  be  the  case. 

1.  The  public  schools  in  this  city  are  open  to  the  reception  of  children 
and  youth  between  four  and  sixteen  years  of  age,  but  the  proportion  of 
those  over  twelve  or  thirteen  is  but  as  one  to  twenty-five  or  thirty.     Hence,  a 
very  large  reduction  in  the  number  of  non-attendants  must  be  made.     I 
have  no  data  by  which  I  can  give  the  number  of  children  between  twelve 
and  sixteen,  but  there  is  doubtless  at  least  one  third  of  the  whole  number, 
making  a  consequent  reduction  of  15,000  or  20,000 ;  leaving  the  number  of 
non-attendants  at  15,000  to  17,000,  instead  of  32,194. 

2.  A  large  number  of  children  are  foreigners,  who  do  not  speak  our  lan- 
guage, who  are  unacquainted  with  the  schools,  do  not  feel  their  importance 
or  understand  the  system,  and  who  will  not  be  enticed  into  school.    For 
these,  another  proportion  must  be  deducted. 

3.  Many  of  the  poorer  class  of  the  population  find  it  necessary  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  services  of  their  children  for  their  own  support,  and  they 
are  consequently  put  out  to  work,  in  factories  and  other  places,  at  an  early 
age.    Many  occupations  are  performed  principally  by  children  eight  and  ten 
years  of  age,  and  no  doubt  several  thousands  are  thus  engaged.    For  these, 
another  reduction  must  be  made. 

In  this  manner,  by  an  appeal  to  facts  which  may  be  apparent  to  every 
one  who  will  look  at  the  subject,  we  reduce  the  number  of  non-attendants 
to  about  8,  10,  or  12,000.  I  might  add  another  item :  many  of  the  chil- 
dren of  wealthy  parents  are  not  sent  to  school,  but  are  placed  under  the 
care  of  private  teachers  and  governesses.  Thus  we  leave  the  number  of 
children  who  may  be  justly  called  non-attendants,  at  about  the  number  of 
those  who  are  prevented  from  attending  these  schools  by  their  parents  and 
priestly  censors,  whose  jealous  anxiety  is  so  watchful  lest  the  children  might 
receive  any  sectarian  bias  "  hostile  to  their  views." 

The  next  deficiency  to  be  accounted  for  is  the  great  difference  between 
the  registered  and  actual  attendance  at  the  schools ;  and  this  is  no  more  diffi- 
cult than  the  other. 

1.  Many  of  the  children  are  kept  from  school  by  their  parents  for  the 
sake  of  their  services. 

2.  Children  are  mortals  as  well  as  ourselves,  who  are  but  "  children  of 
lamer  growth,"  and  often  are  sick,  or  feign  sickness,  as  the  case  may  be. 


484  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

8.  Many  of  the  parents,  being  poor,  are  obliged  to  resort  to  daily  labor 
for  support,  leaving  their  children  at  home,  or  in  the  neighborhood.  Being 
thus  left  without  restraint  or  counsel  for  the  day,  and  not  feeling  a  desire 
for  books  (few  children  of  poor  people  do),  they  amuse  themselves  by  play, 
or  whatever  may  suit  their  tastes  or  convenience. 

Other  details  might  be  given,  but  these  will  serve  as  a  clue  to  some  of 
the  causes  of  non-attendance ;  and  although  any  one  might  be  considered 
unimportant  in  itself,  all  of  them  combined  present  an  aggregate  of  no 
inconsiderable  amount.  Hence  the  inference  on  this  point,  that  something 
is  defective,  which  needs  the  stimulus  of  sectarian  influence  to  correct  it, 
falls  to  the  ground. 

The  Secretary  then  compares  the  attendance  at  country  schools  with  that 
in  the  city,  and  argues  that,  because  there  is  a  larger  proportion  in  the  for- 
mer, the  citizens  of  New  York  should  adopt  the  district  system.  Let  us  see 
whether  this  will  stand  the  test.  He  says,  "  the  like  proportion  must  exist 
in  the  city  and  in  the  interior,  of  those  who  have  already  received  all  the 
education  they  or  their  parents  desire,  or  who  are  engaged  as  apprentices,  or 
in  employments  preventing  them  from  attendance  at  any  place  of  instruc- 
tion." 

As  we  have  before  shown,  the  children  leave  school  at  about  twelve  years 
of  age  in  the  city ;  but  in  the  country,  where  it  is  expected  that  the  chil- 
dren will  assist  on  the  farms,  &c.,  during  the  busy  seasons  of  agricultural 
life,  they  attend  principally  in  the  winter,  or  not  much  more  than  half  the 
year ;  and,  to  supply  this  absence,  they  attend  school  until  they  are  sixteen 
or  eighteen  years  of  age.  Here  we  have,  in  the  same  fact,  two  causes  which 
make  a  material  difference,  viz. :  Does  the  average  attendance  equal  that  of 
the  city  ?  and  do  not  the  children  attend  school  until  a  period  later  in  life 
by  three,  four,  or  five  years  ? 

The  presumed  insufficiency  of  the  Public  School  Society,  therefore,  in 
not  educating  all  the  children,  not  in  private  schools,  has  been  shown  to  be 
altogether  exaggerated ;  causes  over  which  neither  legislation  nor  school  can 
have  control,  existing  in  the  community,  and  conspiring  to  prevent  the 
attendance  of  children. 

These  causes,  as  will  be  inferred  from  what  I  have  above  presented,  are 
of  a  social  rather  than  a  civil  nature — poverty,  for  instance,  which  makes  its 
imperious  demands  on  the  labor  of  the  young;  wide  difference  of  language; 
and,  doubtless,  to  some  extent,  prejudice  against  our  policy.  Hence,  if  we 
wish  to  see  all  our  children  in  school,  under  proper  training  and  guidance, 
we  must  seek  to  improve  the  domestic  condition  of  the  families ;  we  must 
give  the  parents  the  means  of  supporting  themselves  and  their  children. 
Who  will  do  it  ? 

Let  us  pass  on  to  notice  a  few  of  the  Secretary's  arguments  : 

1.  He  thinks  that  the  district  school  system  is  eminently  fitted  to  prevent 
sectarian  influence ;  "  and  the  records  of  this  department  have  been  searched 
in  vain  for  an  instance  of  abuse  of  the  system  to  sectarian  biases."    Can  any 
be  furnished  from  the  records  of  the  Public  School  Society  ? 

2.  If  this  is  the  case  in  the  district  schools,  why  does  he  say,  in  the  same 


JOURNAL  OF  COMMERCE.  485 

sentence,  that  each  district  has  that  kind  of  "  religious  instruction  most  con- 
genial to  the  opinions  of  the  inhabitants  "  ?  If  the  population  is  Presbyte- 
rian, it  will  be  a  Presbyterian  school ;  and  Baptists  and  Episcopalians  and 
Romanists  will  feel  that  they  are  doing  wrong  to  send  their  children  to 
places  where  principles  "  hostile  to  their  views  "  are  taught.  If  the  popula- 
tion (a  majority)  decide  on  having  a  Catholic  school,  or  any  other,  is  there 
not  an  abuse  of  privilege  ?  So  far,  however,  as  I  am  acquainted  with  the 
country  schools,  there  is  just  the  same  amount  of  religious  instruction  given 
in  them  as  in  the  public  schools  of  New  York — the  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. My  earliest  instructions  were  received  in  a  district  school  in  West- 
chester  county. 

3.  The  Secretary  considers  it  an  axiom  that,  in  all  schemes  of  education, 
there  must  of  necessity  be  some  religious  instruction ;  "  and  that  it  must 
therefore  be  sectarian — that  is,  it  must  favor  one  set  of  opinions  in  opposi- 
tion to  another."    Hence  all  must  be  banished,  or  we  must  have  schools 
"  congenial  to  the  spirit  and  opinions  of  the  inhabitants."    The  great  argu- 
ment is  equality.    Very  well ;  if  a  Mohammedan  should  come  to  this  coun- 
try and  send  his  children  to  the  public  schools,  and  become  dissatisfied 
because    the  reading-books  contain    sketches    of    the  impostures  of  the 
Prophet,  he  sets  up  the  claim  of  equality,  and  demands  that  every  book  con- 
taining any  thing  derogatory  to  the  character  of  Mohammed  should  be  sub- 
mitted to  his  examination,  while  he  publishes  an  "Index  Expurgatorius" 
and  insists  that  every  volume  in  the  schools  throughout  the  city  should  be 
blotted  and  mutilated  to  please  his  views.    This  is  granted,  but  he  demands 
more  :  that  the  Public  School  Society  be  broken  up,  and  some  system  estab- 
lished by  which  he  may  be  formed  into  a  "  district,"  and  receive  money 
enough  to  educate  his  children  according  to  his  creed,  "  for  its  transmission 
is  a  part  of  his  religious  profession  !  "  and,  with  commendable  pertinacity, 
so  effectually  plies  his  "  equality  "  arguments  as  to  conquer  a  whole  commu- 
nity.   My  own  opinion  is,  that  when  the  majority  are  on  an  equality,  the 
people,  in  democratic  construction,  are  on  an  equality ;  and  "the  term  does 
not  necessarily  involve  the  harassing  and  perplexing  of  a  whole  community 
at  the  dictate  of  a  few. 

4.  This  cry  of  equality  has  been  raised  by  the  memorialists  because  they 
think  it  will  touch  a  tender  chord  in  the  hearts  of  the  American  people.    It 
has ;  but  they  will  find  it  does  not  vibrate  in  unison  with  theirs  on  this 
question ;    for  none  are  more  exclusive  than  these  self-same  sticklers  for 
equality,  none  more  bigoted,  none  more  arrogant. 

5.  But  the  Secretary  says,  knowing  "  that  they  regard  as  the  most  sacred 
of  duties  the  inculcation  of  those  principles  in  the  minds  of  their  children, 
we  ought  not  to  be  surprised  at  their  anxiety  to  exclude  all  that  is  hostile 
to  their  views,"  "  for  the  transmission  of  their  creed  is  a  most  essential  part 
of  their  religious  profession."    What  are  these  principles,  the  transmission 
of  which  is  so  essential  ?    I  happen  to  take  the  following : 

EXCOMMUNICATION  OF  MR.  HOGAN,  PASTOR  OF  ST.  MARY'S  CHURCH, 
PHILADELPHIA. — By  the  authority  of  God  Almighty,  the  Father,  Son,  and 


486  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Holy  Ghost,  and  the  undefiled  Virgin  Mary,  mother  and  patroness  of  our 
Saviour,  and  of  all  celestial  virtues,  angels,  archangels,  thrones,  dominions, 
powers,  cherubims  and  seraphims,  patriarchs,  apostles,  prophets,  evangelists, 
&c.,  may  he,  Mr.  Hogan,  be  damned  !  .  .  .  May  the  holy  choir  of  the  holy 
virgins,  who,  for  the  honor  of  Christ,  have  despised  the  things  of  this  world, 
damn  him !  May  all  the  saints,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  ever- 
lasting ages,  who  are  found  to  be  beloved  of  God,  damn  him !  .  .  .  May 
he  be  damned  wherever  he  be,  whether  in  the  house,  or  in  the  stable,  the 
garden,  or  the  field,  or  the  highway  ;  or  in  the  woods,  or  in  the  water,  or  in 
the  Church ;  may  he  be  cursed  in  living  and  dying !  .  .  .  May  he  be 
cursed  in  his  brains,  in  his  vitals,  his  temples,  his  eyebrows,  his  cheeks,  his 
jawbones,  his  nostrils,  his  teeth  and  grinders,  his  lips,  his  throat,  his  shoul- 
ders, his  arms,  his  fingers,  his  veins,  his  thighs,  his  genitals,  his  hips,  his 
knees,  his  legs,  and  feet,  and  toe-nails !  .  .  .  May  the  Son  of  the  living 
God,  with  all  the  glory  of  His  majesty,  curse  him  !  And  may  heaven,  with 
all  the  powers  that  move  therein,  rise  up  against  him,  and  curse  and  damn 
him,  unless  he  repent  and  make  satisfaction.  Amen.  So  be  it.  Be  it  so. 
Amen. 

Are  not  these  principles  very  essential,  and  their  transmission  indispen- 
sable ? 

6.  If  these  memorialists  find  it  necessary  to  teach  their  religious  creeds 
to  their  children,  why  do  they  not  do  it  in  the  domestic  circle,  at  the  fire- 
side ?    The  knowledge  which  they  acquire  at  school  will  make  them  more 
intelligent,  and  enable  them  better  to  receive  parental  instruction.    There  is 
a  good  reason.     The  light  which  they  enjoy  there  is  calculated  to  break  the 
superstitious  spell  of  saints,  confessing  to  the  priest,  relics,  absolution,  pen- 
ance, and  give  to  them  notions  of  God  himself,  in  His  Word  and  works, 
which  would  conflict  with  the  value  of  holy  water,  and  dead  men's  bones, 
and  prayers  measured  out  by  chains  of  beads. 

7.  I  have  before  referred  to  the  principle  of  giving  to  districts  "  the 
power  of  appointing  their  religious  instruction  most  congenial  to  the  feel- 
ings of  the  population."    This  is  the  whole  object  of  the  report — to  adopt 
a  system  by  which  any  district  may  have  any  religious  sentiments  inculcated 
which  they  desire.    If  this  is  not  sought  by  the  report,  there  is  no  object  to 
be  gained  by  any  change  of  system. 

But  the  Secretary  says,  in  closing  :  "  If  .  .  .  any  schools  would  be  per- 
verted to  the  purposes  of  a  narrow  and  exclusive  sectarianism,  a  remedy 
might  be  found  by  giving  authority  to  the  Board  of  Commissioners  to 
investigate  complaints,  and  to  dissolve  offending  schools,  or  withhold  its 
share  of  the  school  money."  If  no  religious  reading  of  the  Scriptures  can 
be  had  without  sectarian  influence,  according  to  his  own  principle,  will  the 
Scriptures  be  banished  from  the  schools  ?  If,  as  is  an  axiom  in  his  lan- 
guage, "  all  schemes  of  education  must  convey  some  religious  instruction," 
which,  he  says,  must  necessarily  be  sectarian  in  its  tendency,  will  he 
remove  the  influence  by  removing  the  religious  instruction,  which  can  be 
done  only  by  shutting  our  schools  altogether?  There  is  an  inconsistency 
here. 

8.  As  the  memorialists  depend  so  much  on  equality,  so  let  us  throw  our- 
selves back  on  our  democratic  principle  of  the  majority ;  and  as  the  great 
mass  of  our  citizens  are  in  favor  of  the  old  system,  let  us  retain  it. 


JOURNAL    OF   COMMERCE.  487 

9.  The  Secretary  has  attempted  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  the  Legislature 
and  the  people,  by  saying  that  the  Public  School  Society  is  "  subject  to  no 
control,"  except  that  the  Common   Council  can  omit  designating  their 
schools  as  recipients  of  the  public  bounty.;  that  they  are  not  accountable  to 
any  authority — a  perpetual  corporation ;  that  the  people  have  no  choice  of 
trustees,  &c.    This  is  as  unjust  to  the  trustees  as  it  is  unwise  in  its  tendency. 
There  has  been  but  little  or  no  fault  found  with  these  indefatigable  public 
servants,  but  by  the  Roman  Catholics,  who  do  it  on  sectarian  grounds,  and 
the  aspersion  contained  in  it  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  just  tribute  of  com- 
mendation primarily  given  by  him.     Further,  it  is  involving  the  people  in  a 
new  subject  of  discussion  and  contest.     We  have  enough  opposition  and 
collision  without  adding  more. 

10.  The  Secretary  recommends  the  new  system  because  it  will  be  "  vol- 
untary."    This  has  struck  me  as  being  a  peculiarly  happy  feature  in  the 
Public  School  Society.     One  hundred  intelligent  citizens  devoting  a  great 
deal  of  their  time,  .voluntarily  and  gratuitously,  to  the  education  of  the 
youth  of  this  city,  is  a  consideration  of  no  small  moment,  and  a  Society 
which  is  more  efficient  can  seldom  be  found.     Of  all  the  different  classes  of 
effort  made  by  men  for  the  accomplishment  of  any  enterprise,  the  voluntary 
exertion  claims  the  highest  place.    It  is  more  efficient  because  it  is  more 
energetic  ;  it  is  more  noble  because  it  is  more  disinterested  ;  and  it  is  more 
valuable  because  it  reaps  a  richer  reward.    Who,  then,  is  in  favor  of  chang- 
ing this  system,  for  one  founded  on  the  election  of  commissioners  and  trus- 
tees elected  by  the  people  ?     Are  not  the  body  of  intelligent  men  now  acting 
in  that  capacity  just  as  intelligent  as  if  they  had  their  mental  scale  guaran- 
teed by  the  ballots  of  the  people  ? 

11.  The  Secretary  admits  that  it  is  an  objectionable  feature  in  this  meas- 
ure that  it  originated  with  a  sect.     This  certainly  is  a  powerful  argument 
against  it.    It  is  done  at  the  dictation  of  a  minority  of  the  citizens ;  this 
minority  always  combined  a  religious  body,  and  commenced  on  professedly 
sectarian  grounds.     Let  us,  if  we  value  our  liberty — if  we  value  the  har- 
mony of  the  community — if  we  place  a  just  estimate  on  the  perpetuity  of 
our  institutions — let  us  be  very  watchful  against  the  march  of  sectarian 
privilege.     This  will  be  a  first  step — a  great  one.     Make  this  compromise, 
set  this  precedent,  loosen  the  restraint  which  has  hitherto  existed,  and  threat 
will  follow  demand,  and  discord  will  follow  non-compliance,  and  rupture 
will  terminate  in  the  granting  of  the  boon  sought  for — a  privileged  Church 
establishment. 

12.  The  Secretary  suggests  that  the  system  he  recommends  will,  by 
exciting  emulation  in  the  different  sects,  bring  into  the  school  all  children 
not  attending  any.    If  this  is  a  state  of  society  which  will  promote  the  har- 
mony and  union  of  the  whole,  human  nature  will  have  undergone  some 
change.    This  emulation  between  sects,  in  so  large  and  thickly  populated  a 
city,  embracing  numerous   denominations,  will  lead  to  unfair  means  for 
obtaining  scholars.    Each  school  receiving  a  proportion  of  the  fund  depend- 
ing on  the  number  of  scholars,  one  teacher  will  make  one  offer,  another  will 
give  a  greater  inducement  to  the  children,  and  thus  sectarian  feuds,  religious 
squabbles,  school  and  church  quarrels,  would  agitate  the  community. 


488  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

13.  But,  could  this  be  avoided,  he  promises  us  something  as  much  to  be 
deprecated.      "  The  watchfulness  of  those  who  apprehend  abuse  may  be 
relied  upon  to  detect  it  promptly,  and  to  seek  the  needful  remedy."    Now, 
it  may  be  said  in  this  case,  as  has.  been  said  of  party  spirit,  "  Never  was  the 
country  so  likely  to  be  destroyed  as  when  party  spirit  was   prevalent 
throughout  the  land  " — a  remark  founded  on  an  acquaintance  with  human 
nature. 

Cabals,  parties,  and  divisions  destroyed  the  Koman  government,  ami 
may,  in  turn,  destroy  ours ;  and  any  thing  which  might  promote  euvyings, 
jealousies,  heart-burnings,  captiousness,  and  the  rancor  of  party  spirit, 
should  be  crushed  rather  than  encouraged.  The  vigilance  of  those  who 
watch  for  abuse  is  very  apt  to  be  itself,  in  its  morbid  vision,  the  creator  of 
the  objects  it  pretends  to  see ;  and  often  the  character  of  individuals  and 
associations  is  destroyed  by  the  combination  of  parties  and  cliques.  As  this 
vigilance  sees  through  a  very  questionable  medium,  it  is  better  to  establish 
a  system  not  depending  on  the  accusations  of  opponents,  but  on  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people ;  and  as  the  former  kind  of  care  and  watchfulness  is 
seldom  regarded  by  those  who  have  the  power  in  their  hands,  its  exercise 
would  be  not  only  perplexing,  but  worse  than  useless. 

14.  Proscription  would  follow  from  both  of  these  causes.     Instead  of  an 
argument,  I  will  present  a  fact  which  will  be  its  own  commentator.    At 
Paisley,  in  Scotland,  the  schools  were  conducted  on  this  principle,  and  the 
consequence  was,  that  the  enmity  became  so  great  that  one  set  of  people 
would  not  trade  with  another ;  a  third  would  not  speak  to  the  fourth,  and 
thus  the  social  ties  between  townsmen  were  rudely  snapped  asunder  by  this 
execrable  spirit. 

15.  The  trustees,  being  elected  by  the  people,  will  add  another  item  to 
the  political  capital  of  electioneers.     Parties  will  test  their  strength,  and 
the  successful  candidates  will,  of  course,  appoint  teachers  whose  opinions 
are  not  "  hostile  to  their  views,"  and  the  consequence  will  be,  that  the 
school-house  will  become  a  politico-religious 'nursery,  as  changeable  as  the 
sentiments  and  population  of  the  several  districts.    If  this  transmission  is 
desirable,  let  the  people  speak  for  themselves. 

AMERICUS. 

On  Tuesday  evening,  June  1st,  a  meeting  of  the  Catholics 
was  held  at  Washington  Hall,  in  New  York  City,  at  which 
addresses  were  made  by  James  W.  McKeon  and  Bishop  Hughes. 
In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  Mr.  McKeon  said : 

The  temporary  defeat  of  the  Mil  might  be  ascribed  to  the  efforts  of  the 
School  Society,  which  had  its  agents  watching  every  step  of  its  progress 
with  argus  eyes.  The  conduct  displayed  he  was  indignant  to  name.  It  was 
the  meekness  of  the  dove  without  its  innocence,  the  cunning  of  the  serpent 
without  its  wisdom.  Ay,  they  pushed  their  exertions  to  an  extremity  at 
which  they  recoiled  upon  themselves ;  for,  though  the  dishonorable  means 
resorted  to  effected  the  object,  it  has  pulled  down  upon  them  a  load  of  oblo- 


REVIEW   OF   THE   SCHOOL   QUESTION.  489 

quy  from  \vhich  their  institution  could  not  rise  unstained  through  series  of 
years  of  its  existence.  A  vile,  loathsome,  and  revolting  attack  upon  the  faith 
of  a  large  portion  of  the  petitioners  was  placed,  by  a  functionary  high  in 
the  confidence  of  the  Society,  in  the  hands  of  senators  on  the  morning  it  was 
supposed  the  vote  would  ~be  taken  on  the  ~bill. 

In  reference  to  the  same  matter,  Bishop  Hughes  used  the  fol- 
lowing language : 

I  do  not  say  that  the  trustees  of  the  School  Society  were  themselves  per- 
sonally the  distributors  of  these  slanders ;  but,  to  give  you  a  specimen  of 
what  was  done,  their  agent,  or  one  of  their  agents,  at  Albany,  was  detected 
placing  on  the  desks  of  the  senators,  what  think  you  ?  Why,  an  absurd  and 
abominable  malediction,  which  they  put  forth  as  the  Catholic  form  of  excom- 
munication, but  which,  in  fact  and  in  truth,  was  nothing  more  than  a  pure 
fabrication  of  STERNE,  written  for  his  own-  amusement,  in  his  book  called 
"  TRISTRAM  SHANDY."  And  these  high  literary  gentlemen,  these  self-consti- 
tuted, peculiar,  exclusive  dispensers  of  light  and  knowledge  and  education, 
were  either  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  the  true  character  and  origin  of  the 
document  which  they  so  industriously  circulated,  or,  knowing  its  character, 
they  were  so  bigoted,  and  careless  of  honor  and  truth  and  justice  and  good 
principle,  in  their  anxiety  to  forward  a  bad  cause,  that  they  did  not  hesitate 
to  give  the  falsehood  currency.  .  .  .  That  Society,  which  has  so  persever- 
ingly  opposed  every  effort  which  we  have  made  for  redress,  has  abundantly 
earned  for  itself  that  epithet,  which  has  been  often  applied  to  it,  of  a  soul- 
less corporation,  and  has  used  every  artifice  and  means  in  its  power  to  vilify 
and  defame  us  and  our  principles.  Yes,  defamation  is  the  term.  I  do  not 
say  they  have  done  it  knowingly.  That  is  not  a  point  for  me  to  determine. 
But  they  have  defamed  us.  I  aver  it,  and  insist  upon  it — they  have  defamed 
us  with  their  extracts  from  "  Tristram  Shandy,"  and  other  documents  of  an 
equally  high  literary  character,  creditable  to  the  liberality  and  the  preten- 
sions to  learning  and  knowledge  of  a  body  so  ambitious  to  be  the  sole 
instructors  of  the  youth  of  the  city.  And  I  challenge  them  to  meet  me  and 
prove  that  what  they  have  laid  to  our  charge  has  any  foundation  in  truth, 
or  is  any  thing  else  but  defamation. 

After  the  delivery  of  the  great  speech  by  Bishop  Hughes, 
the  anonymous  author  of  the  "  Brief  Review "  above  given, 
published,  also  anonymously,  the  first  part  of  a  "  Review  of  the 
School  Question,"  in  which  the  following  passage  occurs : 

In  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  too  much  importance  has  been  attached  to 
the  simple  extract  which  has  called  forth  so  much  remark.  It  was  given  as 
a  fact  to  show  the  nature  of  the  principles  which  would  be  supported  by 
sectarian  schools,  at  least  in  part,  and  but  a  solitary  remark  was  offered,  for 
the  arguments  and  statistics  were  the  objects  of  attention ;  but  as  it  has 
been  made  so  prominent  a  topic  ever  since  the  defeat  of  the  bill,  and  the 


490  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

pretext  for  calumniating  the  Public  School  Society,  I  am  constrained  to  sub- 
mit the  proofs. 

I  am  accused  of  defaming  their  faith.  Now,  defamation  may  be  true  or 
false  in  its  terms,  but  I  believe  it  is  not  measured  so  much  by  these,  as  by 
the  injury  effected  to  the  reputation  of  any  individual  or  cause.  If  I  am 
charged  with  being  a  libeller  in  the  latter  sense — that  of  injuring  their 
cause — I  plead  guilty ;  but  if  in  the  first — that  of  uttering  falsehood — I 
plead  emphatically  not  guilty. 

What  was  the  conduct  of  the  Bishop  ?  Did  he  confront  me  with  evi- 
dence that  the  form  had  not  been  used  ?  Did  he  deny  that  any  such  person 
as  Mr.  Hogan  had  been  a  pastor  of  one  of  their  churches  ?  Did  he  produce 
evidence  that  it  had  not  been  pronounced  in  this  simple  instance,  if  in  no 
other  ?  No,  none  of  these ;  but  he  pronounces  it  to  be  an  INVENTION  of 
Sterne's,  a  libel,  a  defamation. 

As  nothing  has  been  said  heretofore  in  relation  to  the  case  of  Mr.  Hogan, 
I  shall  not  stop  to  furnish  evidence  which  would  be  gratuitous,  as  it  has  not 
been  denied.  If  Bishop  Hughes,  however,  thinks  it  important,  and  will 
make  his  wishes  known,  it  slw.ll  ~be  produced. 

Instead  of  presenting  the  details  of  the  above  case,  I  introduce  an  ex- 
tract from  the  London  Quarterly  fieview,  for  March,  1841,  pp.  303,  304  (Ma- 
son's American  reprint),  which  will  exhibit  the  similarity  of  the  curse  used 
in  Ireland  with  the  one  referred  to  above.  "  The  examination  was  taken 
down  in  order  to  be  laid  before  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Lords,  on 
oath." 

Q.  Were  you  in  the  chapel  on  the  day  of  the  cursing  ? 

A.  I  was. 

Q.  Did  you  hear  it  ? 

A.  I  did. 

Q.  What  did  the  priest  say  ? 

A.  I'll  be  bound  he  cursed  her  well.  .  .  .  [The  next  witness  came, 
promising  to  iell  all  about  it,  to  oblige  Mr.  ,  but  evincing  the  greatest 

dislike  to  be  known  to  have  done  so.] 

Q.  Were  you  in Chapel  the  day  the  woman  was  cursed  ? 

A.  I  was. 

Q.  Did  you  hear  it  ? 

A.  I  did. 

Q.  At  what  Mass? 

A.  At  second  Mass. 

Q.  Did  the  priest  give  a  reason  for  cursing  the  woman  ? 

A.  He  said  it  was  "  going  here  and  there." 

Q.  What  did  he  mean  by  that  ? 

A.  Because,  he  said,  she  was  to  and  fro,  going  sometimes  to  mass  and 
sometimes  to  church. 

Q.  What  did  he  say  to  her  ? 

A.  He  said  enough,  I'll  be  bound. 

Q.  What  did  he  say  ? 

A.  He  cursed  every  inch  of  her  carcass. 

Q.  Did  he  bid  the  people  not  to  speak  to  her  ? 

A.  He  desired  them  not  to  speak  to  her,  or  deal  with  her,  or  have  any 
thing  to  do  with  her. 

Q.  Did  he  curse  her  child  ?  [the  poor  creature  was  pregnant  at  the  time.] 


ROMAN   CATHOLIC  EXCOMMUNICATIONS.  491 

A.   He  cursed  every  thing  that  would  spring  from  her. 

Q.  Did  he  say  any  thing  about  the  child  she  was  carrying — did  he  curse 
the  fruit  of  her  womb  ? 

A.  I  did  not  hear  him  say  t/tat ;  he  cursed  every  thing  that  would  spring 
from  her. 

Q.   How  was  he  dressed  ? 

A.  He  threw  off  the  clothes  he  had  on,  and  put  on  a  black  dress. 

Q.   Did  he  do  any  thing  with  candles  ? 

A.  'Tis  the  way ;  the  clerk  quenched  all  the  candles  but  one,  and  him- 
self put  out  that,  and  said,  "  so  the  light  of  heaven  was  quenched  upon  her 
soul ;  "  and  he  shut  a  book,  and  said  the  gates  of  heaven  were  shut  upon 
her  that  day. 

Q.   What  do  you  mean  by  saying  ':  lie  cursed  every  inch  of  her  carcass  "  ? 

A.  He  cursed  her  eyes,  and  her  ears,  and  her  legs,  and  so  on — every  bit 
of  her. 

.  .  .  The  neighbors  of  the  poor  woman  withdrew  from  intercourse 
with  her.  Shopkeepers  refused  to  sell  even  bread  to  her.  Her  own  chil- 
dren were  included  in  the  curse,  except  one,  who  was  in  the  service  of  a 
Roman  Catholic  lady,  and  was  prohibited  from  speaking  to  his  mother. 
The  poor  woman  with  whom  they  lodged  was  so  tormented  by  the  neigh- 
bors that  they  were  obliged  to  quit  the  house,  and  must  have  perished  in 
the  street,  had  they  not  been  received  into  the  house  of  a  Protestant ;  and 
when  the  poor  creature's  confinement  approached,  a  Roman  Catholic  lady 
prohibited  the  usual  person  from  attending  her,  under  threat  of  losing  her 
support ;  and  no  one  could  be  found  to  attend  until  the  wife  of  the  clergy- 
man of  the  parish  (from  whom  we  heard  this  ourselves)  interested  herself  to 
obtain  from  the  priest  a  reluctant  permission. 

The  above  is  modern  excommunication.  I  will  now  carry  the  reader 
back  to  a  more  remote  period,  and  show  the  character  of  the  formulae  used 
in  other  days,  as  well  as  to  prove  that  the  very  form  so  strongly  objected  to 
was  known  and  in  use  more  than  six  hundred  years  before  the  Mrth  of  Sterne. 

In  a  work  entitled  the  Protestant  Journal,  for  1831,  pp.  536-539, 1  find 
the  following  historical  narrative,  taken  from  the  Historian  Ecclesice  Evan- 
geli&x  in  Hungaria,  pp.  153-156  : 

At  a  congregation  of  Protestant  ministers,  members  of  the  presbytery 
of  the  thirteen  towns  in  Hungary  which  were  at  that  time  subject  to  the 
dominion  of  Poland,  held  at  Filcau,  November  13,  1630,  Barbara  Von  Grot- 
tendorf,  wife  of  Lewis  Szgedi,  of  Varallia,  complained  that  she  was  deserted 
by  her  husband,  who  had  avoided  her  society  for  years,  and  had  been  guilty 
of  violation  of  the  laws  of  marriage,  and  prayed  for  divorce.  Forty-five 
days  were  allowed  to  Szgedi  to  make  his  appearance  before  this  ecclesiastical 
court.  Notice  to  this  effect  was  given  him,  not  only  by  affixing  his  name  to 
the  church-doors  at  Varallia,  but  he  was  further  summoned  by  name  every 
Sunday  for  six  weeks,  at  the  conclusion  of  divine  service.  As  the  defendant 
did  not  make  his  appearance  at  the  end  of  this  time,  permission  was  given 
to  Barbara  Von  Grottendorf  to  marry  another  husband,  John  Krebell,  a 
goldsmith  of  Varallia.  These  circumstances  being  communicated  to  Laclis- 
laus  Hoszszuthoty,  president  of  the  chapter  of  Czepus,  the  latter  prohibited 
John  Pilemann,  the  Protestant  pastor  of  Varallia,  from  uniting  them  iu 
marriage.  As,  however,  Pilemann  proceeded  to  solemnize  the  marriage, 
Hoszszuthoty  fortified  himself  with  the  authority  of  the  cardinal,  Peter  Paz- 
mann,  archbishop  of  Strigonum,  and  primate  of  Hungary,  and  twice  sum- 
moned Peter  Zabler,  superintendent  of  the  presbtery,  John  Serpilius,  one  of  the 
elders,  and  Pilemann  himself,  to  appear  before  the  archiepiscopal  consistory. 


492  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

They  were  charged  with  contumacy,  and  the  president  told  them  that 
they  were  worthy  of  excommunication.  The  narrative  proceeds  : 

He  then  procured  an  interdict,  issued  by  Cardinal  Pazmann  against  the 
twenty-four  pastors  of  the  presbytery  generally,  and  against  Zabler,  Serpi- 
lius,  and  Pilemann,  individually ;  and  further,  that  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication which  follows  this  historical  notice  should  be  publicly  read  at 
the  cathedral,  on  the  19th,  22d,  and  27th  days  of  December,  1632.  Know- 
ing the  inveterate  hatred  of  the  Romish  clergy,  and  dismayed  at  the  effects 
which  they  too  well  knew  would  follow  from  this  excommunication,  the 
Protestants  had  recourse  to  Prince  Lubemiski,  chancellor  of  the  kingdom 
of  Hungary,  and  to  other  persons  of  distinguished  rank.  At  length,  after 
many  negotiations  and  the  most  humiliating  concessions,  the  intolerant  pro- 
vost consented  to  take  off  the  excommunication  on  condition  of  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  dollars  being  paid.  Additional  fruitless  attempts  were 
made  to  propitiate  him ;  but  finally  the  advocates  of  the  Protestants  suc- 
ceeded in  pacifying  him,  by  paying  him  fifty  gold  crowns,  on  the  23d  of 
March,  1633. 

Here  follows  the  form  of  excommunication,  which  is  different  from  that 
first  given,  by  its  being  more  virulent  and  persecuting,  cursing  even  their 
conception,  though  it  is  nearly  the  same  in  its  outlines.  I  make  only  one 
short  extract : 

I  adjure  thee,  O  Lucifer !  with  all  thy  imps,  also  with  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  and  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  with  the  human  nature  and  nativity  of 
the  Lord,  and  with  the  virtue  of  all  the  saints,  that  thou  rest  not  night  and 
day  until  thou  hast  brought  them  to  destruction,  whether  they  be  drowned 
in  rivers,  or  be  hung,  or  be  devoured  by  beasts,  or  be  burnt,  or  be  slain  by 
enemies ;  let  them  be  hated  by  every  person  living,  or  even  their  ghosts. 

A  cardinal  in  the  true  Church,  standing  up  at  the  altar  and  praying  to 
the  devil,  as  superior  to  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  blasphemously  uniting  Luci- 
fer, the  prince  of  hell,  in  his  invocations  and  imprecations,  with  the  King 
of  saints  !  This  is  the  last  extremity,  certainly  ;  but  probably  the  cardinal 
had  the  best  reason  for  invoking  Lucifer  and  his  imps,  on  account  of  his 
more  familiar  acquaintance  with  them.  It  will  be  recollected  that  Sterne 
was  born  in  1713,  and  that  these  things  occurred  eighty  years  anterior  to  the 
Urth  of  Sterne,  and  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  before  the  publica- 
tion of  "  Tristram  Shandy." 

This  testimony,  however,  being  merely  historical,  and  the  actors  in  it 
having  been  long  since  numbered  with  the  dead,  it  may  be  questioned  with 
the  greatest  coolness  by  any  one  who  wishes  to  dispute  it.  I  therefore  pass 
on  to  my  last  proof  that  Sterne  did  not  invent  the  form  of  excommunication 
attributed  to  him. 

I  have  on  the  table  before  me  a  book  entitled  "  Olossarium  Archceologi- 
cum :  continens  Latino  Barbara,  Peregrina,  Obsoleta,  et  Novatse  Significa- 
tionis  Vocabula,  &c.  Authore  HENRICO  SPELMANNO,  Equite,  Anglo-Britan- 
no,  Londini,  MDCLXXXVII."  On  pp.  205—206  of  this  book,  I  find  the  follow- 
ing formula,  which,  as  will  be  seen  at  the  close,  Spelman  obtained  from  a 
manuscript  volume  compiled  during  the  reign  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
who  occupied  the  throne  of  England  from  the  time  of  the  Norman  con- 


EOMAN   CATHOLIC   EXCOMMUNICATIONS.  493 

quest,  decided  by  the  battle  of  Hastings  in  1066,  until  1087,  nearly  seven 
centuries  prior  to  the  piiblication  of  "  Tristram  Shandy." 

EXCOMMOTICATIO. — Ex  auctoritate  Dei  omnipotentis,  Patris,  ct  Filii,  et 
Spiritus  Sancti ;  et  sanctum  canonum,  sanctseque  et  intemeratae  virginis  Dei 
genetricis  Marise,  atque  omnium  celestium  virtutum,  angelorum,  archangelo- 
rum,  thronorum,  dominationum,  potestatum,  cherubin,  ac  seraphin,  et  sancto- 
rum patriarcharum,  prophetarum,  et  omnium  apostolorum  et  evangelistarum, 
et  sanctorum  innocentium  qui  in  conspectu  agui  soli  digni  inventi  sunt  can- 
ticum  cantare  novum,  et  sanctorum  martyrum,  et  sanctorum  confessorum,  et 
sanctarum  virginum,  atque  omnium  simul  sanctorum  et  electorum  Dei,  Ex- 
coinmunicamus  et  anathematizamus  hunc  furem,  vel  hunc  malefactorem  N., 
et  a  liminibus  sanctsa  Dei  ecclesiae  sequestramus,  ut  aeterni  suppliciis  cruci- 
andus  mancipetur  cum  Dathan  et  Abiron,  et  cum  his  qui  dixerunt  Domino 
Deo,  "  Recede  a  nobis,  scientiam  viarum  tuarum  nolumus"  et  sicut  aqua  ignis 
extinguitur,  sic  extinguitur  lucerna  ejus  in  secula  seculorum,  nisi  resipuerit, 
et  ad  satisfactionem  venerit.  Amen. 

Maledicat  ilium  Deus  Pater  qui  hominem  creavit.  Maledicat  ilium  Dei 
Filius,  qui  pro  homine  passus  est.  Maledicat  ilium  Spiritus  Sanctus,  qui  in 
baptismo  effusus  est.  Maledicat  ilium  sancta  crux,  quain  Christus  pro  nostra 
salute  hostem  triumphans  ascendit.  Maledicat  ilium  sancta  Dei  genetrix  et 
perpetua  virgo  Maria.  Maledicat  ilium  sanctus  Michael  animarum  susceptor 
sacrarum.  Maledicat  ilium  omnes  angeli,  et  archangeli,  principatus,  et  po- 
testates,  omnisque  militia  celestis  exercitus.  Maledicat  ilium  patriarcharum 
et  prophetarum  laudabilis  numerus.  Maledicat  ilium  sanctus  Johannes,  pre- 
cursor et  Baptista  Christi  proecipuus.  Maledicat  ilium  sanctus  Petrus,  et 
sanctus  Paulus,  et  sanctus  Andreas,  omnesque  Christi  Apostoli  simul  et 
ceteri  discipuli ;  quatuor  quoque  evangelists  qui  sua  predicatione  mundum 
universum  converterunt.  Maledicat  ilium  cuneus  martyrum  et  confessorum 
mirificus  qui  Deo  bonis  operibus  placitus,  inventus  est.  Maledicant  ilium 
sacrarum  virginum  chori,  quae  mundi  vana  causa  honoris  Christi  respuenda 
contempserunt.  Maledicant  ilium  omnes  sancti,  qui  ab  initio  mundi  usque 
in  finem  seculi  Deo  dilecti  inveniuntur.  Maledicant  ilium  coeli  et  terra,  et 
omnia  sancta  in  eis  manentia  ! 

Maledictus  sit  ubicumque  fuerit,  sive  in  domo,  sive  in  agro,  sive  in  via. 
sive  in  semita,  sive  in  silva,  sive  in  aqua,  sive  in  ecclesia. 

Maledictus  sit  vivendo,  moriendo,  manducando,  bibendo,  esuriendo,  siti- 
endo,  jejunando,  dormitando,  dormiendo,  vigilaudo,  ambulando,  stando, 
sedendo,  jacendo,  operando,  quiescendo,  mingendo,  cacando,  flebotomando. 

Maledictus  sit  iu  totis  viribus  corporis.  Maledictus  sit  intus  et  exterius. 
Maledictus  sit  in  capillis.  Maledictus  sit  in  cerebro.  Maledictus  sit  in  ver- 
tice,  in  temporibus,  in  fronte,  in  auriculis,  in  superciliis,  in  oculis,  in  genis, 
in  maxilis,  in  naribus,  in  dentibus,  in  mordacibus,  in  labris,  in  gutture,  iu 
humeris,  in  hannis,  in  brachiis,  in  manibus,  in  digitis,  in  pectore,  in  corde, 
et  in  omnibus  interioribus  stomacho  tenus,  in  renibus,  in  inguinibus,  in 
femore,  in  genitalibus,  in  coxis,  in  geuibus,  in  cruribus,  in  pedibus,  in  arti- 
culis  et  in  unguibus.  Maledictus  sit  in  totis  compaginibus  membrorum  ;  a 
vertice  capitis  usque  ad  plantam  pedis,  non  sit  in  eo  sanitas. 

Maledicat  ilium  Christus  filius  Dei  vivi  toto  suse  majestatis  imperio  ;  et 
insurgat  adversus  eum  coalum  cum  omnibus  virtutibus,  quae  in  eo  moventur, 
ad  damnandum  eum  nisi  pcenituerit,  et  ad  satisfactionem  venerit.  Amen. 
Fiat.  Fiat.  Amen. 

EXCOMMUNICATIO.— Auctoritate  Dei  Patris  omnipotentis,  et  Filii,  et 
Spiritus  Sancti,  et  beatae  Dei  genetricis  Marias,  omniuinque  sanctorum,  et 
sanctorum  canonum.  Excommunicamus,  anathematizamVrS,  et  a  liminibus 
sanctae  matris  EcclesisB  sequestramus  illos  malefactores  N.  consentaneos 
quoque  vel  participes,  et  nisi  resipuerint,  et  ad  satisfactionem  renerint ;  sic 


494  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

e-xtinguatur  lucerna  eorum  ante  viventem,  in  secula  seculorum.    Fiat.    Fiat. 
Amen. 

Hae  Excommunicationum  formulae  sequuntur  Emendationes  legum,  quas 
Gulielmus  Conquestor  edidit,  in  libro  vocato  Textus  Roffensis,  MS.  et  viden- 
tur  sub  eo  ipso  sevo  conditse  ;  quia  in  superioribus  nusquam,  quod  scio,  repe- 
ritur  beat®  Virginia  Marise  invocatio. 

In  Gorton's  "  Biographical  Dictionary,"  vol.  ii.,  in  a  notice  of  Sir  Henry 
Spelman,  I  find  the  following  language :  "  He  printed  a  specimen  in  1621, 
and  in  1626  appeared  the  first  part,  entitled,  '  Archaologicus  in  modum  Olos- 
sarii  ad  rem  antlquam  posteriorum  folio."1  The  sale  of  this  valuable  work  was 
so  unpromising,  that  the  second  part  was  not  published  till  after  the  death 
of  the  author."  "  His  death  took  place  in  1641,  and  his  body  was  interred 
in  Westminster  Abbey." 

See  also  Hale's  "  Analysis  of  Chronology,"  4  vols.  8vo.,  London,  1830,  at 
p.  341  of  vol.  iii.,  where  reference  is  made  to  Boxhornius'  u  History  of  the 
Low  Countries,"  and  Brandt's  "  Abridgment,"  vol.  i.  p.  6,  where  the  said 
foin  may  be  found. 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  grand  point  decided.  Bishop  Hughes  alleges 
that  the  form  first  quoted  was  a  fabrication  of  Sterne's.  Now,  books  can  be 
referred  to  which  were  published  eighty-seven  years  before  the  birth  of 
Sterne,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  qr  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  prior 
to  the  publication  of  "  Tristram  Shandy ; "  and  the  volume  on  the  table 
before  me  is  of  the  third  edition,  which  was  printed  twenty-four  years  before 
Sterne  was  torn. 

In  the  scenes  above  narrated,  personages  of  more  importance  than  Yor- 
ick,  Obadiah,  Captain  Shandy,  and  My  Uncle  Toby,  played  their  parts, 
before  any  of  them  had  even  the  ideal  existence  which  Sterne  gives  them. 
I  know  not  how  Bishop  Hughes  can  set  aside  such  proof,  except  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  "  coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before,"  and,  in  this  case,  cast- 
ing an  unusually  long  one. 

It  will  be  seen,  by  the  extract  from  his  speech,  that  he  charges  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  with  circulating  and  approving  the  "  Brief  Review," 
because  they  do  not  disclaim  it, 

Because  they  do  not  officiously  disclaim  and  condemn  the  murder  of 
Thomas  a  Becket,  they  must  be  held  responsible  !  Because  they  do  not  dis- 
avow the  murder  of  Queen  Anne,  they  must  be  held  responsible  for  the  con- 
duct of  Henry  VHE. !  Because  they  do  not  condemn  the  burning  of  the 
Alexandrian  library  by  Caliph  Omar,  it  is  their  act  till  they  disclaim  it — or, 
at  least,  they  approve  of  it !  And,  on  the  same  principle,  until  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  disclaims  the  curses  above  given  we  hold  them  responsible  !  A 
politic  denial  by  Bishop  Hughes  is  not  sufficient ;  it  must  come  from  popes, 
cardinals,  bishops,  and  priests ;  for  those  dignitaries  authorized  and  sanc- 
tioned them.  The  reverend  speaker  must  admit  my  application  of  his  argu- 
ment, or  retract  his  unwarrantable  abuse  of  the  Public  School  Society  in 
relation  to  this  matter. 

If  he  persists  in  denying  the  truth  of  my  evidence,  as  I  have  proved  my 
side  of  the  question,  if  he  thinks  it  desirable,  he  must  produce  the  excom- 


REVIEW   OF   THE   SCHOOL   QUESTION.  495 

munication  which  was  used  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Eogan.  This  is  the  alternative ; 
and,  in  the  mean  time,  I  shall  not  be  overawed  by  the  legal,  literary,  and 
ecclesiastical  array  of  gentlemen  whose  research  can  pierce  no  farther  into 
the  gloom  of  antiquity  than  the  "  Life  and  Character  of  Tristram  Shandy." 

AMERICUS. 


[For  the  convenience  of  the  reader  the  following  translation  of  the  form 
of  excommunication  as  given  by  Sir  Henry  Spelman  is  inserted.] 

EXCOMMUNICATION. 

By  the  authority  of  God  Almighty,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  the 
holy  canons,  and  of  the  pure  and  holy  Virgin  Mary,  the  Mother  of  God,  and  of  all  heavenly 
intelligences,  angels,  and  archangels,  thrones,  dominions,  and  powers,  cherubim,  and  ser- 
aphim, and  of  the  holy  patriarchs,  prophets,  and  all  apostles  and  evangelists,  and  holy 
innocents,  who  in  the  sight  of  the  Lamb  have  been  found  worthy  to  sing  the  new  song ; 
and  of  the  holy  martyrs  and  holy  confessors,  and  holy  virgins,  and  of  all  the  holy  and 
elect  of  God  together,  we  do  excommunicate  and  anathematize  this  thief,  the  malefactor  N., 
and  do  separate  him  from  the  threshold  of  the  holy  Church  of  God,  that  he  may  be  given 
over  to  be  tormented  with  everlasting  punishments,  with  Dathan  and  Abiram,  and  with 
those  who  said  unto  the  Lord  God,  "Depart  from  us,  we  desire  not  the  knowledge  of  thy 
ways ; "  and  as  fire  is  extinguished  by  water,  so  let  his  lamp  be  extinguished,  world  with- 
out end,  unless  he  shall  repent  and  make  satisfaction.  Amen. 

Curse  him,  God  the  Father,  who  created  man.  Curse  him,  the  Son  of  God,  who  suf- 
fered for  man.  Curse  him,  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  is  poured  forth  in  baptism.  Curse  him, 
the  holy  cross,  which  Christ  ascended  for  our  salvation,  triumphing  over  the  enemv. 
Curse  him,  the  holy  mother  of  God,  and  perpetual  virgin,  Mary.  Corse  him.  St.  Michael, 
the  receiver  of  holy  souls.  Curse  him,  all  angels  and  archangels,  principalities  and  pow- 
ers, and  all  the  host  of  the  heavenly  army.  Curse  him,  the  worthy  multitude  of  patriarchs 
and  prophets.  Curse  him,  St.  John,  the  forerunner,  and  particularly  the  baptizer  of 
Christ.  Curse  him,  St.  Peter,  and  St.  Paul,  and  St.  Andrew,  and  all  the  apostles  an,d 
disciples  of  Christ,  together  with  the  four  evangelists,  who  by  their  preaching  converted 
the  whole  world.  Curse  him,  the  wondrous  company  of  martyrs  and  confessors,  that  have 
been  found  acceptable  unto  God  by  their  good  works.  Curse  tiim,  the)  bands  of  holy  virgins, 
who  for  the  sake  of  the  honor  of  Christ  Tiave  counted  worthless  the  vanities  of  the  world. 
Curse  him,  all  saints,  who  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  unto  the  end  of  time,  are  found 
beloved  of  God.  Curse  him,  heaven  and  earth,  and  all  holy  things  abiding  therein. 

Cursed  be  he  wheresoever  he  shall  be,  whether  in  the  house,  or  in  the  field,  or  in  the 
way,  or  in  the  footpath,  or  in  the  wood,  or  in  the  water,  or  in  the  church. 

Cursed  be  he  in  living,  in  dying,  in  eating,  in  drinking,  in  hungering,  in  thirsting,  in 
fasting,  in  slumbering,  in  sleeping,  in  watching,  in  walking,  in  standing,  in  sitting,  in  lying 
down,  in  working,  in  resting,  [in  the  calls  of  nature,]  and  in  blood-letting. 

Cursed  be  he  in  all  the  powers  of  his  body.  Cursed  be  he  inwardly  and  outwardly. 
Cursed  be  he  in  his  hair.  Cursed  be  he  in  his  brain.  Cursed  be  he  in  the  crown  of  his 
head,  in  his  temples,  in  his  forehead,  in  his  ears,  in  his  eyebrows,  in  his  eyes,  in  his  cheeks, 
in  his  jaws,  in  nis  nostrils,  in  his  teeth,  in  his  gums,  in  his  lips,  in  his  throat,  in  his 
shoulders,  in  his  arms,  in  his  wrists,  in  his  hands,  in  his  fingers,  in  his  breast,  in  his  heart, 
and  in  all  the  inner  parts  of  his  body  to  his  stomach ;  in  his  veins,  in  his  groin,  in  his 
thighs,  in  his  genitals,  in  his  hips,  in  his  knees,  in  his  legs,  in  his  feet,  in  his  joints,  and  in 
his  toes.  Cursed  be  he  in  all  the  structures  of  his  limbs ;  from  the  crown  of  his  head  to 
the  sole  of  his  foot;  let  there  be  no  soundness  in  him. 

Curse  him,  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  in  all  the  authority  of  his  majesty ;  and 
let  heaven,  with  all  the  intelligences  that  abide  therein,  rise  up  against  him  for  his  damna- 
tion, unless. he  shall  repent  and  make  satisfaction.  Amen.  So  be  it.  Be  it  so.  Amen. 

EXCOMMUNICATION. — By  the  authority  of  God  the  Father  Almighty,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  the  blessed  Marj\  mother  of  God,  and:  of  all  the  saints,  and  of 
the  holy  Canon  :  We  excommunicate,  we  anathematize,  and  we  separate  from  the  thresh- 
old of  "the  holy  mother  Church,  these  malefactors,  N.,  and  those  who  sympathize  and 
participate  with  them ;  and  unless  they  shall  repent  and  render  satisfaction,  let  their 
lamps  be  put  out  before  the  living,  for  ever  and  ever.  Be  it  so.  So  be  it.  Amen. 

These  fbr;ns  of  excommunication  follow  the  emendations  of  law.*,  approved 
by  "William  the  Conqueror,  in  a  manuscript  volume  called  the  Textus  Boffensis, 
and  appear  to  have  originated  at  that  very  period,  because  nowhere  in  earli- 
er times,  so  far  as  I  kno\v,  is  found  the  invocation  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 


496  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  SCHOOL  QUESTION  OF   1842. 

Hon.  John  C.  Spencer — The  Legislature  of  1842 — Appointment  of  Committees — Com- 
mittee on  Colleges,  Academies,  and  Common  Schools — Hon.  William  B.  Maclay — 
Hon..  John  I.  Dix — Governor  Seward's  Message — Report  on  the  School  Question — 
Proceedings  of  the  Legislature — Mr.  Maclay's  Bill  Passed. 

THE  disappointment  of  the  advocates  of  Mr.  Spencer's  school 
bill  was  very  great.  Mr.  Spencer,  with  the  perseverance  which 
formed  a  prominent  feature  of  his  character,  had  sought  to  win 
support  to  the  measure  by  the  elaborate  report  presented  to  the 
Legislature  in  April.  He  was  charged  by  opponents  with  hav- 
ing "  coquetted  with  the  New  York  delegation  all  winter,  to 
obtain  their  aid  in  its  passage."  He  had  appeared,  on  one  occa- 
sion, before  that  delegation,  to  whom  he  submitted  and  advo- 
cated his  plan,  Dr.  William  Rockwell,  Joseph  B.  Collins,  and 
Theodore  Sedgwick  being  present  on  behalf  of  the  Public  School 
Society. 

The  postponement  of  the  question  by  the  Senate  until  Janu- 
ary, 1842,  caused  the  election  of  the  members  of  the  Legislature 
for  that  year  to  be  regarded,  as  already  stated,  with  more  than 
usual  interest  by  all  parties.  The  candidates  of  the  Whig,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
were  respectively  addressed  by  the  friends  of  the  Public  School 
Society  in  a  series  of  interrogatories.  Their  support  was  with- 
held from  any  candidate  in  favor  of  any  change  in  the  existing 
system  of  public  instruction,  and  a  refusal  to  reply  to  the  ques- 
tions proposed  was  deemed  as  favoring  such  change. 

The  excitement  in  respect  to  the  "  school  question  "  was  very 
great,  and  the  election  of  the  successful  candidates  turned  upon 
that  issue.  Upon  the  assembling  of  the  Legislature  in  January 
following,  and  before  the  organization  of  the  two  Houses,  the 
question  engaged  the  thoughts,  and  was  the  topic  of  constant 
conversation  among  leading  Democrats  at  the  Capitol.  As  a 


GOVERNOR  BEWARD'S  MESSAGE.  497 

party,  they  had  much  to  lose  by  the  continued  agitation  of  the 
question  ;  and  yet,  having  a  majority  in  both  branches,  they  had 
also  to  incur  the  responsibility  of  its  settlement.  With  this 
view,  and  anticipating  that  the  subject  would  be  laid  before  the 
Legislature  by  Governor  SEWARD,  in  his  message,  more  than 
usual  care  was  taken  in  the  organization  of  the  Committee  on 
Colleges,  Academies,  and  Common  Schools,  to  which  that  por- 
tion of  the  message  was  referred.  In  the  House  of  Assembly,  as 
soon  as  the  new  Speaker  (Levi  S.  Chatfield)  had  been  chosen,  he 
announced  among  his  political  friends  his  determination  of 
appointing  William  B.  Maclay,  of  New  York,  as  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Schools.  Horatio  Seymour  (afterward  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State),  and  other  leading  men,  were  then  members 
of  the  body.  Mr.  Maclay  had  already  served  in  the  House  dur- 
ing the  sessions  of  1840  and  1841.  At  the  preceding  session, 
the  House  of  Assembly  had  chosen,  by  ballot,  three  of  its  mem- 
bers as  a  committee  to  investigate  the  affairs  of  the  New  York 
and  Erie  Railroad  Company.  Mr.  Maclay  was  a  member  of  this 
committee,  and  was  absent  from  the  city  of  New  York  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  duties  assigned  him  during  the  election  of  the 
past  autumn,  and  had  been  elected  without  any  pledge  or  com- 
mittal to  any  of  the  parties.  The  presumption  was,  that,  under 
his  direction,  a  full  and  dispassionate  inquiry  would  be  made  in 
relation  to  the  public  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York.  He  at 
first  declined  to  act  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Schools, 
and  urged  that  Gen.  JOHN  I.  Dix,  then  a  representative  from  the 
county  of  Albany,  should  be  appointed,  alleging  that  his  capacity 
and  integrity  would  inspire  confidence,  among  those  who  were 
either  unwilling  or  unable  to  examine  for  themselves,  in  the 
conclusions  at  which  he  should  arrive,  while  the  committee 
would  have  the  advantage  derived  from  his  past  experience  as 
superintendent  of  the  schools  of  the  State.  This  view  was  ac- 
quiesced in,  but,  on  consultation  with  General  Dix,  he  declined 
to  accept  the  position,  and  the  programme  of  the  committee 
remained  as  originally  proposed  by  the  Speaker,  with  the  advice 
of  Michael  Hoffman,  and  other  experienced  members  of  the 
party  to  which  he  belonged. 

As  had  been  anticipated,  Governor  Seward  devoted  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  his  message  to  a  discussion  of  the  subject  of 
public  instruction  in  the  city  of  New  York.    The  reconainenda- 
32 


498  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

tions  thus  presented  are  given  in  full  in  the  following  extract 
from  the  message : 

It  was  among  my  earliest  duties  to  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  Legislature 
the  neglected  condition  of  many  thousand  children,  including  a  very  large 
proportion  of  those  of  immigrant  parentage  in  our  great  commercial  city — 
a  misfortune  then  supposed  to  result  from  groundless  prejudices  and  omis- 
sions of  parental  duty.  Especially  desirous,  at  the  same  time,  not  to  disturb 
in  any  manner  the  public  schools,  which  seemed  to  be  efficiently  conducted, 
although  so  many  for  whom  they  were  established  seemed  to  be  unwilling 
to  receive  their  instructions,  I  suggested,  as  I  thought,  in  a  spirit  not  inhar- 
monious with  our  civil  and  religious  institutions,  that,  if  necessary,  it  might 
be  expedient  to  bring  those  so  excluded  from  such  privileges  into  schools 
rendered  especially  attractive  by  the  sympathies  of  those  to  whom  the  task 
of  instruction  should  be  confided.  It  has  since  been  discovered  that  the 
magnitude  of  the  evil  was  not  fully  known,  and  that  its  causes  were  very 
imperfectly  understood.  It  will  be  shown  to  you,  in  the  proper  report,  that 
twenty  thousand  children  in  the  city  of  New  York,  of  suitable  age,  are  not 
at  all  instructed  in  any  of  the  public  schools ;  while  the  whole  number  in 
all  the  residue  of  the  State,  not  taught  in  common  schools,  does  not  exceed 
nine  thousand.  What  had  been  regarded  as  individual,  occasional,  and 
accidental  prejudices,  have  proved  to  be  opinions  pervading  a  large  mass, 
including  at  least  one  religious  communion  equally  with  all  others  entitled 
to  civil  tolerance — opinions  cherished  through  a  period  of  sixteen  years,  and 
ripened  into  a  permanent  conscientious  distrust  of  the  impartiality  of  the 
education  given  in  the  public  schools.  This  distrust  has  been  rendered  still 
deeper  and  more  alienating  by  a  subversion  of  precious  civil  rights  of  those 
whose  consciences  are  thus  offended. 

Happily,  in  this  as  in  other  instances,  the  evil  is  discovered  to  have  had 
its  origin  no  deeper  than  in  a  departure  from  the  equality  of  general  laws. 
In  our  general  system  of  common  schools,  trustees  chosen  by  tax-paying  citi- 
zens levy  taxes,  build  school-houses,  employ  and  pay  teachers,  and  govern 
schools  which  are  subject  to  visitation  by  similarly  elected  inspectors,  who 
certify  the  qualifications  of  teachers  ;  and  all  schools  thus  constituted  par- 
ticipate in  just  proportion  in  the  public  moneys,  which  are  conveyed  to  them 
by  commissioners  also  elected  by  the  people.  Such  schools  are  found  dis- 
tributed in  average  spaces  of  two  and  a  half  square  miles  throughout  the 
inhabited  portions  of  the  State,  and  yet  neither  popular  discontent,  nor 
political  strife,  nor  sectarian  discord,  has  ever  disturbed  their  peaceful  in- 
structions nor  impaired  their  eminent  usefulness.  In  the  public  school  sys- 
tem of  the  city,  one  hundred  persons  are  trustees  and  inspectors,  and,  by 
continued  consent  of  the  Common  Council,  are  the  dispensers  of  an  annual 
average  sum  of  $35,000,  received  from  the  common  school  fund  of  the  State, 
and  a  sum  equal  to  $95,000,  derived  from  an  indiscriminating  tax  upon  the 
real  and  personal  estates  of  the  city.  They  build  school-houses  chiefly  from 
the  public  funds,  they  appoint  and  remove  teachers,  fix  their  compensation, 
and  prescribe  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  religious  instruction  which  one 


GOVERNOR  SEWABD'S  MESSAGE.  499 

eighth  of  the  rising  generation  of  the  State  shall  be  required  to  receive. 
Their  powers,  more  effective  and  far-reaching  than  are  exercised  by  the 
municipality  of  the  city,  are  not  derived  from  the  community  whose  chil- 
dren are  educated  and  whose  property  is  taxed,  nor  even  from  the  State, 
which  is  so  great  an  almoner,  and  whose  welfare  is  so  deeply  concerned,  but 
from  an  incorporated  and  perpetual  association,  which  grants,  upon  pecu- 
niary subscription,  the  privileges  even  of  life-membership,  and  yet  holds  in 
fee-simple  the  public  school  edifices,  valued  at  eight  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. Lest  there  might  be  too  much  responsibility,  even  to  the  association, 
that  body  can  elect  only  one  half  of  the  trustees,  and  those  thus  selected 
appoint  their  fifty  associates. 

The  philanthropy  and  patriotism  of  the  present  managers  of  the  public 
schools,  and  their  efficiency  in  imparting  instruction,  are  cheerfully  and 
gratefully  admitted.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  maintain  that  agents  thus  select- 
ed will  become  unfaithful,  or  that  a  system  that  so  jealously  excludes  popu- 
lar interference  must  necessarily  be  unequal  in  its  operation.  It  is  only 
insisted  that  the  institution,  after  a  fair  and  sufficient  trial,  has  failed  to  gain 
that  broad  confidence  reposed  in  the  general  system  of  the  State,  and  indis- 
pensable to  every  scheme  of  universal  education.  No  plan  for  that  purpose 
can  be  defended,  except  on  the  ground  that  public  instruction  is  one  of  the 
responsibilities  of  the  Government.  It  is,  therefore,  a  manifest  legislative 
duty  to  correct  errors  and  defects  in  whatever  system  is  established.  In  the 
present  case,  the  failure  amounts  virtually  to  an  exclusion  of  all  the  children 
thus  withheld.  I  cannot  overcome  my  regret  that  every  suggestion  of 
amendment  encounters  so  much  opposition  from  those  who  defend  the  pub- 
lic school  system  of  the  metropolis,  as  to  show  that,  in  their  judgment,  it 
can  admit  of  no  modification,  either  from  tenderness  to  the  consciences  or 
regard  to  the  civil  rights  of  those  aggrieved,  or  even  for  the  reclamation  of 
those  for  whose  culture  the  State  has  so  munificently  provided ;  as  if  soci- 
ety must  conform  itself  to  the  public  schools,  instead  of  the  public  schools 
adapting  themselves  to  the  exigencies  of  society.  The  late  eminent  Superin- 
tendent, after  exposing  the  greatness  of  this  public  misfortune,  and  tracing 
it  to  the  discrepancy  between  the  local  and  general  systems,  suggested  a 
remedy,  which,  although  it  is  not  urged  to  the  exclusion  of  any  other,  seems 
to  deserve  dispassionate  consideration.  I  submit,  therefore,  with  entire  will- 
ingness, to  approve  whatever  adequate  remedy  you  may  propose,  the  expe- 
diency of  restoring  to  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York — what  I  am  sure 
the  people  of  no  other  part  of  the  State  would,  upon  any  consideration, 
relinquish — the  education  of  their  children.  For  this  purpose,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  vest  the  control  of  the  common  schools  in  a  board,  to  be  com- 
posed of  commissioners  elected  by  the  people ;  which  board  shall  apportion 
the  school  moneys  among  all  the  schools,  including  those  now  existing, 
which  shall  be  organized  and  conducted  in  conformity  to  its  general  regula- 
tions and  the  laws  of  the  State,  in  the  proportion  of  the  number  of  pupils 
instructed.  It  is  not  left  doubtful  that  the  restoration  to  the  common 
schools  of  the  city  of  this  simple  and  equal  feature  of  the  common  schools 
of  the  State  would  remove  every  complaint,  and  bring  into  the  seminaries 


500  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETT. 

the  offspring  of.  want  and  misfortune,  presented  by  a  grand  jury,  on  a  recent 
occasion,  as  neglected  children  of  both  sexes,  who  are  found  in  hordes  upon 
the  wharves  and  in  corners  of  the  streets,  surrounded  by  evil  associations, 
disturbing  the  public  peace,  committing  petty  depredations,  and  going  from 
bad  to  worse,  until  their  course  terminates  in  high  crimes  and  infamy. 

This  proposition  to  gather  the  young  from  the  streets  and  wharves  into 
the  nurseries  which  the  State,  solicitous  for  her  security  against  ignorance, 
has  prepared  for  them,  has  sometimes  been  treated  as  a  device  to  appropri- 
ate the  school  fund  to  the  endowment  of  seminaries  for  teaching  languages 
and  faiths,  thus  to  perpetuate  the  prejudices  it  seeks  to  remove  ;  sometimes 
as  a  scheme  for  dividing  that  precious  fund  among  a  hundred  jarring  sects, 
and  thus  increasing  the  religious  animosities  it  strives  to  heal ;  sometimes 
as  a  plan  to  subvert  the  prevailing  religion,  and  introduce  one  repugnant  to 
the  consciences  of  our  fellow-citizens ;  while,  in  truth,  it  simply  proposes, 
by  enlightening  equally  the  minds  of  all,  to  enable  them  to  detect  error 
wherever  it  may  exist,  and  to  reduce  uncongenial  masses  into  one  intelligent, 
virtuous,  harmonious,  and  happy  people.  Being  now  relieved  from  all  such 
misconceptions,  it  presents  the  questions  whether  it  is  wiser  and  more  hu- 
mane to  educate  the  offspring  of  the  poor,  than  to  leave  them  to  grow  up  in 
ignorance  and  vice ;  whether  juvenile  vice  is  more  easily  eradicated  by  the 
Court  of  Sessions  than  by  common  schools ;  whether  parents  have  a  right  to 
be  heard  concerning  the  instruction  and  instructors  of  their  children,  and 
taxpayers  in  relation  to  the  expenditure  of  public  funds ;  whether,  in  a 
republican  government,  it  is  necessary  to  interpose  an  independent  corpora- 
tion between  the  people  and  the  schoolmaster ;  and  whether  it  is  wise  and 
just  to  disfranchise  an  entire  community  of  all  control  over  public  educa- 
tion, rather  than  suffer  a  part  to  be  represented  in  proportion  to  its  numbers 
and  contributions.  Since  such  considerations  are  now  involved,  what  has 
hitherto  been  discussed  as  a  question  of  benevolence  and  of  universal  edu- 
cation, has  become  one  of  equal  civil  rights,  religious  tolerance,  and  liberty 
of  conscience.  We  could  bear  with  us,  in  our  retirement  from  public  ser- 
vice, no  recollection  more  worthy  of  being  cherished  through  life,  than  that 
of  having  met  such  a  question  in  the  generous  and  confiding  spirit  of  our 
institutions,  and  decided  it  upon  the  immutable  principles  on  which  they 
are  based. 

This  portion  of  the  Message  of  the  Governor  was  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Colleges  and  Schools.  Some  time  having 
elapsed,  and  no  report  having  been  made  by  the  committee  on 
the  subject,  a  resolution  was  offered  in  the  Assembly  by  Hon. 
John  L.  O'Sullivan,  one  of  the  New  York  city  delegation,  ask- 
ing that  the  Standing  Committee  on  Colleges,  &c.,  be  discharged 
from  the  further  consideration  of  the  subject  of  common  schools 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  that  the  same  be  referred  to  a 
select  committee.  This  motion  was  resisted  by  Mr.  Maclay, 
who  placed  his  opposition  on  two  grounds :  1st.  That  he  waa 


ME.  MACLAY'B  EEPOKT.  501 

unwilling  that  any  one  should  suppose  that  he  had  been  indiffer- 
ent to  the  subject  which  had  been  referred  to  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee, or  afraid  to  act  upon  it ;  2d.  That  the  Secretary  of  State, 
as  would  appear  by  a  reference  to  his  annual  report,  had  prom- 
ised a  distinct  report  upon  the  subject  of  common  schools  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  which  had  not  yet  been  communicated  to  the 
House,  and  which  the  committee,  as  a  matter  both  of  use  and 
propriety,  desired  to  wait  for.  The  motion  of  Mr.  O'Sullivan 
was  lost. 

There  was  an  evident  disposition,  on  the  part  of  the  domi- 
nant party  in  tlie  Legislature,  to  leave  the  subject  with  the  com- 
mittee to  which  it  had  been  referred.  On  the  13th  of  January, 
Senator  A.  B.  Dickinson  introduced,  in  the  Senate,  a  bill,  which 
was  substantially  that  of  Mr.  Spencer,  but  failed  to  obtain  its 
reference  to  a  select  committee.  On  the  14th  of  February,  Mr. 
Maclay  submitted  to  the  House  the  following  report,  accompa- 
nied by  a  bill,  which  was  subsequently  amended  and  enacted  : 

IN  ASSEMBLY,  February  14, 1842. 
REPORT 
Of  the  Committee  on  Colleges,  Academies,  and  Common  Schools,  on  so  much  of 

the  Governor's  Message  as  relates  to  the  Common  Schools  in  the  City  of  New 

York. 

Mr.  Maclay,  from  the  Committee  on  Colleges,  Academies,  and  Common 
Schools,  to  whom  was  referred  that  portion  of  the  Governor's  Message  which 
relates  to  the  common  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York,  together  with  sun- 
dry petitions  praying  for  an  alteration  of  the  existing  system  of  common 
schools  in  said  city,  and  a  bill  entitled  "  An  Act  to  Extend  and  Improve  the 
Benefits  of  Common  School  Instruction  in  the  City  of  New  York,"  KEPORTS  : 

That  the  matters  referred  involved  important  inquiries,  which  have  been 
diligently  made  by  the  committee,  with  the  view  of  presenting  to  the  House 
such  conclusions  as  might,  if  adopted,  tend  to  correct  existing  evils  in  the 
system  of  common  school  instruction  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  at  the 
same  time  extend  its  benefits. 

The  importance  of  universal  education  in  a  republic  is  so  manifest,  that, 
while  it  has  continually  engaged  the  care  of  the  Legislature,  every  one  who 
has  been  elevated  to  the  Executive  chair  of  the  State  has  pressed  it  with 
zealous  earnestness  upon  the  representatives  of  the  people.  Even  while  the 
revolutionary  war  was  still  unfinished,  that  revered  patriot,  George  Clinton, 
in  his  annual  speech  of  1782,  thus  addressed  the  Legislature  : 

In  the  present  respite  from  the  more  severe  calamities  and  distresses  of 
the  war,  I  cannot  forbear  suggesting  to  you  a  work  which,  I  conceive,  ought 
not  to  be  deferred  as  the  business  of  peace  :  the  promotion  and  encourage- 
ment of  learning.  Besides  the  general  advantages  arising  to  society  from 


502  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

liberal  science,  as  restraining  those  rude  passions  which  tend  to  vice  and 
disorder,  it  is  the  peculiar  duty  of  the  government  of  a  free  State,  where  the 
highest  employments  are  open  to  citizens  of  every  rank,  to  endeavor,  by  the 
establishment  of  schools  and  seminaries,  to  diffuse  that  degree  of  literature 
which  is  necessary  to  the  due  discharge  of  public  trusts. 

The  same  revered  Executive,  in  1798,  in  his  last  message,  felt  it  his  duty 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  to  the  fact,  that  the  benefits  arising 
from  the  establishment  and  endowment  of  academies  were  principally  con- 
fined to  the  children  of  the  opulent,  and  to  recommend  the  foundation  of 
common  schools  throughout  the  State,  as  happily  adapted  to  remedy  this 
inconvenience,  and  to  dispense  the  blessings  of  knowledge  to  the  whole  com- 
munity. 

His  successor,  John  Jay,  concurring  entirely  in  the  views  of  his  predeces- 
sor, recommended  universal  education  as  the  most  effective  means  of  multi- 
plying the  blessings  of  social  order,  and  diffusing  the  influence  of  moral 
obligation. 

The  communications  of  the  illustrious  and  patriotic  Tompkins  bear 
ample  testimony  to  his  adherence  to  the  liberal  and  statesmanlike  views  of 
his  predecessors. 

In  his  address  to  the  Legislature  in  1816,  he  reminds  them  that,  as  guar- 
dians of  the  property,  liberty,  and  morals  of  the  State,  they  were  required, 
by  every  injunction  of  patriotism  and  wisdom,  to  endow,  to  the  utmost  of 
the  resources  of  the  State,  schools  and  seminaries  of  learning.  From  that 
period  until  now,  the  constitutional  duty  of  the  Executive  to  suggest  for  the 
consideration  of  the  Legislature  such  matters  as  are  in  his  judgment  expe- 
dient, has  not  been  deemed  to  have  been  fully  discharged,  without  similar 
manifestations  of  enlightened  zeal  for  the  general  diffusion  of  the  benefits 
of  education  among  all  classes  of  the  community.  The  unanimity  of  the 
long  line  of  honored  statesmen  who  have  presided  over  the  interests  of  the 
State  in  regard  to  this  subject,  while  it  is  among  the  most  delightful  themes 
of  contemplation,  affords  the  most  conclusive  evidence  that  the  policy  is 
firmly  established  in  the  affections  of  the  people.  However  they  may  have 
differed  upon  other  measures  of  importance  to  the  public  weal,  on  this  sub- 
ject there  has  existed  no  contrariety  of  opinion. 

The  powerful  arguments  used  by  successive  Executives  in  defence  of  this 
system,  and  the  cheerfulness  with  which  the  people  have  submitted  to  addi- 
tional burdens  to  sustain  and  extend  it,  would  seem  to  render  unnecessary 
any  observations  of  your  committee  in  favor  of  public  education  ;  but  they 
cannot  refrain  from  noticing  a  suggestion,  that  the  difficulties  in  regard  to 
the  education  of  the  young  in  the  city  of  New  York  resulted  from  its  being 
adopted  among  the  responsibilities  of  Government,  and  that  the  Legislature 
ought  not  to  extend  encouragement  to  this  great  object,  but  leave  it,  like 
religion,  to  the  voluntary  and  unregulated  action  of  the  people. 

This  suggestion  proceeds  upon  an  erroneous  supposition,  that  the  per- 
formance of  acts  of  utility  and  beneficence  to  others,  in  the  affairs  of  this 
transitory  life,  is  considered  as  of  equal  obligation  upon  the  consciences  of 
men  as  the  observance  of  those  religious  rites  and  duties  which  relate  to 
their  own  eternal  happiness  in  the  life  to  come. 


ME.  MACLAY'S  REPORT.  503 

But  experience  is  an  instructive  teacher  on  this  as  on  every  other  subject. 
There  are  States  in  this  Union  -which  consent,  and  States  which  refuse,  to 
establish  a  system  of  common  schools ;  while  deplorable  ignorance  prevails 
in  the  latter,  knowledge  and  morality  are  found  in  the  former,  and  jifst  in 
proportion  to  the  efficiency  and  universality  of  their  system  of  public  in- 
struction. Even  in  the  city  of  New  York,  containing  within  its  bounds  so 
great  an  amount  of  wealth  and  liberality,  experience  has  fully  shown  the 
danger  of  trusting  to  any  visionary  hope  that  adequate  provision  for  the 
instruction  of  the  poor  could  be  obtained  by  voluntary  contributions  alone. 
The  Public  School  Society  is  only  sustained  by  moneys  derived  from  the 
common  school  fund,  and  taxes  levied  upon  the  people  by  law.  Our  statute- 
book  bears  concurrent  testimony  with  the  codes  of  other  civilized  countries, 
that  the  force  of  law  must  concur  with  the  injunctions  of  religion,  to  clothe 
the  naked,  feed  the  hungry,  relieve  distress,  and  educate  the  offspring  of  the 
poor. 

All  that  appertains  to  public  instruction  in  the  city  and  county  of  New 
York,  is  substantially  under  the  control  of  an  incorporated  institution  known 
as  "  The  Public  School  Society/'  The  extraordinary  powers  of  this  Society 
have  been  ably  and  elaborately  set  forth  in  two  reports  which  were  made  to 
the  Legislature  at  its  last  session.  This  Society  was  incorporated  in  1805. 
The  late  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  after  recapitulating  the  differ- 
ent laws  which  have  been  passed  in  relation  to  it  from  that  period  to  the 
present  time,  thus  concludes  the  summary  : 

Thus,  by  the  joint  operation  of  the  acts  amending  the  charter  of  the 
Society,  of  the  statutes  in  relation  to  the  distribution  of  the  school  moneys, 
and  of  the  ordinance  of  the  Common  Council,  designating  the  schools  of 
the  Society  as  the  principal  recipients  of  those  moneys,  the  control  of  the 
public  education  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  disbursement  of  nine 
tenths  of  the  public  moneys  raised  and  apportioned  for  schools,  were  vested 
in  this  corporation.  It  is  a  perpetual  corporation,  and  there  is  no  power 
reserved  by  the  Legislature  to  repeal  or  modify  its  charter.  It  consists  of 
members  who  have  contributed  to  the  funds  of  the  Society  ;  and,  according 
to  the  provisions  of  the  last,  act,  the  payment  of  ten  dollars  constitutes  the 
contributor  a  member  for  life.  The  members  annually  choose  fifty  trustees, 
who  may  add  to  their  number  fifty  more. 

From  the  petitions  of  many  thousand  inhabitants  of  New  York,  it  ap- 
pears that  objections  are  widely  prevalent  against  this  organization  of  pub- 
lic schools  in  that  metropolis,  and  that  the  system  so  far  fails  to  obtain  yie 
general  confidence,  that  a  very  large  number  of  children  are  left  destitute 
of  instruction.  By  the  report  of  the  acting  Superintendent  of  Common 
Schools,  made  at  the  present  session  of  the  Legislature  (Assembly  Document 
No.  12),  it  appears  that  the  whole  number  of  children  in  the  State  (exclu- 
sive of  the  city  of  New  York)  between  the  ages  of  five  and  sixteen,  is 
583,347 ;  and  of  that  number,  562,198,  being  more  than  ninety-six  hun- 
dredths,  attend  the  common  schools ;  while  in  the  city  of  New  York,  out 
of  the  number  of  65,571  children  between  the  same  ages,  the  whole  number 
reported  by  the  commissioners  of  that  city  as  attending  the  schools  was  only 
41,385,  being  less  than  sixty  hundredths  of  the  number,  although  the  share 


504  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

of  common  school  moneys  distributed  by  the  State  and  expended  in  the 
city,  amounting  to  $35,415.10,  was  equally  large  in  proportion  with  that 
expended  in  other  counties  of  the  State.  But  in  addition  to  that  sum,  an 
equal  amount  of  $35,415.10,  together  with  the  additional  sum  of  $60,000, 
was  raised  by  the  Common  Council,  swelling  the  total  amount  entrusted 
with  the  Public  School  Society,  for  the  purpose  of  education  in  one  year, 
to  the  sum  of  §130,830.20  ;  while  the  whole  sum  expended  in  all  the  rest  of 
the  State,  and  by  means  of  which  562,198  scholars  are  taught,  is  only 
$581,555.75  ;  making  the  expense  in  the  city  of  New  York  more  than  $3.15 
for  the  instruction  of  each  scholar,  while  in  the  other  parts  of  the  State  it 
is  less  than  $1.04  for  each  scholar.  In  other  words,  the  expense  of  instruc- 
tion under  the  public  school  system  in  New  York  is  more  than  three  times 
the  expense  of  instruction  under  the  district  school  system. 

The  comparison  between  the  number  of  children  attending  school  in  the 
country  and  the  city  is  still  more  favorable  to  the  former,  if  the  supposition 
of  the  acting  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  be  correct.  There  are,  he 
says,  upon  an  average,  about  fifty-five  children  instructed  in  each  of  the  dis- 
tricts reporting ;  and  assuming  an  equal  average  number  to  be  under  in- 
struction in  each  of  the  239  districts  from  which  no  reports  have  been 
received,  the  aggregate  number  of  children  between  five  and  sixteen,  exclu- 
sive of  the  city  'of  New  York,  not  taught  in  any  district  school,  would 
amount  to  only  about  8,000. 

Apart  from  these  considerations,  it  can  no  longer  be  concealed  or  denied 
that  the  failure  of  the  public  schools  to  accomplish  the  objects  contemplated 
by  the  establishment,  results,  in  a  great  degree,  from  a  disinclination  on  the 
part  of  many  parents  to  entrust  these  schools  with  the  education  of  their 
children.  The  fact  is,  indeed,  abundantly  shown  in  the  number  of  petitions 
now  before  the  Legislature  for  a  change  in  the  present  system,  that  it 
requires  no  additional  proof.  During  the  last  sixteen  years,  the  Public 
School  Society,  as  it  appears  from  its  own  admissions,  has  had  to  defend  its 
monopoly  against  the  struggles  of  discontented  masses  of  the  population. 
Evidence  more  conclusive  and  affecting  is  seen  in  the  multitudes  of  children 
in  the  streets  and  on  the  wharves  of  the  city,  growing  up  to  the  rights  and 
responsibilities  of  citizens,  but  strangers  to  the  simplest  elements  of  learn- 
ing, and  acquiring  only  the  education  of  vice.  The  rule  of  universal  expe- 
rience is,  that  people  in  the  country  are  less  zealous  for  the  diffusion  of  edu- 
cation, and  submit  with  less  willingness  to  the  burdens  imposed  for  its 
maintenance,  than  those  residing  in  cities. 

But  here  the  rule  is  reversed.  The  statistics  of  the  school  system 
throughout  the  State  show  that  ignorance  is  clearing  off,  like  a  thick  fog, 
from  the  agricultural  districts,  and  settling  with  ominous  portent  over  the 
emporium  of  the  State. 

Now,  those  who  oppose  any  change  of  the  system,  have  attempted  to 
account  for  BO  extraordinary  a  result  by  explanations  ingenious  and  plausi- 
ble. But,  so  long  as  facts  are  facts,  it  will  strike  every  man  of  ordinary 
reflection,  that  there  is  a  deeper  cause  than  any  they  have  felt  at  liberty  to 
assign  or  admit.  That  cause  is  complex,  not  simple. 


MR.  MACLAY'S  EEPOET.  505 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  something  exceedingly  incongruous  with  our 
republican  habits  of  thinking,  in  the  idea  of  taking  the  children  of  a  popu- 
lation approaching  half  a  million  of  souls,  taxing  them  at  the  same  tinjp  for 
the  support  and  maintenance  of  the.  schools,  and,  when  both  the  children 
and  taxes  are  furnished,  withdrawing  both  out  of  the  hands  of  guardians 
and  taxpayers,  and  handing  them  over  to  the  management  of  an  irresponsi- 
ble private  chartered  company.  Such  a  concentration  of  power  into  mam- 
moth machinery  of  any  description  is  odious  to  the  feelings,  and  sometimes 
dangerous  to  the  rights,  of  freemen.  The  genius  of  our  institutions  is,  to 
distribute  power  where  it  can  be  done,  and,  where  it  cannot,  to  define  a<nd 
restrict  it.  When  thus  distributed,  it  may  not  be  capable  of  producing  the 
same  amount  of  good,  but  then  its  capacity  for  evil  will  be  diminished  in 
the  same  ratio ;  and,  if  it  go  wrong,  the  remedy  is  always  more  simple, 
apparent,  and  easy  of  attainment. 

In  the  next  place,  the  population  of  the  city  of  New  York  is  by  no 
means  homogeneous ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  the  object  of  education  to  make 
it  so.  Any  system  based  upon  the  supposition  that  that  homogeneousness 
now  exists,  and  all  will  therefore  absolutely  conform,  or  can  be  obliged  to 
conform,  assumes  the  end  to  be  attained,  and  overlooks  the  means  of  its 
accomplishment. 

The  error  is  the  same  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  established  churches ; 
and  the  failure  of  the  public  schools,  however  assiduous  or  efficient  these 
schools  may  be,  arises  from  the  very  cause  which  prevents,  in  this  country, 
the  existence  or  toleration  of  an  established  system  of  religion. 

The  Public  School  Society  have  alleged  that  they  are  not  more  a  monop- 
oly than  the  different  boards  for  hospitals  and  other  charters  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  But  there  is  this  manifest  difference  in  the  two  cases,  which 
strips  the  argument  of  any  force  or  pertinency  :  the  inmates  of  these  chari- 
table institutions  are  cast  upon  the  State,  and  she  must  find  guardians  for 
them.  Not  so  the  children  of  the  city.  They  are  surrounded  by  their 
parents,  guardians,  and  friends,  who  have  opinions  which  demand  respect 
and  rights  which  cannot  be  disregarded. 

The  committee,  after  mature  reflection,  are  unable  to  accord  their  assent 
to  the  inference  which  the  advocates  of  the  Public  School  Society  derive 
from  this  argument.  In  the  first  place,  supposing — which  is  untrue — that 
the  constitution  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  its  peculiar  and  over- 
shadowing powers  and  privileges,  were  analogous  to  the  other  institutions 
referred  to,  the  abuses  or  important  objections  of  the  one  could  not  be  dis- 
proved or  corrected  by  admitting  that  the  others  were  monopolies.  Many 
contend  that  the  banking  institutions  of  the  State  are  satisfactorily  conduct- 
ed, and  accomplish  the  purposes  of  their  establishment ;  but  what  should 
we  think  of  their  understanding,  should  they  advance  this  as  an  argument 
to  prove  that  the  actions  of  many  of  these  institutions  had  not  resulted  in 
disgrace  and  calamity  ?  When  confined  within  narrow  boundaries,  possess- 
ing limited  powers,  affecting  few  interests,  and  conducted  with  devoted 
assiduity  and  energy,  a  corporation  may,  and  often  does,  accomplish  much 
public  good.  But  the  concentration  of  vast  powers,  the  enlargement  of  the 


506  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

sphere  of  operation,  and  the  disregard  or  violation  of  popular  rights,  or 
even  popular  sentiment,  will  render  any  corporation  intolerable. 

If  is  too  late  to  argue  that  private  chartered  corporations,  with  extraor- 
dinary powers  and  privileges,  are  more  suitable  or  efficient  agents  for  public 
objects  than  the  community  acting  under  general  laws.  But  the  question  is 
not  upon  the  merits  or  defects  of  other  institutions ;  it  is,  whether  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  has  or  has  not  failed  to  accomplish  the  great  object  of  its 
establishment — the  universal  education  of  the  children  of  the  city  of  New 
York.  That  it  has  signally  failed,  has  been  shown  by  the  statistics  of  the 
schools  ;  and  there  is,  moreover,  incontrovertible  proof  in  the  fact  that  nearly 
one  half  of  the  citizens  of  the  metropolis  protest  against  the  system,  and 
demand  its  modification. 

-  The  withholding  of  public  confidence  has  been  felt  by  the  Public  School 
Society  itself,  and  they  have  endeavored  humanely,  but  fruitlessly,  to  re- 
move it.  They  heretofore  employed  benevolent  females  to  induce  the  poor 
to  send  their  children  to  the  schools.  They  next  obtained  from  the  Com- 
mon Council  an  ordinance  of  a  compulsory  nature ;  and  they  have  now 
public  agents,  at  salaries,  who  are  engaged  in  the  labor  of  recruiting  for  the 
schools  ;  but  all  in  vain. 

Such,  then,  is  the  evil  to  be  corrected.  But  what  is  the  remedy  ?  The 
committee  confess  that  this,  as  in  every  similar  instance,  is  the  most  difficult 
question.  Nevertheless,  it  is  apparent  that  the  evil  began  with  a  departure 
from  the  confessedly  equal  and  just  system  of  common  school  education 
which  prevails  in  all  the  other  parts  of  the  State  ;  and  it  can  only  be  effect- 
ually and  satisfactorily  corrected  by  bringing  home  the  education  of  the 
young  of  the  city  to  the  business  and  bosoms  of  their  parents.  The  com- 
mon school  system  of  the  State  successfully  and  admirably  accomplishes 
that  object ;  and  the  committee  therefore  recommend  that  the  system  shall, 
as  far  as  it  is  practicable,  be  extended  to  the  city  and  county  of  New  York. 

In  accordance  with  these  views,  they  submit  a  bill,  providing  that,  here- 
after, there  shall  be  elected,  in  each  ward  of  the  city,  three  commissioners 
and  two  inspectors  of  common  schools,  and  extending  to  the  city  so  much 
of  the  general  law  of  the  State  as  relates  to  the  powers  and  duties  of  these 
officers.  This  change,  in  harmony  with  the  general  system,  contemplates 
the  division  of  the  city  into  a  convenient  number  of  school  districts,  and 
directs  that  the  people  shall  elect  trustees,  who  shall,  in  regard  to  common 
schools  therein  erected,  establish,  maintain,  and  regulate  common  schools  in 
such  districts,  subject  to  the  general  regulation  of  the  school  commissioners, 
who  are  to  apportion  the  public  moneys  among  the  several  schools  in  the 
ratio  of  persons  interested  therein. 

In  this  recommendation  the  committee  unanimously  concur. 

In  accordance  with  the  foregoing  views  and  recommendations,  your  com- 
mittee have  instructed  their  chairman  to  introduce  a  bill. 

The  following  review  of  the  report  of  Mr.  Maclay  appeared 
in  the  New  York  Evangelist  of  March  3d.  After  quoting  the 
material  portions  of  the  report,  the  review  continues: 


BEVTEW   OF   MR.    MACLAY's   BEPORT.  507 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  enter  into  a  protracted  discussion  of  the  princi- 
ples which  should  characterize  any  system  of  public  education,  and  the 
measures  requisite  to  accomplish  this  object  of  fondest  pursuit  with  every 
citizen  who  values  the  progressive  development  of  the  powers  of  human 
society  under  a  free  government,  and  who  regards  as  the  most  important 
lever  in  the  overturning  of  all  systems  of  despotism,  and  abodes  of  crime, 
the  intellectual  and  moral  cultivation  of  the  people.  "We  wish  to  present  a 
few  facts  in  relation  to  that  point  to  which  the  committee  has  attached  the 
greatest  importance  :  Has  the  Public  School  Society  fulfilled  its  trust  ?  And 
we  here  remark,  that  the  report  of  the  committee  contains  many  palpable 
errors,  which  are  calculated  to  give  a  very  unfavorable  character  to  the 
existing  system  of  public  schools  in  this  city,  which  we  feel  it  our  duty  and 
privilege  to  correct. 

I.  The  report  of  .the  committee  represents  that  the  number  of  children  in 
the  State,  exclusive  of  this  city,  of  the  school  age,  between  five  and  sixteen, 
is  583,347 ;  attending  school,  562,198,  or  ninety-six  per  cent.    In  the  city, 
there  are  65,571,  while  the  number  represented  as  attending  school  was 
41,385 — less  than  sixty  per  cent. 

In  the  first  place,  we  contend  the  accuracy  of  these  returns,  and  for  sev- 
eral reasons.  The  carelessness  and  negligence  of  inspectors,  the  desire  to 
make  the  largest  returns,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  larger  rates  from  the 
comptroller,  not  from  fraud,  but  circumstances  favoring  these  returns — and 
their  acknowledged  incorrectness.  In  proof  of  these  positions,  we  copy, 
from  the  report  of  the  Commissioners  of  Common  Schools  of  this  city  for 
1841,  the  following  curious  facts.  See  also  report  of  Superintendent  of 
Common  Schools,  Schedule  F,  in  full. 

In  1824,  the  number  of  children  residing  in  the  districts  was  383,500 ; 
number  under  instruction,  40j3,940  ;  being  an  excess  of  children  taught  over 
those  residing  in  the  districts  of  19,440  ! 

In  1825,  children  in  the  districts,  395,586  ;  children  under  instruction, 
425,586  ;  excess,  30,000  ! 

In  1827,  children  in  the  districts,  419,216;  children  taught,  441,826; 
excess  of  pupils  over  children  in  the  districts,  22,640  ! 

In  1839,  in  twenty-seven  counties  in  the  State,  there  was  an  excess  of 
more  than  25,000  children  reported  as  receiving  instruction  over  the  chil- 
dren of  the  legal  age  in  the  districts  ! 

It  would  be  arguing  but  little  for  the  good  sense  of  our  readers,  were  we 
to  comment  upon  such  gross  errors  as  these,  and  to  attempt  to  convince 
them  that  the  returns  of  last  year  are  as  liable  to  be  full  of  errors  as  those 
of  preceding  years.  But  what  an  overpowering  argument  in  favor  of  the 
district  system  !  It  actually  educates  from  twenty  to  thirty  thousand  chil- 
dren more  than  reside  in  the  State ! 

II.  Upon  the  report,  then,  which  we  may  fairly  presume  to  be  incorrect, 
the  committee  enter  into  a  comparison  between  the  State  and  this  city,  and 
represent  that,  of  65,571  children  of  the  legal  age,  only  41,385,  or  a  little 
less  than  sixty  per  cent.,  receive  instruction,  making  a  consequent  deficiency 
of  24,186. 


508  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

The  limit  prescribed  by  law  to  the  school  age  is  from  five  to  sixteen 
years  of  age.  Now,  it  is  a  fact  so  evident  that  it  is  almost  superfluous  to 
present  our  corrected  statement,  that,  in  the  country,  children  are  engaged 
at  agricultural  labors  during  the  summer,  and  attend  school  in  winter  the 
full  time  allowed  by  law ;  while,  in  the  city,  that  mass  of  the  people  who 
take  advantage  of  the  public  schools  are  poor,  and  require  the  pecuniary 
assistance  of  the  children  to  obtain  their  own  subsistence.  Hence,  they  are 
withdrawn  from  school  at  about  twelve  years  of  age  ;  and  it  is  a  recorded 
and  well-known  fact,  that  only  seven  per  cent,  of  the  children  in  the  public 
schools  are  over  twelve  years  of  age.  If,  then,  we  regard  the  school  age  as 
consisting  of  eleven  years— from  five  to  sixteen — we  must  deduct  four  elev- 
enths from  the  duration  of  pupilage  among  the  city  population,  it  being 
here  but  seven  years.  This  will  reduce  the  deficiency  23,844,  and  leave  less 
than  500  unprovided  for.  But  three  elevenths  will  be  more  nearly  correct, 
the  number  over  twelve  years  making  nearly  this  difference ;  and  we  have 
but  6,383  uninstructed — about  one  fourth  of  the  number  stated  by  the  com- 
mittee. 

In  addition  to  the  fact  thus  shown,  the  children  instructed  in  private 
schools  will  leave  but  few  of  the  juvenile  part  of  our  population  who 
receive  the  "  education  of  vice  "  spoken  of  by  the  committee,  because  the 
doors  of  the  Public  School  Society  are  shut  against  them.  And  when  it  is 
recollected  that  many  of  these  children  are  poor,  we  can  easily  see  the  social 
and  domestic  causes  which  tend,  more  or  less,  throughout  the  Union,  to 
make  the  actual  attendance  at  school  much  less  than  the  number  on  register. 

But  this  is  not  all.  We  have  presented  some  of  the  ridiculous  errors 
which  crowd  the  returns  of  the  district  system  in  the  country ;  we  will  now 
take  a  single  specimen  from  the  towns  of  the  State,  and  bring  forward  our 
neighboring  city  of  Brooklyn,  which  enjoys  that  system,  to  show  the  rela- 
tive percentage  of  attendance — assuming  that  the  returns  from  cities  are 
more  correct  than  those  from  among  scattered  portions  of  the  population. 

The  report  of  the  Commissioners  of  Common  Schools  for  1836  exhibited 
the  following  state  of  the  schools  : 

In  the  First  District,  there  were  1,651  children  ;  under  instruction,  210 — 
or  twelve  and  three  fourths  per  cent. 

In  the  Fourth  District,  215  children ;  under  instruction,  55 — a  fraction 
over  twenty-five  per  cent. 

In  the  Sixth  District,  300  children ;  under  instruction,  51 — a  fraction 
over  one  sixth,  or  sixteen  per  cent. 

Lest  we  should  appear  to  select  a  very  unfavorable  year  by  which  to 
make  the  comparison,  we  again  refer  to  the  report  of  the  Superintendent  of 
Common  Schools  for  1840  and  1841,  by  which  it  appears  that,  in  1840,  there 
were  6,206  children,  of  whom  2,120,  or  thirty-four  and  one  sixth  per  cent., 
were  under  instruction.  In  1841,  there  were  7,966  children  in  the  districts, 
of  whom  2,274 — only  twenty-eight  and  four  sevenths  per  cent. — were  under 
instruction. 

If  these  things  are  done  in  Brooklyn,  what  might  we  not  assume  of  parts 
of  the  country  where  the  population  is  distributed  over  wide  districts  ? 


REVIEW   OF   MB.    MA.CLAY'8   KEPORT.  509 

HI.  The  district  system  is  more  expensive  than  that  which  now  exists  in 
this  city,  and  we  are  obliged  in  this  respect  also  to  differ  from  the  report  of 
the  committee.  They  report  that  the  expenses  of  instruction  in  this  city  is 
$3.15  for  each  child,  while  in  the  districts  it  is  less  than  $1.04  per  scholar. 
How  such  statements  can  be  placed  before  an  intelligent  Legislature,  is 
somewhat  remarkable  ;  but  they  must  be  corrected. 

1.  The  amount  of  money  paid  by  the  State,  out  of  its  treasury,  is  $1.04, 
while  no  mention  is  made  of  the  amount  raised  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
districts  themselves.     See  §§  61,  62,  63,  65,  68,  78,  79,  85,  86,  and  others,  of 
Article  Fifth,  Title  I.,  chapter  xv.,  part  1,  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  in  rela- 
tion to  district  schools.    The  money  paid  by  the  State  is  the  deficit  in  the 
necessary  expenses  of  the  district,  and  is  not  the  entire  expense  of  the 
schools. 

2.  The  money  paid  by   the   State  to  the  Public    School   Society  is 
$35,415.10 ;  number  of  children  reported,  41,385  ;  the  expense  to  the  State 
being  less  than  one  dollar.    The  balance  raised  by  the  Common  Council  cor- 
responds in  nature  to  that  raised  by  the  districts ;  the  city  being  regarded 
as  one  vast  district,  and  the  commissioners  the  acting  trustees  of  the  school 
moneys. 

3.  The  number  of  children  in  the  schools  of  this  city  being  received  as 
reported,  we  have  the  total  expenses  of  these  schools,  $115,799.42,  divided 
among  41,385  children,  or  the  whole  charge  about  $2.70 ;    while  the  full 
expenses  under  the  district  system,  in  funds  raised  by  the  districts  and  by 
the  State,  is  $3.15 — the  cost  of  our  public  schools,  as  erroneously  stated  by 
the  committee. 

4.  "We  refer  again  to  the  Brooklyn  commissioners  for  another  fact. 

In  the  Second  District,  38  children  were  instructed,  and  the  money  paid 
by  the  commissioners  was  $114.81 — or  $3.02  and  a  fraction. 

In  the  Sixth  District,  51  children  instructed ;  $196.75  paid  from  school 
fund— or  a  few  cents  less  than  four  dollars. 

The  total  expenditure,  however,  ftbin  the  public  fund,  for  1,197  chil- 
dren, was  $1,604.26 — or  $1.34  and  a  fraction  for  each  child — considerably 
more  than  the  sum  stated  by  the  committee,  independent  of  the  sum  raised 
by  the  respective  districts. 

IV.  It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance,  by  any  one  who  appreciates  the  necessity 
of  fairness  in  making  comparisons  between  different  localities  and  between 
different  classes  of  the  population,  that  inferences  drawn  from  data  so  incon- 
gruous as  those  furnished  by  thinly-settled  and  densely  populated  districts, 
must  be  defective  and  hazardous  when  great  changes  in  public  policy  are 
predicated  upon  them.  A  brief  comparison  between  New  York  and  cities 
and  towns  where  the  district  system  exists,  is,  therefore,  the  only  true 
method  for  determining  the  relative  efficiency  and  value  of  the  two  systems 
under  discussion. 

To  avoid  tediousness  in  these  comparisons,  we  will  take  the  aggregate 
of  several  towns — Albany,  Brooklyn,  Hudson,  Troy,  Utica,  Schenectady, 
Rochester,  and  Buffalo.  In  1840,  the  number  of  children  was  28,125 ;  under 
instruction,  12,182— or  3,761  children  less  than  one  half,  or  forty-three  and 
one  third  per  cent. 


510  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

In  1841,  children  residing  in  the  same  towns,  29,908  ;  under  instruction, 
18,195— or  only  forty-four  and  one  ninth  per  cent. 

From  these  facts,  gleaned  from  the  public  records  of  the  State,  we  may 
learn  that  the  district  system  in  the  towns  is  less  favorable  to  the  intellect, 
ual  growth  of  the  young  than  the  Public  School  Society  of  this  city  ;  and 
when  we  keep  in  view  the  numerous  chances  of  error  as  displayed  by  the 
returns  before  given  from  the  country  districts,  we  hazard  nothing  in  saying 
that  the  closest  scrutiny  only  makes  more  apparent  the  great  superiority  of 
our  present  excellent  schools. 

The  report  of  the  committee  states  that  the  population  (according  to 
their  erroneous  manner  of  extending  the  school  age  in  this  city  to  sixteen 
years,  instead  of  confining  it  to  twelve,  as  we  have  shown  is  the  proper 
limit)  of  children  instructed  in  the  public  schools,  is  sixty  per  cent. ;  while 
the  last  comparison  just  given  showa  that,  in  the  thickly-populated  towns 
under  the  district  system,  the  proportion  is  only  from  forty-three  to  forty- 
five  per  cent. — a  difference  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  in  favor  of  our  existing 
institutions.  The  mean  percentage  for  several  years  is  about  thirty  in 
Brooklyn,  under  the  district  system,  and  sixty  in  New  York,  under  the  pub- 
lic schools ;  we  have  a  difference  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  in  favor  of  the 
Public  School  Society.  In  Williamsburgh,  only  fourteen  and  one  third  per 
cent,  are  returned  as  under  instruction  ! 

V.  It  is  folly  to  expect  efficiency  in  any  system  which  is  not  under  the 
administration  of  competent  and  faithful  directors ;  and  the  important  fea- 
ture of  supervision  and  visitation  speaks  incomparably  for  the  praise  of  the 
zealous  and  worthy  trustees  of  our  Public  School  Society,  when  contrasted 
with  the  maladministration  and  paralysis  which  characterize  the  district 
system.     The  last  report  of  the  trustees  states  that  they  had  made  14,142 
visits  to  the  schools  under  their  charge  during  the  previous  year ;  averaging 
130  visits  to  each  school!     In  Brooklyn,  which  we  prefer  to  quote  as  an 
example,  on  account  of  its  contiguity,  eight  schools  had  been  visited  three 
times,  or  one  visit  to  three  schools  during  a  whole  year  ! 

"With  such  incontestable  facts  before  us,  we  are  astonished  that  any  one 
can  for  a  moment  attack  an  institution  of  such  decided  superiority;  and 
much  more,  that  a  committee  of  the  Legislature  should  present  such  a  mass 
of  ex  parte  and  perverted  statements  to  the  consideration  of  that  body. 

VI.  The  report  states  $130,000  were  paid  to  the  Public  School  Society 
during  one  year.     Now,  this  is  the  amount  of  the  money  distributed  to  all 
the  institutions  for  common  school  instruction,  of  which  the  Society  re- 
ceived $120,271 ;  making  a  difference  of  about  eight  per  cent,  in  this  state- 
ment also,  in  favor  of  the  Society.     We  see  no  reason  why  exaggeration 
should  mark  every  step  of  this  report,  in  even  the  slightest  particulars. 

We  might  multiply  facts  ad  infinitum  almost,  but  the  foregoing  are  suffi- 
cient to  demonstrate  the  erroneous  and  palpable  absurdities  which  have- 
crept  into  the  report  of  the  committee,  and  which  we  must  correct  in  order 
to  counteract  the  tendency  it  would  otherwise  have  to  injure  our  public 
institution  in  the  estimation  of  our  fellow-citizens  throughout  the  State  an'l 
the  country  at  large. 


REVIEW   OF  MR.   MACLAY?S   REPORT.  511 

VII.  But,  while  these  facts  are  before  us,  we  cannot  omit  to  bring  for- 
ward the  testimony  of  the  Commissioners  of  Common  Schools  of  Brodklyn, 
in  favor  of  our  public  school  system,  and  which  is  worthy  of  most  serious 
consideration  from  the  fact  that  they  wish  to  be  relieved  from  the  incubus 
of  the  district  system.  They  remark  as  follows  : 

We  may  be  proud  of  the  beauty  and  healthfulness  of  our  local  position, 
contrasted  with  our  elder  and  sister  city,  New  York ;  but  in  our  public 
school  system  we  are  far,  very  far  behind  her,  in  all  its  essential  elements. 
Having  visited  many  of  the  schools  under  the  charge  of  the  Public  School 
Society  in  that  city,  with  a  view  of  obtaining  information  which  might  be 
of  service  in  conducting  our  own,  we  deem  it  but  a  just  tribute  to  say,  that 
we  regard  them  as  admirable  models  of  imitation,  and  think,  if  she  has  any 
institutions  of  wjiich  she  may  boast,  those  public  schools  are  entitled  to  the 
foremost  rank. 

That  the  defective  condition  of  our  schools  results  mainly  from  their 
being  conducted  on  the  isolated  district  system,  we  entertain  no  doubt ;  nor 
is  this  a  hasty  conclusion.  This  conviction,  long  since  entertained,  has  been 
deepened  by  time  and  investigation  ;  for,  however  well  adapted  that  system 
may  be  to  a  country  or  village  population,  our  own  experience,  and  that  of 
other  cities  in  our  State,  have  fully  evinced  that  it  is  not  adapted  to  the 
exigencies  of  a  city  population.  We  therefore  hope  that  the  attention  of 
your  board  will  be  early  directed  to  obtain  from  the  Legislature  of  our  State 
an  act  for  the  organization  of  a  Board  of  Education  for  our  entire  city ;  and, 
in  making  this  suggestion,  we  feel  assured  that  we  embody  a  sentiment  pre- 
vailing to  a  wide  extent  in  our  community.  Indeed,  we  may  summarily 
say,  that  the  reasons  which  would  so  obviously  forbid  an  attempt  to  con- 
duct the  municipal  administration  of  our  city,  by  nine  distinct  corporations, 
acting  without  concert,  are  equally  applicable  in  conducting  a  system  of 
popular  education  for  our  youth. 

Our  population  is  proverbially  floating  in  its  habits,  and  the  wave  that 
lands  a  class  of  it,  peculiarly  needing  common  school  instruction,  in  one  dis- 
trict to-day,  to-morrow  conveys  them  to  another.  If  the  parent  finds  no  per- 
manent resting-place,  the  children  should  be  able  to  fiud  their  level  on  the 
floor  and  in  the  healthful  atmosphere  of  a  well-conducted  school-room ;  and 
this  would  be  realized  had  we  such  a  system  as  has  been  suggested. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  which  crowd  upon  us  at  every  step  of  our  exami- 
nation, we  are  more  forcibly  impressed  with  the  belief  that  the  district  sys- 
tem would  be  a  destructive  blow  to  the  cause  of  educa-tion  in  our  city. 
And  if  we  are  to  regard  the  unimpeachable  evidence  contained  in  the 
archives  of  the  State,  we  must  resist  every  step  which  is  taken  to  impose  it 
upon  us,  for  we  are  firmly  convinced  that  it  is  incompetent  to  promote  the 
great  purposes  of  education  in  our  city. 

VHL  The  advantage  of  having  a  general  board,  in  preference  to  leaving 
this  cause  to  the  action  of  the  popular  will,  is  denied  by  the  committee,  and 
is  scornfully  treated  as  an  anti-democratic  principle,  which  is,  in  the  words 
of  Mr.  Spencer,  "  entirely  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  our  institutions."  We 
would  not  be  understood  as  impeaching  the  capacity  of  the  people  to  man- 
age the  education  of  their  own  children,  but  we  must  record  the  deplorable 
truth,  that  the  almost  universal  experience  of  the  country  system  shows  it 
to  be  incapable  of  inspiring  that  interest  in  its  operations  which,  the  com- 
mittee apprehend,  will  be  its  inevitable  tendency.  We  hazard  no  unwar- 
rantable assertions,  but  appeal  again  to  the  ea-perimentum  cruris  of  fact  and 


512  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

recorded  testimony  to  bear  .us  out,  and  present  a  comparative  statement 
which  will  be  its  own  commentator. 

We  have  before  repudiated  the  idea  of  comparing  a  densely-populated 
and  commercial  seaport  like  New  York  with  thinly-settled  agricultural  dis- 
tricts, and  preferred  to  compare  cities  and  towns  under  the  district  system 
with  this  city.  Brooklyn  being,  in  part,  a  commercial  city,  with  a  consider- 
able shipping  interest,  and  the  citizens  being  linked  to  New  York  by  social 
and  business  ties  which  make  it  a  part  of  this  city,  in  one  sense,  because 
many  reside  in  one  who  do  business  in  the  other,  is  the  most  pertinent 
instance  which  can  be  adduced.  What,  then,  are  the  facts  as  before  stated 
in  relation  to  these  towns,  and  particularly  Brooklyn  ?  According  to  the 
report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  for  1840  and  1841,  about 
forty-four  per  cent,  of  the  children  were  under  instruction  ;  while  in  Brook- 
lyn (taken  as  a  single  instance),  which  more  nearly  resembles  New  York 
than  any  other  city  in  the  State,  by  the  report  of  the  commissioners  for 
1836,  1,197  children,  out  of  a  population  of  4,756,  or  twenty-five  and  one 
fifth  per  cent.,  received  instruction  in  these  schools.  Now,  if  the  system  is 
calculated  to  bring  out  the  action  of  the  people  in  favor  of  the  schools,  it 
would  be  manifested  by  the  number  of  children  sent,  the  prosperity  of  the 
schools,  the  number  of  times  visited,  and  the  progress  made  by  the  schol- 
ars ;  while  all  of  these  data  prove  beyond  dispute  that  very  little  regard  is 
paid  to  the  schools  by  parents  or  instructors,  and  the  popular  rights  of 
parents  to  educate  their  own  children  is  disregarded  by  them,  and  the 
young  are  abandoned  to  the  withering  influence  of  apathy  and  ignorance. 

We  regard  the  whole  of  this  movement,  therefore,  in  appealing  to  the 
democratic  feelings  of  the  people  and  of  the  Legislature,  as  an  insidious 
effort  to  carry  this  proposed  change  to  its  consummation,  in  order  to  accom- 
plish indirectly  what  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  whole  commu- 
nity shrank  from  with  dread  and  amazement — the  favoring  of  a  large  and 
politically  powerful  sect,  who  know  their  strength  and  are  determined  to 
use  it  to  the  utmost  advantage.  The  tendency  of  opening  the  administra- 
tion of  the  schools  as  proposed,  will  inevitably  be,  to  make  them  the  sub- 
ject of  political  influences  in  the  election  of  commissioners  and  inspectors, 
and  of  sectarian  cupidity  in  the  exercise  and  operations  of  the  schools.  To 
deny  this,  would  be  to  deny  the  history  of  mankind,  the  universal  expe- 
rience of  the  human  race,  and  to  argue  in  opposition  to  that  predominant 
principle  of  the  soul  which  is  the  main-spring  of  its  action,  self-love,  wheth- 
er it  be  private  or  public,  individual  or  collective,  confined  to  persons  or 
guiding  the  policy  of  nations.  This  controlling  principle  will  lead  to  meas- 
ures having  party  and  sectarian  aggrandizement  for  their  object,  which  will 
disregard  the  sacredness  of  the  public  weal,  or  the  unfettered  and  unbiassed 
character  and  objects  of  public  expenditures. 

Facts,  too  positive  to  admit  of  a  shadow  of  denial,  come  again  to  our 
aid. 

At  our  last  election  for  members  of  the  Legislature,  a  religious  sect,  upon 
whose  united  strength  at  the  ballot-box  depends  the  decision  of  every  elec- 
tion, made  the  alteration  of  our  public  school  system  a  matter  of  conscien- 


REVIEW   OF  ME.    MACLAY's   REPORT.  513 

tious  scruples,  and,  accordingly,  could  not  give  their  vote  to  any  man  who 
would  not  favor  their  demands  for  a  change.  Thus,  "  fearing  to  offend 
God  "  by  neglecting  facilities,  as  citizens,  to  produce  this  change,  they  pre- 
pared and  voted  upon  a  ticket  of  their  own  choice ;  and  it  is  a  fact  emi- 
nently worthy  of  notice  and  serious  consideration,  that  ten  members  of  the 
New  York  Legislature  were  placed  in  their  seats  by  the  votes  of  this  sect 
who  unite  to  place  their  religious  preferences  and  claims  in  contact  with  the 
ballot-box — the  chairman  of  the  committee  himself  being  one  of  them ;  a 
sect  which  has  thoroughly  identified  itself  with  this  change,  and  whose 
journals  declare  that  their  course  is  regarded  with  anxiety  and  encourage- 
ment by  the  members  of  the  same  faith  in  the  Old  World.  With  this  glar- 
ing fact  before  us,  will  any  presume'  to  doubt  that  repetitions  of  this  con- 
duct will  be  continually  recurring  whenever  opportunities  present  them- 
selves ?  Here,  then,  is  this  principle  of  self-love  illustrated  beyond  dispute, 
in  the  effort  at  sectarian  aggrandizement  at  the  ballot-box. 

It  may  be  objected,  that  the  bill  does  not  contemplate  any  sectarian 
appropriation.  But  we  ask,  Will  the  committee,  or  will  any  one,  deny  to 
"  the  people "  the  free  exercise  of  a  right  which  they  are  so  zealous  in 
thrusting  into  their  hands  ?  Will  they  interfere  in  the  free  choice  of  "  the 
people  "  in  educating  their  children  as  they  will,  after  they  have  opened  the 
course  to  them  ? 

Another  feature  in  this  movement  is  to  be  much  deprecated :  the  opera- 
tion of  the  law  will  be  to  place  in  the  hands  of  one  sect  the  disposal  of  six 
or  eight  hundred  per  cent,  more  of  the  school  fund  than  belongs  to  them  by 
virtue  of  their  tax-paying  ratio.  We  hope  we  shall  not  subject  ourselves  to 
the  imputation  of  harshness  or  meanness  in  making  the  following  compari- 
son, but  we  think  it  is  pertinent  and  forcible.  We  take  this  illustration 
because  it  is  the  strongest,  and  will  exhibit  the  principle  in  its  true  light. 

That  part  of  the  population  which  has  originated  and  strenuously  car- 
ried on  this  contest  against  the  present  system,  and  whose  immediate  benefit 
is  contemplated  by  it — the  Roman  Catholic — is,  according  to  their  own 
authenticated  statements,  about  one  tenth  of  the  population  of  the  State. 
Grant  that  they  number  one  seventh  in  the  city,  we  would  therefore  have  a 
population  of  45,000  Roman  Catholics.  We  will  allow  one  half  as  males 
(which  is  too  much),  we  have  22,500  ;  one  half  of  these  regarded  as  adults, 
would  give  11,250  persons  of  an  age  qualified  to  hold  property  by  law. 
Now,  if  we  assume  that  one  tenth  of  these  are  holders  of  real  or  personal 
taxable  property  to  the  amount  of  $5,000  each,  we  have,  as  the  aggregate 
amount  held  by  this  class  of  .the  population,  $6,250,000,  or  two  and  a  half 
per  cent,  of  the  real  and  personal  taxable  estate  of  the  city.  Taking  this 
standard  as  being  nearly  correct,  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  the  school  fund 
would  be  a  little  over  $3,000  as  their  pro  rata  proportion  of  the  public 
money,  if  shared  in  the  ratio  of  taxes  paid. 

In  the  absence  of  data  which  exhibit  the  relative  amount  paid  to  the 

Comptroller  by  different  denominations,  such  exhibits  not  coming  within 

the  provisions  of  a  democratic  people  in  the  public  records,  we  think  we 

have  been  liberal  in  estimating,  first,  the  number  of  property-holders  as  one 

33 


514  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

tenth ;  and  second,  when  we  bear  in  mind  that  a  large  part  of  this  denomi- 
nation are  poor  emigrants,  we  do  not  hazard  much  in  saying  that  their 
aggregate  property  is  not  over  that  above  estimated. 

Now,  although  they  amount  to  one  seventh  of  the  population,  we  will 
assume  that  only  one  twentieth  of  the  children  of  the  public  schools  are 
Roman  Catholic,  which  will  be  about  2,000  ;  and  these,  at  the  cost  of  their 
education,  receive  the  benefit  of  nearly  twice  the  amount  paid  by  their 
parents  to  the  public  fund. 

We  would  not  have  entered  into  such  a  comparison,  especially  where  we 
are  obliged  to  make  estimates,  because  it  may  be  regarded  as  invidious,  but 
the  frequent  appeals  about  "  taxpayers'  rights  "  have  induced  us  to  do  it  in 
order -to  show  that  the  rights  of  a  large  proportion  of  taxpayers  who  dissent 
from  them  will  be  invaded,  by  taking  from  them  and  their  children  a  large 
annual  sum,  and  appropriating  it  to  the  support  of  religious  principles  and 
doctrines  to  which  they  can  never  subscribe.  Lest  we  should  be  accused  of 
proceeding  on  false  assumptions,  we  introduce  the  testimony  of  Bishop 
Hughes,  who  is  better  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  his  people  than  our- 
selves. On  page  24  of  his  speech  at  Carroll  Hall,  he  remarks : 

They  (the  Public  School  Society)  proposed  to  purchase  the  only  school- 
house  our  humble  means  have  enabled  us  to  erect  during  sixteen  years. 

In  a  speech  at  Washington  Hall  he  spoke  of 

The  poor,  the  degraded,  and  indigent  children,  who  were  deprived  of 
education  by  the  Public  School  Society. 

On  page  11  of  the  address  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing language : 

Although  most  of  us  arc  poor,  still  the  poorest  man  amongst  us  is 
obliged  to  pay  taxes  from  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  in  the  rent  of  his  room  or 
little  tenement. 

We  hope  we  shall  give  no  offence  to  any ;  but  when  a  great  and  serious 
charge  is  enforced  by  arguments  based  upon  pretensions  of  which  these  ex- 
tracts are  the  real  truth,  we  are  obliged  by  our  duty  as  citizens,  if  we  regard 
no  higher  incentive,  to  bring  out  and  submit  to  the  consideration  of  our 
fellow-citizens  and  the  Legislature,  every  thing  which  may  tend  to  the  equi- 
table and  righteous  adjustment  of  this  dispute. 

Having  shown  that  they  cannot,  according  to  their  own  statements  in 
reference  to  their  "  humble  means  " — which  are  made  the  ground  of  appeal 
to  the  action  of  their  fellow-citizens — pay  a  larger  proportion  of  the  taxes 
than  we  have  estimated,  we  deprecate  any  measure  which  will  throw  into  a 
determinate  sectarian  channel  any  portion  of  the  public  fund,  as  it  would 
be  dangerous  in  precedent,  hazardous  in  adoption,  and  destructive  in  its 
operations. 

We  also  submit,  in  this  place,  another  fact :  the  Roman  Catholic  Orphan 
Asylum  has  been  receiving,  for  a  number  of  years,  an  annual  appropriation 
from  the  common  school  fund,  which  last  year  amounted  to  $1,625.46,  in 
addition  to  the  advantages  of  the  public  schools.  Hence,  this  appropria- 


REVIEW   OF   MR.    MACLAY's   REPORT.  515 

tion,  and  any  additional  sum,  diverted  from  its  public  use,  would  be  an  un- 
constitutional and  unjust  taxation  of  all  sects  for  the  sectarian  schools  of 
one  denomination.  In  other  words,  they  would  receive  the  largest  appro- 
priation, because  they  would  have  the  largest  number  of  public  school 
pupils,  while  they  pay  only  a  trifling  percentage  of  the  taxes.  The  injus- 
tice of  this  need  only  be  shown  to  be  felt  by  all. 

We  have  predicated  upon  pretty  good  premises  that  they  pay  two  and  a 
half  per  cent,  of  the  taxes,  while  they  are  «ce  seventh  of  the  population. 
According  to  the  report  of  the  committee,  there  are  65,571  children  of  the 
legal  age  in  the  city ;  one  seventh  of  the  children  would  be  9,368,  who 
would  receive  the  appropriation.  In  other  words,  one  class  of  the  popula- 
tion, who  pay  one  fortieth,  or  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  taxes,  would 
receive  one  seventh,  or  fourteen  and  two  sevenths  per  cent,  of  the  public 
fund.  Stated  in  dollars  and  cents,  it  would  be  one  seventh,  $18,000,  instead 
of  one  fortieth,  or  $3,000.  If  our  citizens  are  willing  to  be  taxed  according 
to  their  religious  belief,  and  receive  back  again  in  the  same  ratio,  so  let  it 
be ;  but  we  do  not  wish  to  see  the  people  pay  taxes  as  citizens,  receive 
money  as  citizens,  and  expend  it  as  sectarians. 

The  operation  of  this  principle  will  more  or  less  affect  every  denomina- 
tion according  to  their  wealth  or  numbers,  while  the  richest,  who  have  no 
children  at  the  public  school,  will  not  receive  their  proportion  at  all. 

The  foregoing  estimates  are  not  given  as  being  strictly  correct.  But  as 
an  alteration  in  one  item  will  require  a  corresponding  change  in  its  con- 
relative  estimates,  the  result  will  not  be  found  to  vary  much  from  that  above 
advanced.  We  have  attained  a  proximate  truth  sufficiently  correct  for  all 
practical  purposes. 

The  argument  that  they  are  taxpayers  because  consumers,  is  no  stronger 
than  the  other ;  for  if  we  take  the  relative  amount  of  property  held,  we 
may  easily  form  an  opinion  of  the  relative  amount  of  consumption,  the 
property,  in  general,  being  regarded  as  the  index  to  the  capability  and 
social  rank  of  its  possessors. 

The  Constitution  of  this  State,  section  8  article  2,  provides  that 

The  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  religious  professions  and  worship, 
without  discrimination  or  preference,  shall  forever  be  allowed  in  this  State 
to  all  mankind. 

Here  we  have  freedom  of  opinion  guaranteed,  and  the  laws  of  the  lanti 
will  extend  that  protection  which  all  must  receive  ;  but  there  is  a  wide  dif- 
ference between  protection  and  patronage.  This  is  a  distinction  it  will  be 
well  to  observe,  for  protection  is  not  intended  to  encourage  a  demand  for 
patronage,  which  would  violate  the  constitutional  rights  of  others,  by  tak- 
ing from  one  class  of  citizens  the  taxes  which  "belong  to  them,"  and  appro- 
priating them  to  the  support  of  another.  It  would  not  better  the  law  to 
make  it  applicable  to  all,  for  then  all  sects  would  receive  a  patronage  from 
the  Government  for  the  education  of  their  children,  which  would  be  but  the 
incipient  step  to  encroachments  of  a  more  alarming  character.  But  while 
the  distribution  of  the  public  fund  is  regulated  as  contemplated  by  the  act, 
a  direct  patronage  would  be  extended  to  the  poorest  sect,  which,  as  an 


516  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

inevitable  necessity,  would  receive  the  largest  share  of  the  public  money, 
because  it  has  the  largest  number  of  children  who  would  become  its  recipients. 

But  what  would  be  done,  in  the  midst  of  this  sectarian  squabble,  with 
those  who  do  not  belong  to  any  religious  denomination  ?  Are  they  to  have 
no  consideration  ?  Are  their  rights  to  be  disregarded,  and  their  children 
be  obliged  to  attend  sectarian  institutions,  or  grow  up  without  instruction  ? 
These  are  questions  which  merit  some  thought,  at  least  when  we  know  that 
a  very  large  part  of  the  community  are  not  actual  professors  of  any  religious 
belief.  ****** 

An  important  statement  made  by  the  committee  is,  that  the  people  have 
lost  confidence  in  the  Public  School  Society,  and  desire  a  change.  Now, 
they  must  be  unacquainted  with  the  views  and  feelings  of  the  people  of 
this  city,  or  they  would  not  have  hazarded  such  an  assertion.  So  far  as  our 
observation  tends  to  convince  us,  and  the  almost  unanimous  voice  of  the 
intelligent,  virtuous,  and  high-minded  portion  of  the  community  may  be 
regarded  as  expressive  of  their  feelings,  we  fearlessly  assert  that  the  Public 
School  Society  does  enjoy  the  confidence  of  the  higher  classes  of  the  people ; 
while  the  following  items,  taken  from  a  large  number  of  others,  contained 
in  a  document  of  the  highest  authority,  will  show  whether  the  confidence 
of  the  poor  and  laboring  classes  has  been  withdrawn  from  the  public 
schools : 

Of  the  parents  of  children  who  attend  these  schools,  there  are,  black- 
smiths, 493;  bakers,  148;  butchers,  224;  carpenters,  323;  cartmen,  943; 
cabinetmakers,  502 ;  laborers,  1,477 ;  masons,  416 ;  printers,  158 ;  shoe- 
makers, 945 ;  seamen,  248 ;  tailors,  579 ;  widows,  1,461 ;  washerwomen, 
253 ;  weavers,  200 ;  ship-carpenters,  176. 

In  drawing  to  a  conclusion,  we  recur  to  the  question  with  which  we 
started :  Has  the  Public  School  Society  fulfilled  its  trust  ?  and  we  answer, 
If  facts,  and  evidences,  and  records,  and  the  testimony  of  its  opponents 
themselves,  are  to  be  regarded,  we  can  emphatically  say,  It  has. 

The  committee  regard  as  an  important  effect  of  education,  its  tendency 
to  make  society  as  equal  and  homogeneous  as  possible ;  and  they  might  well 
have  added,  that  the  institutions  for  education  must  themselves  possess  this 
feature,  which  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  the  characteristics  of  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  our  city.  A  family  of  children  residing  in  the  Third  Ward 
may  remove  to  the  Seventeenth,  and  enter  the  same  class  and  pursue  the 
same  lessons  which  they  left  in  the  other  school.  Thus  a  uniform  and  per- 
fectly homogeneous  system  of  education  diffuses  its  light  and  benign  influ- 
ence over  the  whole  city,  and  says  to  all,  "  Venias  !  Come,  without  money 
and  without  price  1 "  It  is  impossible  for  us  to  conceive  how  the  district 
system,  with  its  local  dissimilarity,  and  different  methods  of  operation  and 
instruction  and  books,  and  conflicting  sentiments,  can  be  any  other  than  the 
most  discordant  and  heterogeneous. 

Mr.  Barker  moved  that  the  bill  be  recommitted,  with  instruc- 
tions to  add  to  it  a  section  providing  for  a  reference  of  the  sub- 
ject to  the  electors  of  the  city  of  New  York  at  the  next  charter 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  ASSEMBLY.  517 

election,  and  after  the  same  shall  have  passed  the  Legislature, 
and  that  it  should  not  become  a  law  unless  a  majority  of  the 
electors  voting  gave  their  votes  in  its  favor. 

Mr.  Barker  supported  his  proposition  by  stating  that  it  was 
not  usual  for  him  to  interfere  in  the  concerns  of  other  counties. 
But  the  members  from  New  York,  Herkimer,  and  Genesee 
(Messrs.  Maclay,  Loomis,  and  Smith)  would  at  least  deem  the 
proposition  a  democratic  one.  The  matter  was  local.  There 
was  as  much  propriety  in  submitting  the  question  to  the  people 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Croton  Water  Works  Bill. 

Mr.  Weir,  of  New  York,  continued  the  debate,  and  con- 
cluded by  asking  the  mover  to  withdraw  his  resolution.  Mr. 
Barker  declined,  saying  that  he  was  too  much  of  a  Democrat  to 
do  so. 

Mr.  Maclay  said  he  trusted  that  the  good  sense  of  the  House 
would  reject  the  proposition,  whatever  the  mover  might  think 
of  it.  It  was  true,  as  a  general  remark,  that  in  this  State,  where 
elections  occurred  at  brief  intervals,  where  public  measures  of 
the  least  importance  were  discussed  with  great  freedom,  and 
where  any  man  of  ordinary  observation  might  anticipate,  with  a 
reasonable  degree  of  certainty,  the  course  of  public  opinion, 
these  appeals  to  the  people  were  entirely  unnecessary,  except  on 
very  important  and  rare  occasions.  He  did  not  deem  this  to  be 
one  of  those  occasions. 

In  saying  so,  he  desired  to  be  understood  as  yielding  to  none 
in  a  sincere  wish,  neither  to  go  below  nor  beyond  the  wishes  of 
his  constituents,  but  to  reflect,  as  truly  as  he  was  able,  their  sen- 
timents and  opinions.  In  this  connection,  however,  it  was  wor- 
thy of  remark,  that  the  people  of  the  city,  neither  by  petition 
nor  through  the  press,  had  asked  that  this  matter  be  referred  to 
them  for  a  decision.  He  had  taken  some  pains,  during  that  and 
the  preceding  session,  to  inform  himself  on  this  subject,  and  he 
could  state  that  he  had  never  heard  an  individual  express  a 
desire  for  such  a  reference  as  was  proposed.  The  public  mind 
had  settled  down  upon  the  conviction  that  the  common  school 
system  of  the  city  of  New  York  was  in  contravention  of  the  lib- 
eral spirit  of  our  free  institutions,  and  not  calculated  to  diffuse 
the  benefit  of  education  as  widely  as  was  desirable  and  essential. 
The  time  for  action  had  now  come,  and  he  besought  his  political 
friends  in  the  House  not  to  commit  so  great  an  error  as  to  suffer 


518  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

* 

this  question  to  be  mingled  with  important  political  questions 
which  were  to  come  up  at  a  future  election.  He  appealed  to 
such  as  regarded  the  education  of  the  masses  as  one  of  the  great 
securities  of  free  government,  to  contrast  the  condition  of  the 
city  and  county  as  presented  in  the  reports  from  the  public  offi- 
cers, and  especially  in  the  fact  that,  in  New  York  alone,  there 
were  nearly  three  times  as  many  (twenty  thousand)  children  who 
attended  no  school  whatever,  as  in  the  whole  State  beside.  It 
was  in  the  power  of  the  Legislature  to  apply  the  correction,  not 
.  by  procrastination,  but  by  a  law  which  would  bring  these  chil- 
dren within  the  public  schools  without  infringing  the  conscien- 
tious rights  or  opinions  of  any  of  our  fellow-citizens. 

The  debate  was  continued  by  Messrs.  Davezac,  Powell, 
Smith,  Warren,  Humphrey,  Loomis,  Grout,  Swackhamer,  Bar- 
ker, E.  G.  Baldwin,  and  D.  R.  F.  Jones.  The  result  was  the 
rejection  of  all  amendments,  and  the  reference  of  the  bill  to  the 
Committee  of  the  Whole. 

Late  on  the  evening  of  the  12th  of  March,  the  bill  was  taken 
up  for  discussion.  Mr.  McKee  moved  that  the  House  adjourn, 
which  was  lost  by  a  tie  vote.  Mr.  Mead  expressed  the  hope  that 
the  bill  would  be  postponed,  owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  hour 
and  the  fewness  of  the  members  present.  Mr.  Baldwin,  of  New 
York,  and  others,  opposed  the  passage  of  the  bill,  to  whom  Mr. 
Maclay  replied,  stating  that  there  were  two  classes  or  divisions 
of  persons  in  New  York  as  related  to  this  subject.  One  class 
was  composed  of  those  who  were  satisfied  with  the  present 
school  system,  and  the  other  of  those  who  desired  a  change. 
To  the  former,  the  bill  proposes  to  leave  the  schools  as  they 
were  ;  to  the  latter,  it  gave  schools  regulated  as  common  schools 
were  in  every  other  part  of  the  State.  It  was  as  fair  a  proposi- 
tion, as  considerate  to  existing  interests,  as  could  be  presented, 
and  he  trusted  the  House  would  act  upon  it  with  as  little  delay 
as  practicable.  Upon  a  division,  it  was  found  that  a  quorum 
did  not  vote,  and  the  House  adjourned. 

On  the  21st  of  March,  the  bill  coming  up  on  its  third  read- 
ing, Mr.  E.  G.  Baldwin  addressed  the  House  in  opposition  to  its 
passage,  and  concluded  by  moving  to  postpone  the  final  question 
until  the  next  day. 

Mr.  Maclay  expressed  a  hope  that  the  motion  would  not  pre- 
vail, and  moved  that  it  be  laid  upon  the  table,  which  was  car- 


PROCEEDINGS   IN   THE   ASSEMBLY.  519 

ried.  Mr.  D.  S.  Wright  then  moved  that  the  bill  be  recommit- 
ted to  the  Committee  on  Colleges,  &c.,  with  instructions  to  add 
a  provision  submitting  the  question  to  the  decision  of  the  people 
of  the  city  of  New  York  at  an  election.  The  motion  was  lost 
by  a  vote  of  twenty-one  in  the  affirmative  and  fifty-six  in  the 
negative. 

Mr.  Lawrence  moved  the  reference  of  the  bill  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Colleges,  with  instructions  to  report  the  following 
amendments  as  an  additional  section  : 

And  the  said  supervisors  shall,  in  the  apportionment  of  the  moneys 
appropriated  and  raised  for  the  support  and  encouragement  of  common  or 
district  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York,  apportion  and  divide  the  same  to 
and  among  the  several  wards,  according  and  in  proportion  to  the  average 
number  of  children  over  5  and  under  16  years  of  age,  who  shall  have  actu- 
ally attended  the  common  or  district  schools  therein  the  preceding  year, 
which  shall  have  been  kept  open  at  least  nine  months  in  the  said  year. 

Mr.  Baldwin,  of  New  York,  moved  to  amend  the  amend- 
ment, by  adding  thereto  the  words,  "  and  that  no  religious  doc- 
trine or  tenet  shall  in  any  manner  be  taught,  inculcated,  or  prac- 
tised, in  any  of  the  common  or  district  schools  in  the  city  of 
New  York." 

Mr.  Maclay  resisted  the  amendment  of  Mr.  Baldwin,  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  not  contained  in  the  general  school  law  of 
the  State,  and  was  a  stigma  sought  to  be  fastened  upon  the 
friends  of  the  measure  then  under  discussion,  as  well  as  upon 
people  of  the  section  of  the  State  which  he  in  part  represented, 
and  who  were  as  worthy  of  being  trusted  without  any  such 
enactment  as  the  inhabitants  of  any  other  portion  of  the  State. 

The  amendment  of  Mr.  Baldwin  was,  however,  adopted  by  a 
majority  of  five  ;  but  when  the  question  recurred,  and  was  taken 
on  the  original  motion  of  Mr.  Lawrence  as  thus  amended,  it  was 
lost.  The  bill  was  finally  passed  in  the  Assembly,  by  a  vote  of 
sixty-four  in  the  affirmative  and  sixteen  in  the  negative. 

After  the  Speaker  had  declared  the  bill  passed,  a  suggestion 
was  made,  that  it  required  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  all  the  mem- 
bers on  altering  the  powers  of  the  Corporation  of  New  York, 
and  an  appeal  was  taken  from  the  decision  of  the  chair. 

Mr.  Maclay  had  anticipated  this  objection,  and  had  referred 
the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Two  Thirds  Bills  to  the  fol- 


520  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

lowing  precedents,  to  show  that  acts  in  relation  to  Supervisors 
had  been  modified  by  subsequent  general  acts :  The  People 
ex  rd.  Phoanix  vs.  The  Supervisors  of  the  City  and  County  of 
New  York,  1  Hill's  Keports,  362-368 ;  The  People  ex  rel.  Up- 
ham  vs.  "Whiteside,  22  Wendell's  Eeports,  14,  15  ;  "Warner  and 
Ray  vs.  Beers,  22  Wendell's  Reports,  103-189  (in  Error),  with 
opinion  of  Bradish  in  this  case.  Mr.  Humphrey,  of  Tompkins 
county,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Two  Thirds  Bills,  rose  in 
his  place,  and  stated  that  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  committee, 
and  his  own,  that  the  bill  before  the  House  was  a  majority  bill. 
The  appeal  was  then  withdrawn,  and  the  bill  sent  to  the  Senate, 
and  in  that  body  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Colleges,  &c., 
consisting  of  Mr.  H.  K.  Foster,  of  Oneida,  John  Hunter,  of 
Westchester,  and  Erastus  Root,  of  Delaware. 

The  vote  in  the  House  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  the 
strength  of  the  opposition  to  the  measure.  That  opposition  was 
reserved  for  the  Senate.  In  that  body,  all  of  the  senators  from 
what  then  constituted  the  First  Senate  District,  composed  of 
New  York,  Richmond,  and  Kings  counties,  Messrs.  Furman, 
Franklin,  Yarian,  and  Scott,  were  opposed  to  any  change  in  the 
school  system  of  New  York.  Mr.  Foster,  the  chairman  of  the 
Senate  committee,  called  upon  Mr.  Maclay,  and  stated  that, 
while  he  himself  approved  of  the  bill,  it  was  not  usual  to  at- 
tempt to  carry  a  local  bill  through  the  Senate  in  opposition  to 
the  wishes  of  the  representatives  from  the  district  to  be  affected 
by  it.  In  this  dilemma,  Mr.  Maclay  stated  that  the  defeat  of  the 
bill  at  the  present  time,  as  was  well  known,  would  enure  to  the 
benefit  of  their  political  opponents,  and  that,  aside  altogether 
from  the  merits  of  the  question,  it  was  not  uncharitable  to  sup- 
pose that  this  consideration  had  its  weight  with  Messrs.  Furman 
and  Franklin.  The  case  was  different  with  Messrs.  Scott  and 
Varian,  the  Democratic  senators.  If  they  could  show  any  objec- 
tion to  the  bill  on  the  score  of  public  good,  it  was  entitled  to  be 
considered  and  received.  For  this  purpose,  Mr.  Maclay  pro- 
posed that  a  meeting  should  be  called  at  the  room  of  Senator 
Hunter,  and  that  he  and  Mr.  Foster,  Messrs.  Yarian  and  Scott, 
and  himself,  should  be  present,  when  the  whole  matter  could  be 
discussed  more  freely  and  dispassionately  than  in  the  Senate. 
The  meeting  was  accordingly  held,  all  the  parties  just  named 
being  present.  Mr.  Maclay  proposed  that  the  bill  should  be 


THE   SCHOOL  LAW   OF   1842.  521 

read  section  by  section,  and  that  any  objection  to  any  portion  of 
it  should  be  made ;  and,  were  none  made,  the  sections  not 
objected  to  should  be  deemed  to  be  approved.  This  was  accord- 
ingly the  course  adopted.  Mr.  Varian  objected  to  the  whole 
bill,  and  was  opposed  to  any  change  whatever  in  the  then  exist- 
ing laws.  Mr.  Scott  stated  that  he  was  fearful  that,  if  the  elec- 
tion for  school  officers  and  trustees  took  place  at  the  same  time 
as  the  other  elections  in  the  city  of  New  York,  that  the  streets 
of  New  York  would  be  drenched  in  blood,  and  he  therefore  pro- 
posed that,  if  the  bill  was  to  be  pressed  to  a  vote  in  the  Senate, 
a  provision  should  be  added  to  it  by  which  the  officers  to  govern 
the  schools  should  be  elected  in  the  month  of  June  in  each  year. 
In  reply,  Mr.  Maclay  expressed  his  own  preference  for  a  separate 
election  of  school  officers,  but  that  he  had  omitted  it  in  the  bill, 
under  an  apprehension  precisely  the  reverse  of  those  entertained 
by  Judge  Scott.  So  far  from  believing  that  any  such  uncom- 
mon interest  or  excitement  would  attend  the  election  of  these 
officers,  he  feared  that  the  people,  as  a  general  thing,  would  neg- 
lect the  duty  of  voting,  and  that,  on  this  account,  he  had  pro- 
vided the  election  should  take  place  at  the  same  time  as  that  for 
other  officers.  He  would,  however,  cheerfully  yield  his  opinion 
on  this  point.  He  accordingly  drew  a  section  providing  for  the 
election  of  school  officers  in  the  month  of  June  following,  and 
this  was  approved  by  Mr.  Foster,  and  subsequently  added  to  the 
bill,  which  was  passed  April  9th,  and  received  the  signature  of 
the  Governor.  It  is  as  follows : 

AN  ACT 

To  Extend  to  the  City  and  County  of  2feic  York  the  Provisions  of  the  General 
Act  in  Helation  to  Common  Schools. 

The  people  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate  and  Assem- 
bly, do  enact  as  follows  : 

SEC.  1.  There  shall  be  elected  in  each  of  the  wards  of  the  city  and 
county  of  New  York,  two  commissioners,  two  inspectors,  and  five  trustees 
of  common  schools,  who  shall  be  elected  by  ballot,  at  a  special  election  to 
be  held  on  the  first  Monday  of  June  in  each  year,  by  the  persons  qualified  to 
vote  for  charter  officers  in  the  said  wards,  and  to  be  conducted  in  the  same 
manner,  by  the  same  inspectors,  at  the  same  ward  districts,  and  subject  to 
the  same  laws,  rules,  an<J  regulations  as  now  govern  the  charter  elections  in 
said  city. 

The  commissioners  of  common  schools  so  elected  shall  constitute  a  Board 
of  Education  for  the  city  of  New  York,  a  majority  of  whom  shall  consti- 


522  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

tute  a  quorum  ;  they  shall  elect  one  of  their  number  president  of  said  board, 
who  shall  preside  at  the  meetings  thereof,  which  shall  be  held  at  least  as 
often  as  once  in  three  months ;  and  they  may  appoint  a  clerk,  whose  com- 
pensation shall  be  fixed  and  paid  by  the  supervisors  of  said  city  and  county. 

The  commissioners  so  elected  in  each  ward  shall  be  the  commissioners 
of  schools  thereof,  with  the  like  powers  and  duties  of  commissioners  of 
common  schools  in  the  several  towns  in  this  State,  except  as  hereinafter  pro- 
vided. 

The  said  inspectors  of  common  schools  so  elected  in  the  several  wards 
shall  have  the  like  powers  and  be  subject  to  the  same  duties  with  the  inspec- 
tors of  common  schools  of  the  several  towns  of  this  State,  except  as  herein- 
after provided.  ' 

The  trustees  of  common  schools  so  elected  in  their  respective  wards  shall 
be  the  trustees  of  the  school  districts  which  may  be  formed  and  organized 
therein,  with  the  like  powers  and  duties  as  the  trustees  of  school  districts  in 
the  several  towns  in  this  State,  except  as  hereinafter  provided. 

SEC.  2.  All  such  provisions  of  the  third',  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  articles 
of  Title  Two,  chapter  fifteen,  part  first,  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  and  of  the 
several  acts  amending  and  in  addition  to,  and  relating  to  the  same,  not 
inconsistent  with  the  provisions  in  this  act  contained,  shall  be,  and  the  same 
are  hereby,  declared  applicable  to  the  city  and  county  of  New  York. 

SEC.  3.  For  all  the  purposes  of  this  act,  each  of  the  several  wards  into 
which  the  said  city  and  county  of  New  York  now  is,  or  may  be  hereafter, 
divided,  shall  be  considered  as  a  separate  town,  and  liable  to  all  the  duties 
imposed  ;  and  entitled  to  all  the  powers,  privileges,  immunities,  and  advan- 
tages granted  by  the  said  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  articles  of  Title  Two, 
chapter  fifteen,  part  first,  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  to  the  several  towns  in 
this  State,  so  far  as  the  same  are  consistent  with  this  act. 

SEC.  4.  The  forty-fourth  section  of  the  act  entitled  "  An  Act  to  Amend 
the  Second  Title  of  the  Fifteenth  Chapter  of  the  First  Part  of  the  Revised 
Statutes,  Relating  to  Common  Schools,"  passed  May  26,  1841,  is  hereby 
repealed ;  and  all  the  other  sections  of  the  said  act  not  inconsistent  with  the 
provisions  of  this  act,  are  hereby  declared  applicable  to  the  city  and  county 
of  New  York. 

SEC.  5.  No  compensation  shall  be  allowed  to  the  commissioners,  inspec- 
tors, or  trustees  of  common  schools  for  any  services  performed  by  them  ;  but 
the  commissioners  and  inspectors  shall  receive  their  actual  and  reasonable 
expenses  while  attending  to  the  duties  of  their  office,  to  be  audited  and 
allowed  by  the  supervisors  of  said  city  and  county. 

SEC.  6.  The  said  commissioners  of  common  schools  of  each  ward  are 
hereby  authorized  to  appoint  a  club,  whose  compensation  shall  be  settled 
and  paid  by  the  Board  of  Supervisors. 

SEC.  7.  Whenever  the  trustees  elected  in  any  ward  shall  certify  in  writ- 
ing to  the  commissioners  and  inspectors  of  common  schools  thereof,  that  it 
is  necessary  to  organize  one  or  more  schools  in  said  ward,  in  addition  to  the 
schools  mentioned  in  the  thirteenth  section  of  this  act,  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  said  commissioners  and  inspectors  to  meet  together  and  examine  into  the 


THE  SCHOOL  LAW  OF  1842.  523 

facts  and  circumstances  of  the  case ;  and  if  they  shall  be  satisfied  of  such 
necessity,  they  shall  certify  the  same  under  their  hands,  to  the  said  Board 
of  Education,  and  shall  then  proceed  to  organize  one  or  more  school  dis- 
tricts therein,  and  shall  procure  a  school-house,  and  all  things  necessary  to 
organize  a  school  in  such  district,  the  expense  of  which  shall  be  levied  and 
raised  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  section  nine  of  this  act ;  and  the  title 
to  all  lands  purchased  by  virtue  of  this  act,  with  the  buildings  thereon,  shall 
be  vested  in  the  city  and  county  of  New  York. 

SEC.  8.  Whenever  the  clerk  of  the  city  and  county  of  New  York  shall 
receive  notice  from  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  of  the  amount 
of  moneys  apportioned  to  the  city  and  county  of  New  York,  for  the  support 
and  encouragement  of  common  schools  therein,  he  shall  immediately  lay  the 
same  before  the  supervisors  of  the  city  and  county  aforesaid. 

SEC.  9.  The  said  supervisors  shall  annually  raise  and  collect  by  tax,  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  said  city  and  county,  a  sum  of  money  equal  to  the  sum 
specified  in  such  notice,  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
contingent  charges  of  the  said  city  and  county  are  levied  and  collected ; 
also,  a  sum  of  money  equal  to  one  twentieth  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  value 
of  real  and  personal  property  in  the  said  city,  liable  to  be  assessed  therein, 
to  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  purposes  of  common  schools  in  said  city ; 
and  such  farther  sum  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  support  and  benefit  of 
common  schools  in  said  city  and  county,  to  be  raised,  levied,  and  collected 
in  like  manner,  and  which  shall  be  in  lieu  of  all  taxes  and  assessments,  to 
the  support  of  common' schools  for  said  city  and  county. 

SEC.  10.  The  said  supervisors  shall,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  May  in 
every  year,  direct  that  a  sum  of  money  equal  to  the  amount  last  received  by 
the  chamberlain  of  said  city  and  county,  from  the  common  school  fund,  be 
deposited  by  him,  together  with  the  sum  so  received  from  the  school  fund, 
in  one  of  the  incorporated  banks  of  the  said  city  and  county  (each  bank  to 
be  designated  by  the  said  supervisors),  to  the  credit  of  the  commissioners 
of  common  schools  in  each  of  the  said  several  wards,  in  the  proportion  to 
which  they  shall  respectively  be  entitled,  and  subject  only  to  the  drafts  of 
the  said  commissioners  respectively  ;  who  shall  pay  the  amount  apportioned 
to  the  several  schools  enumerated  in  the  thirteenth  section  of  this  act,  to  the 
treasurer  of  the  societies  or  schools  entitled  thereto,  or  to  some  person  duly 
authorized  by  the  trustees  of  such  societies  or  schools  to  receive  the  same. 

SEC.  11.  So  much  of  the  seventh  article  of  Title  Second,  chapter  fifteen, 
part  first,  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  and  the  several  acts  amending  and  in 
addition  to.  and  relating  to  the  said  article,  as  is  specially  applicable  to  the 
city  and  county  of  New  York,  and  all  other  acts,  and  all  provisions  therein 
providing  for,  or  directing,  or  concerning  the  disbursing  or  appropriation 
of  the  funds  created  for  or  applicable  to  common  school  education  in  the 
city  and  county  of  New  York,  and  all  and  every  provision  for  raising  any 
fund,  or  for  the  imposition  of  any  tax  therefor,  so  far  as  the  same  are  incon- 
sistent with  this  act,  are  hereby  repealed. 

SEC.  12.  All  children  between  the  ages  of  four  and  sixteen,  residing  in 
said  city  and  county,  shall  be  entitled  to  attend  any  of  the  common  schools 


524  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

therein ;  and  the  parents,  guardians,  or  other  persons  having  the  custody  of 
care  of  such  children  shall  not  be  liable  to  any  tax,  assessment,  or  impo- 
sition for  the  tuition  of  any  such  children,  other  than  is  hereinbefore  pro- 
vided. 

SEC.  13.  The  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  the  New  York  Orphan 
Asylum  School,  the  Roman  Catholic  Orphan  Asylum  School,  the  schools  of 
the  two  Half-Orphan  Asylums,  the  school  of  the  Mechanics'  School  Society, 
the  Harlem  School,  the  Yorkville  Public  School,  the  Manhattanville  Free 
School,  the  Hamilton  Free  School,  the  Institution  for  the  Blind,  the  school 
connected  \vith  the  Almshouse  of  the  said  city,  and  the  school  of  the  asso- 
ciation for  the  benefit  of  Colored  Orphans,  shall  be  subject  to  the  general 
jurisdiction  of  the  said  commissioners  of  the  respective  wards  in  which  any 
of  the  said  schools  now  are,  or  hereafter  may  be,  located,  subject  to  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Board  of  Education,  but  under  the  immediate  government  and 
management  of  their  respective  trustees,  managers,  and  directors,  in  the 
same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  herein  provided  in  respect  to  the 
district  schools  herein  first  before  mentioned  in  said  city  and  county ;  and, 
so  far  as  relates  to  the  distribution  of  the  common  school  moneys,  each  of 
the  said  schools  shall  be  district  schools  of  the  said  city. 

SEC.  14.  No  school  above  mentioned,  or  which  shall  be  organized  under 
this  act,  in  which  any  religious  sectarian  doctrine  or  tenet  shall  be  taught, 
inculcated,  or  practised,  shall  receive  any  portion  of  the  school  moneys  to  be 
distributed  by  this  act,  as  hereinafter  provided  ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  trustees,  inspectors,  and  commissioners  of  schools  in  each  ward,  and  of 
the  deputy  Superintendent  of  Schools,  from  time  to  time,  and  as  frequently 
as  need  be,  to  examine  and  ascertain  and  report  to  the  said  Board  of  Edu- 
cation whether  any  religious  sectarian  doctrine  or  tenet  shall  have  been 
taught,  inculcated,  or  practised  in  any  of  the  schools  in  their  respective 
wards ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  commissioners  of  schools  in  the  sev- 
eral wards  to  transmit  to  the  Board  of  Education  all  reports  made  to  them 
by  the  trustees  and  inspectors  of  their  respective  wards.  The  Board  of 
Education,  and  any  member  thereof,  may  at  any  time  visit  and  examine  any 
school  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  individual  commissioners 
shall  report  to  the  board  the  result  of  their  examinations. 

SEC.  15.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  Board  of  Education  to  apply 
for  the  use  of  the  several  districts  such  moneys  as  shall  be  raised  to  erect, 
purchase,  or  lease  school-houses,  or  to  procure  the  sites  therefor ;  and  also  to 
apportion  among  the  several  schools  and  districts  provided  for  by  this  act, 
the  school  money  to  be  paid  over  to  the  commissioners  of  schools  in  each 
ward,  by  virtue  of  the  tenth  section  of  this  act,  and  shall  file  with  the  cham- 
berlain of  said  city  and  county,  on  or  before  the  fifteenth  day  of  April  in 
each  year,  a  copy  of  such  apportionment,  and  stating  the  amount  thereof  to 
be  paid  to  the  commissioners  of  each  ward  ;  which  apportionment  shall  be 
made  among  the  said  several  schools  and  districts  according  to  the  average 
number  of  children  over  four  and  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  who  shall 
have  actually  attended  such  school  the  preceding  year.  But  no  such  school 
shall  be  entitled  to  a  portion  of  such  moneys  that  has  not  been  kept  open  at 


THE   SCHOOL  LAW   OF   1842.  525 

least  nine  months  in  the  year,  or  in  which  any  religious  sectarian  doctrine  or 
tenet  shall  have  been  taught,  inculcated,  or  practised,  or  which  shall  refuse 
to  permit  the  visits  and  examinations  provided  for  by  this  act. 

SEC.  16.  The  commissioners  of  schools  of  the  respective  wards,  when 
they  have  received  from  the  chamberlain  of  said  city  and  county  the  money 
apportioned  to  the  several  schools  and  districts  in  their  several  wards,  shall 
apply  the  same  to  the  use  of  the  schools  and  districts  in  their  several  wards, 
according  to  the  apportionment  thereof  so  made  by  the  said  Board  of  Edu- 
cation. 

SEC.  17.  The  said  commissioners  of  each  ward  shall,  within  fifteen  days 
after  their  election,  execute  and  deliver  to  the  supervisors  aforesaid  a  bond, 
with  such  sureties  as  said  supervisors  shall  approve,  in  the  penalty  of  double 
the  amount  of  public  money  appropriated  to  the  use  of  the  common  schools 
of  their  respective  wards,  conditional  for  the  faithful  performance  of  the 
duties  of  their  office,  and  the  proper  application  of  all  moneys  coming  in 
their  hands  for  common  school  purposes ;  such  bond  shall  be  filed  by  the 
said  supervisors  in  the  office  of  the  County  Clerk. 

SEC.  18.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 


526  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

HISTORY    FROM    1840    TO    1853. 

Position  of  the  Society — Views  of  the  Board  of  Trustees — Policy  of  the  Board — 
Trustees'  Hall  Completed — Annual  Exhibit — Powers  of  the  Society  under  the 
Law  of  1842 — Erection  of  New  Buildings — Amendments  to  the  Law — High 
School — School  for  Italians — Change  of  Official  Year — Public  Schools  Nos.  17 
and  18 — Josiah  Holbrook — Natural  History — Text-Books — Uniformity  of  System 
— Committee  on  Condition  of  the  Schools — Corporal  Punishment — Female  Asso- 
ciation— Death  of  Robert  C.  Cornell,  President  of  the  Society — Proceedings  of 
the  Society — Public  School  No.  18 — Board  of  Education  and  Normal  Schools — 
Controversy  of  the  Board  of  Education  with  the  Society,  relative  to  New  Build- 
ings— Proceedings  of  both  Boards — Speeches  of  Hiram  Ketchum,  John  L.  Mason, 
and  Joseph  S.  Bosworth,  Esqs. — Law  of  March  4,  1848 — Death  of  Lindley  Mur- 
ray, President  of  the  Society — Sale  of  Property  in  Oak  Street — Deficiency — 
Application  to  the  Board  of  Education — Transfer  of  Property  Proposed — Amend- 
ments to  the  School  Law — Union  of  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  Society  Pro- 
posed— Loan — Sale  of  Property  in  Twenty-Fifth  Street — Sale  of  Public  School 
No.  10. 

TUE  importance  of  the  controversy  relative  to  the  school 
fund,  and  the  uncertainty  which  hung  over  the  result,  served  as 
an  obstacle  to  any  marked  change  in  the  system,  while  the  de- 
mand upon  its  resources  had  already  reached  a  point  at  which 
the  Society  fonnd  itself  encumbered  with  about  $103,000  of  in- 
debtedness. The  long-cherished  plans  of  the  trustees  were  there- 
fore compelled  to  await  the  issue  of  the  contest  before  any  fur- 
ther considerable  outlay  could  be  made  for  the  expansion  and 
elevation  of  the  system. 

The  decision  was,  however,  obtained  in  1842,  by  the  passage 
of  the  act  creating  the  Board  of  Education,  and  the  alternative, 
which  had  been  impending  so  long,  had  fallen  upon  the  Society. 
It  was,  to  wait  patiently  until  the  structure  they  had  reared 
should  become  remodelled  and  made  to  harmonize  with  the  new 
scheme,  or  to  continue  under  the  restrictions  it  imposed,  as  long 
as  might  be,  and  then  surrender  its  trust  to  the  city.  The  light 
in  which  the  new  law  was  regarded  may  be  seen  from  the  fol- 
lowing observations  contained  in  the  annual  report  for  1842  : 


VIEWS   OF  THE   SOCIETY.  527 

After  a  successful  career  of  thirty-seven  years,  during  which  it  has  been 
their  lot,  under  the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence,  to  be  the  humble  instru- 
ments of  conveying  the  benefits  of  moral  and  literary  instruction  to  many, 
very  many  thousands  of  the  children  of  their  fellow-citizens,  both  native- 
born  and  of  foreign  origin,  it  has  pleased  the  Legislature  of  our  State  to 
enact  a  statute  which,  the  trustees  fear,  will  result  in  subjecting  their  noble 
institution  to  the  blighting  influence  of  party  strife  and  sectarian  animosity. 

The  glory  of  their  system — its  uniformity,  its  equality  of  privilege  and 
action,  its  freedom  from  all  that  could  justly  oflend,  its  peculiar  adaptation 
to  a  floating  population  embracing  an  immense  operative  mass,  unable,  from 
their  circumstances,  to  devote  many  years  to  educational  pursuits — is 
dimmed,  they  fear,  forever. 

The  boast  of  our  city,  that  in  her  public  schools  the  children  of  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  of  the  American  and  the  foreigner,  all  mingled  as  a  band  of 
brothers,  imbibing  feelings  and  acquiring  sentiments  of  an  equality  of  rights 
and  privileges,  both  as  citizens  of  this  great  republic  and  children  of  our 
common  Father,  in  whose  sight  all  the  people  of  the  earth  are  as  one,  is 
overthrown. 

How  far  and  how  long  the  board  may  be  able  to  continue  their  schools 
under  the  intricate  provisions  of  the  "  act,"  they  are,  at  this  time,  unable  to 
ascertain.  It  may  be  sufficient  to  say,  that  the  simple,  comprehensive,  and 
compact  system  matured  through  so  many  years  of  assiduous  examination 
and  careful  adaptation  to  its  object,  is  about  to  be  impaired,  if  not  de- 
stroyed, by  the  introduction  of  another  of  complex  character — a  system 
which,  if  not  impracticable,  is,  in  their  judgment,  ill-suited  to  a  city  popu- 
lation. 

Some  of  the  fears  entertained  by  tlie  trustees  were  not  long 
after  realized,  by  the  changes  gradually  introduced,  and  the  im- 
pediments which  arose  in  the  way  of  their  success.  The  history 
of  the  "  district  system  "  in  New  York  City  has  yet  to  be  writ- 
ten, and  its  progress  and  development  will  exhibit  the  operation 
of  one  of  the  grandest  educational  experiments  ever  made. 

The  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  although  prevent- 
ed, by  a  prudent  caution,  from  entering  upon  any  plans  for 
increasing  the  number  of  their  schools,  or  advancing  the  grade 
of  studies,  improved  the  time  by  a  jealous  and  careful  scrutiny 
of  the  schools,  and  the  endeavor  to  remove  every  thing  that 
could  impair  their  usefulness,  or  diminish  the  confidence  of  the 
community  in  the  system.  It  was  their  constant  aim  to  pre- 
serve, in  all  its  integrity,  a  scheme  of  popular  education  ren- 
dered eminently  honorable  by  the  names  of  distinguished  men 
who  had  been  interested  in  it  from  its  inception,  and  to  hand  it 
down  to  their  successors  in  a  form  massive  and  enduring,  and  as 


528  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

faultless  as  practical  wisdom,  enlightened  philanthropy,  and  lib- 
eral endowment  could  make  it. 

During  the  year  1840,  the  building  erected  for  the  use  of  the 
Society  as  a  Trustees'  Hall  was  completed,  and  furnished  in  a 
plain  but  appropriate  stylev  Apartments  were  assigned  for  the 
offices,  depository,  and  two  primary  schools.  A  portion  of  the 
building  was  also  adapted  for  the  use  of  a  clerk,  who  had  charge 
of  the  house,  and  assisted  in  the  general  business  of  the  Society. 

In  1842,  Samuel  F.  Mott  resigned  his  office  as  treasurer,  and, 
at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  held  July  14th,  Anthony  P.  Halsey, 
the  secretary,  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy ;  and,  at  the  same 
meeting,  Joseph  B.  Collins  was  chosen  to  fill  the  post  .vacated 
by  Mr.  Halsey. 

The  average  number  of  pupils  in  the  schools,  as  appears  by 
the  annual  exhibit,  was  24,671,  of  which  1,329  were  colored  chil- 
dren. 

The  question  of  power  soon  arose  as  to  the  right  of  the  Soci- 
ety to  erect  new  buildings  under  the  law  of  1842,  and  to  appro- 
priate moneys  for  certain  purposes  which  were  specially  pro- 
vided for  under  the  supervision  of  the  Board  of  Education.  The 
system  had  been  brought  to  such  uniformity  and  harmony,  that 
a  scholar  could  leave  one  school  and  go  into  a  class  in  another, 
and  there  continue  the  same  lessons,  in  the  same  books,  as 
though  he  had  only  changed  the  teacher ;  but  the  new  law 
entrusted  the  schools  to  the  independent  government  of  the  local 
boards  of  school  officers  of  the  wards.  The  trustees  were  anx- 
ious to  prevent  this  system  from  becoming  established,  and 
authorized  the  Executive  Committee  to  secure,  if  possible,  the 
repeal  of  the  law,  or,  at  least,  such  declaratory  amendments  as 
should  continue  the  power  of  the  Society  to  erect  buildings,  and 
to  do  all  the  other  acts  contemplated  by  its  charter.  The  com- 
mittee pressed  the  matter  upon  the  attention  of  the  Legislature, 
and  that  body,  at  its  next  session,  adopted  such  amendments  as 
seemed  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  Society. 

One  of  the  measures  which  had  long  been  contemplated  by 
the  trustees,  was  the  establishment  of  a  High  School,  or  Normal 
School,  of  elevated  character,  for  the  preparation  of  teachers ; 
and,  during  the  year  1843,  the  proposition  was  renewed,  and 
received  the  attention  of  the  board. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  same  year,  a  proposition  was  made 


SCHOOLS   FOR  ITALIANS.  529 

for  the  establishment  of  schools  for  Italians,  to  be  conducted  on 
principles  similar  to  those  of  the  schools  for  Germans.  The 
matter  was  referred  to  the  Primary  School  Committee,  who  sub- 
mitted to  the  Executive  Committee,  on  July  6th  of  that  year, 
the  following  report : 

The  Primary  School  Committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  subject  of 
opening  a  school  to  educate  exclusively  Italian  children  of  this  city, 

RESPECTFULLY  REPORT  : 

1.  The  desired  object  can  be  better  attained  by  the  attendance  of  the 
Italian  children  at  our  primary  schools ;  for  experience  proves  that  a  foreign 
language  can  be  more  readily  acquired  by  a  person  in  attending  a  school 
where  his  own  language  is  unknown,  "  necessity  "  being  the  most  speedy 
and  thorough  teacher. 

2.  In  educating  children  in  our  schools,  it  is  intended  to  give  them  hab- 
its and  feelings  adapted  to  our  institutions  and  Government ;  and  when  a 
foreigner  adopts  our  country  as  his  home,  it  is  expected  that  he  should  sub- 
scribe to  our  forms,  and  particularly  to  our  system  of  education,  which  is 
intimately  and  inseparably  connected  with  our  forms  of  government. 

3.  When  foreigners  are  in  the  habit  of  congregating  together,  they 
retain  their  peculiar  national  customs,  prejudices,  and  feelings ;  they  there- 
fore remain  much  longer  unsettled,  and  are  not  as  good  members  of  society 
as  they  would  otherwise  be.    This  is  apparent  to  all  who  are  acquainted 
with  our  German  school.     Children  attending  that  school,  as  is  well  known, 
retain  their  national  costume,  manners,  and  feelings ;  while  those  German 
children  who  mingle  promiscuously  in  other  schools,  lose  all  trace  of  nation- 
ality. 

4.  Children,  like  adults,  are  clannish.     It  is  difficult  to  conduct  a  school 
composed  of  foreigners,  with  a  foreign  teacher,  without  exciting  continual 
prejudices  between  it  and  our  other  schools. 

Finally,  information  has  been  obtained  which  induces  the  committee  to 
believe  that  the  more  intelligent  class  of  Italians  do  not  desire  such  a  school, 
and  that,  like  most  of  the  better  class  of  Germans,  they  would  prefer  that 
those  of  their  countrymen  who  come  here  with  good  intentions  should  be 
Americanized  as  speedily  as  possible.  This  result,  in  the  opinion  of  this 
committee,  will  be  most  easily  and  promptly  attained  by  the  attendance  of 
their  children  at  our  primary  schools. 

The  report  was  accepted  and  adopted,  and  the  committee  dis- 
charged from  the  further  consideration  of  the  subject. 

Inconvenience  had  arisen  from  the  fact  that  the  annual  meet- 
ings of  the  Society,  and  the  close  of  its  fiscal  year,  occurred  dur- 
ing the  month  of  May,  while  those  of  the  Board  of  Education 
corresponded  with  the  other  public  departments  of  the  city,  and 
dated  from  the  1st  of  January.  Application  having  been  made 
34 


530  '      .  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

to  the  Legislature,  the  tinge  was  changed  by  a  law  passed  on  the 
23d  of  March,  1844:.  The  time  of  the  stated  meetings  of  the 
trustees  was  also  specified  to  be  the  first  Fridays  of  January, 
April,  July,  and  October. 

During  the  year  1843,  Public  School  No.  17,  in  Thirteenth 
street,  near  the  Seventh  avenue,  was  built  upon  the  ground  pur- 
chased some  time  previously ;  and,  in  1844,  No.  18  was  estab- 
lished by  the  hiring  of  premises  for  the  two  upper  departments. 

A  new  and  very  attractive  feature  was  introduced  into  the 
schools  in  the  summer  of  this  year.  Mr.  JOSIAH  HOLBKOOK,  who 
was  zealously  devoted  to  the  introduction  of  scientific  lessons, 
had,  for  several  years,  resided  the  greater  part  of  his  time 
in  the  city,  laboring  to  promote  a  taste  for  the  natural  sciences 
among  the  children  of  the  various  schools  and  institutions. 
After  having  given  undoubted  proofs  of  the  success  of  his 
method  of  teaching  and  illustration,  the  subject  was  formally 
recognized  by  the  board,  and  one  hour  a  week  was  appropriated 
to  the  preparation  of  maps,  drawings,  specimens  of  minerals, 
geometrical  solids,  diagrams,  &c.,  for  exchange  with  the  pupils 
of  schools  in  other  cities  and  towns,  thus  stimulating  a  system 
of  artistic  and  scientific  exchange,  which  called  out  the  sympa- 
thies and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  pupils.  The  annual  report  for 
1845  makes  the  following  record  of  the  new  studies  thus  intro- 
duced : 

At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  X  HOLBROOK,  to  whose  untiring  exertions  the 
cause  of  education  ia  largely  indebted,  the  board  has  authorized  the  school 
sections  to  permit  a  limited  portion  of  time  to  be  occupied  by  the  pupils  in 
preparing  specimens  of  writing,  mapping,  and  drawing,  with  a  view  to  the 
•exchange  of  such  specimens  for  those  of  other  schools  in  this  and  the  other 
States.  It  was  thought  that  such  an  interchange  of  the  results  of  mental 
and  artistical  labor  on  the  part  of  the  children  would  excite  a  healthful 
rivalry,  and  produce  a  more  rapid  and  full  development  of  their  faculties. 
Through  the  above-named  gentleman,  numerous  specimens  of  the  kind  re- 
ferred to  were  forwarded  to  the  "  Department  of  Common  Schools,"  in  the 
office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Albany ;  and,  in  acknowledging  the 
receipt,  Mr.  Randall,  the  General  Deputy  Secretary,  has  paid  a  high  but 
well-merited  compliment  to  the  pupils  of  the  public  schools.  In  his  letter 
to  Mr.  Hoi-brook,  this  enlightened,  practical,  and  most  indefatigable  officer 
says: 

The  young  gentlemen  and  ladies  who  have  furnished  these  neat  and 
beautiful  specimens  are  entitled  to  the  approbation  not  only  of  the  depart- 
ment, but  of  every  enlightened  friend  of  education.  They  will  be  carefully 


JOSIAH   HOLBROOK.  531 

preserved  for  the  examination  and  inspection  of  the  members  of  the  Legis- 
lature, and  others  upon  whom  the  interests  of  elementary  instruction  are 
dependent  for  encouragement  and  support.  And  I  beg  to  assure  the  young 
ladies  and  gentlemen  engaged  in  these  interesting  and  improving  pursuits, 
that  their  progress  and  attainments  will  be  watched  with  the  utmost  anxiety 
and  solicitude  by  this  department,  and  by-those  having  in  charge  the  numer- 
ous public  schools  throughout  the  State ;  that  the  specimens  they  have 
already  furnished,  and  may  hereafter  furnish,  will  be  laid  before  the  general 
convention  of  superintendents  at  Syracuse,  in  April  next,  and  compared 
with  similar  specimens  from  other  parts  of  the  State  ;  and  that  in  this,  as 
in  every  other  branch  of  intellectual  science,  they  must  be  careful  above  all 
things  to  bear  in  mind  that,  whatever  attainments  they  may  make  are  to  be 
regarded  only  as  a  successive  series  of  means  for  the  improvement  of  their 
mental  and  moral  being,  their  advancement  in  sound  knowledge,  and  their 
progress  in  wisdom  and  goodness. 

In  consequence  of  the  condition  of  the  treasury  of  the  Soci- 
ety, and  a  question  as  to  how  far  the  full  development  of  this 
system  would  involve  the  board  in  expenditure,  were  a  grand 
central  school-exchange  to  be  established,  the  plan  of  Mr.  Hoi- 
brook  was  encouraged  by  the  grant  of  certain  facilities,  and  a 
room  for  his  collections  of  specimens,  but  no  considerable  ex- 
pense was  incurred.  Mr.  Holbrook  continued  his  labors  with 
great  success,  so  far  as  his  means  enabled  him,  and  visited  other 
cities  and  localities.  He  continued  his  explorations  and  collec- 
tions from  time  to  time  until  the  year  1851,  when  his  useful  and 
honorable  career  was  closed  by  a  fatal  accident,  while  he  was 
alone  upon  a  geological  tour.  On  a  visit  to  Virginia,  near 
Lynchburg,  he  went  out  in  the  pursuit  of  his  favorite  objects, 
and  was  not  again  seen  until  his  body  was  found  at  the  river's 
side,  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff.  It  was  supposed  that  he  went  too 
near  the  edge  of  the  precipice,  and  fell  from  the  brink  upon  the 
rocks  beneath.  His  death  was  much  lamented  by  thousands 
who  had  been  stimulated  to  intellectual  activity  by  his  lessons 
and  his  plans. 

The  new  system  of  ward  schools  having  been  in  operation 
about  two  years  and  a  half,  some  of  its  defects  had  become  ap- 
parent, and,  among  others,  the  want  of  uniformity  in  the  text- 
books, instruction,  and  classification.  The  report  of  January, 
1845,  contains  the  following  remarks  upon  this  dissimilarity  : 

Convinced,  by  every  year's  experience,  of  the  great  importance  to  the 
rising  generation  in  the  humble  walks  of  life,  of  uniformity  in  the  books 
used  in  the  schools,  and  in  the  course  of  instruction  adopted  in  them,  it  is  a 
matter  of  regret  to  the  board  that  a  similar  uniformity  does  not  prevail  in 
all  other  schools  for  that  class  of  our  city.  Limited,  by  their  circumstances, 


532  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

to  a  comparatively  short  period  for  the  acquisition  of  school  learning,  and 
being  eminently  migratory  in  their  character,  the  trustees  have  ever  found 
great  economy  in  time  and  mental  labor  by  maintaining  a  system  which  fur- 
nished the  same  books  and  the  same  method  of  instruction  throughout  their 
widely-spread  establishment.  With  the  industrious  poor  man,  time  is  em- 
phatically money ;  with  his  children,  so  far  as  education  is  concerned,  it  i» 
more  than  money.  Not  only  the  individual  welfare  of  the  future  citizen 
calls  loudly  for  the  profitable  occupation  of  the  brief  period  allotted  to  edu- 
cation, but  it  is  vitally  essential  to  the  best  interests  of  our  common 
country. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  board,  held  September  12,  1843, 
a  committee  of  "  one  from  each  section,  chosen  by  the  section," 
was  appointed,  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  condition  of  the 
schools.  This  committee  was  continued  from  year  to  year,  and 
presented  reports  and  recommendations  upon  the  various  topics 
which  were  suggested  by  their  investigations.  In  the  early  part 
of  1845,  they  submitted  reports,  one  of  which  related  to  corpo- 
ral punishment  in  the  schools.  The  following  resolution  was 
adopted  on  the  recommendation  of  the  committee : 

Hereafter  no  corporal  punishment,  by  blows  or  otherwise,  shall  be  in- 
flicted on  any  pupil  or  pupils  in  presence  of  the  school,  or  during  school 
hours,  but  after  the  school  is  dismissed,  and  then  in  the  presence  of  the 
assistant  or  monitors,  or  both,  with  such  number  of  large  scholars  as  may 
be  necessary  for  witnesses  in  case  of  complaint  of  any  aggrieved  party  ;  and 
in  no  case  shall  such  punishment  be  inflicted  until  after  proper  admonition, 
parental  in  its  character,  be  given,  with  a  view  of  convincing  the  delin- 
quents of  the  impropriety  of  their  conduct,  and  the  necessity  of  reforma- 
tion ;  and  no  stripes  or  blows  to  be  applied  to  the  head,  or  any  part  of  the 
body  other  than  the  back,  near  the  shoulders. 

A  proposition  to  give  a  pecuniary  reward  to  the  teacher  who 
should  successfully  conduct  his  or  her  school  without  corporal 
punishment,  was  rejected  ;  but  a  resolution  granting  a  certificate 
for  the  disuse  of  the  rod  twelve  months,  was  adopted. 

In  March,  1845,  the  "  FEMALE  ASSOCIATION  "  communicated 
to  the  board  that  they  were  prepared  to  surrender  the  rooms  in 
No.  5  which  they  had  occupied  for  their  school,  and  to  discon- 
tinue it.  The  section  of  No.  5,  and  the  Property  Committee, 
were  authorized  to  attend  to  the  transfer,  and  the  principal  sum 
devised  by  Col.  Henry  Rutgers,  on  which  the  Society  had  paid 
$45  annual  interest,  became  the  property  of  the  Society. 

During  the  month  of  May,  the  Society  was  again  bereaved 
of  its  presiding  officer,  ROBERT  C.  CORNELL  being  called  to  rest 


DEATH  OF  EGBERT  C.  CORNELL.  533 

from  his  earthly  labors.  Appropriate  resolutions  were  passed 
by  the  board,  and  the  following  "  minute "  was  entered  upon 
the  record : 

It  becomes  the  painful  duty  of  the  board  to  record  on  their  minutes  a 
notice  of  their  late  president,  ROBERT  C.  CORNELL. 

On  Tuesday,  May  20,  1845,  Mr.  Cornell  went  to  his  office  apparently  in 
good  health,  resumed  his  official  duties  -with  his  accustomed  assiduity,  and 
was  constantly  occupied  in  the  discharge  of  those  duties  until  half-past  2 
p.  K.,  when  he  became  suddenly  indisposed,  was  assisted  to  a  carriage,  and 
conveyed  to  his  residence,  where,  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  he  departed 
this  life  at  about  half-past  7  o'clock  of  the  same  day.  Thus  it  may  be  said 
of  him,  with  almost  literal  accuracy,  that,  like  the  grass,  he  passed  away. 
"  In  the  morning  they  are  like  grass  which  groweth  up.  In  the  morning  it 
flourisheth,  and  groweth  up ;  in  the  evening  it  is  cut  down,  and  withereth." 

He  was  educated  in  this  city  to  mercantile  pursuits,  and,  by  a  diligent 
attention  to  them  for  a  number  of  years,  acquired  what  he  deemed  a  compe- 
tent fortune,  and  was  influenced  to  retire  from  business,  not  for  the  purpose 
of  self-indulgence,  or  to  wear  out  a  life  then  in  its  prime  in  indolence,  under 
the  name  of  repose,  but  in  order  to  devote  his  time,  his  talents,  and  his 
laborious  exertions  to  the  cause  of  benevolence. 

In  this  laudable  occupation  he  had  been  almost  entirely  engaged  for  a 
number  of  years,  when,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  this  board,  he  became 
its  presiding  officer. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  record  the  eulogy  of  his  character  as  a  citizen  or 
a  philanthropist ;  other  institutions,  and  the  community  in  which  he  lived, 
and  which  he  adorned,  will  not  fail,  in  grateful  remembrance  of  his  services, 
to  perform  this  service.  But  the  board  unanimously  and  cheerfully  bear  tes- 
timony that,  in  their  intercourse  with  their  late  president,  they  have  found 
him,  in  personal  disposition  and  bearing,  amiable,  courteous,  obliging,  and 
gentlemanly ;  as  a  "  man  of  business,"  cleaT-headed,  sagacious,  and  intelli- 
gent, possessing  habits  of  exact  punctuality,  accuracy,  industry,  and  never- 
tiring  perseverance.  Every  piece  of  business  in  which  he  engaged  seemed 
to  claim  his  undivided  attention  until  it  was  acomplished ;  and  he  never  left 
any  business  for  to-morrow  which  could  be  done  to-day  ;  and,  above  all,  he 
was  a  man  of  truth  and  integrity,  and  perfectly  fearless  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duties. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  board  in  May,  1844,  Mr.  John  R.  Hurd 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  #n  important  location  for  a  school 
remained  unoccupied,  in  the  vicinity  of  Forty-second  street  and 
the  Sixth  avenue.  Messrs.  Peter  Cooper,  John  E.  Hurd,  and 
William  Dusenberry  were  appointed  a  committee  to  select  a 
location.  Messrs.  J.  S.  Howe,  H.  S.  Benedict,  and  William 
Dusenberry  were  named  as  a  "  section  "  to  take  charge  of  the 
school  when  it  should  be  opened.  In  May,  1845,  the  Committee 


534  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

on  Locations  reported  in  favor  of  four  lots  in  Forty-seventh 
street,  between  the  Eighth  and  Ninth  avenues,  which  were 
directed  to  be  purchased,  at  the  price  of  $1,900.  The  erection 
of  a  building  was  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee.  The 
house  was  built,  and  known  as  No.  18. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Society,  January  12,  1846,  the 
office  of  president,  which  had  been  filled  by  George  T.  Trimble 
pro  tempore,  was  assigned  to  LINDLEY  MURRAY,  who  discharged 
the  duties  of  presiding  officer  only  two  years. 

In  April,  a  communication  was  received  from  the  Board  of 
Education,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  certain  teachers  of  the 
Fourteenth  "Ward  schools  were  refused  admission  to  the  Normal 
Schools  of  the  Society,  although  they  were  entitled  to  the  privi- 
lege by  the  recent  amendments  to  the  school  law.  Messrs.  A. 
P.  Halsey,  John  T.  Adams,  John  R.  Hurd,  James  N.  Cobb, 
Peter  Cooper,  and  Joseph  B.  Collins,  were  appointed  a  commit- 
tee to  confer  with  the  representatives  of  the  Board  of  Education. 
The  following  resolution  was  referred  to  the  same*  committee : 

Whereas,  By  the  act  of  the  Legislature  of  New  York  passed  the  18th 
day  of  April,  1843,  power  is  granted  to  the  New  York  Public  School  Soci- 
ety to  establish  Normal  Schools  ;  and, 

Whereas,  By  the  act  of  said  Legislature,  passed  the  7th  day  of  May, 
1844,  said  power  is  distinctly  recognized,  and  said  Normal  Schools  are  in- 
cluded among  the  number  entitled  to  draw  money  from  the  public  treasury 
for  their  support,  on  condition  of  such  schools  affording  instructions  to  all 
such  pupils  as  may  be  intended  for  teachers  in  any  schools  established  under 
the  acts  aforesaid  ;  therefore,  . 

Resolved,  That  it  is  expedient  and  proper  for  this  board  to  proceed  forth- 
with to  establish  such  Normal  School  or  schools  as  may  be  suited  to  the  pur- 
poses named  in  said  "  act "  of  May  7,  1844,  to  be  kept  open  five  days  in 
each  week,  and  to  be  placed  under  such  supervision,  and  to  be  conducted 
under  such  rules  and  regulations,  as  this  board  may  from  time  to  time 
direct. 

The  Normal  Schools  were  freely  opened  to  the  teachers  of  the 
ward  schools,  and  so  continued  until  the  adoption  of  the  system 
by  the  Board  of  Education,  when  they  were  much  extended  and 
improved. 

A  controversy  arose,  in  the  month  of  February  of  this  year, 
between  the  Society  and  the  Board  of  Education,  as  to  the 
power  of  the  Society  to  erect  new  buildings  and  open  new 
schools,  under  the  provisions  of  the  amended  law  of  1844.  The 


POWERS   OF  THE   SOCIETY.  535 

question  originated  in  the  Board  of  Education,  by  a  preamble 
and  resolution,  offered  on  the  llth  of  February,  by  Mr.  Henry 
Nicoll,  commissioner  of  the  First  Ward,  as  follows  : 

Whereat,  It  is  expedient  for  this  board  to  have  more  particular  informa- 
tion in  relation  to  several  matters  than  ia  contained  in  the  report  of  the 
Public  School  Society,  made  on  the  llth  instant ;  be  it  therefore 

Resolved,  That  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  be,  and  they  are 
hereby,  requested  to  report  to  this  board  the  number  of  new  school-houses 
erected  by  the  said  Society  since  the  7th  day  of  May,  1844,  as  well  as  those 
now  in  the  course  of  erection,  with  all  grounds  purchased  for  school  pur- 
poses, with  the  character,  location,  and  cost  of  the  same ;  and  that  they  also 
report  to  this  board  whether  the  title  to  any  of  the  said  school-houses  or 
grounds  has  been  vested  in  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  of  the 
city  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  one  of  the  commissioners  for  the 
Twelfth  Ward,  offered  the  following  resolution,  which  was  like- 
wise adopted : 
• 

Resolved,  That  the  Public  School  Society  be  also  requested  to  furnish 
this  board  with  the  date  of  organization  and  location  of  schools  under  their 
care,  established  since  the  31st  of  January,  1845. 

On  the  8th  of  April,  the  reply  of  the  Society  was  transmit- 
ted to  the  board  by  Joseph  B.  Collins,  the  secretary,  which  was 
laid  on  the  table  for  further  consideration  ;  and,  on  June  10th, 
the  subject  being  renewed,  it  was  referred  to  a  special  commit- 
tee, consisting  of  Messrs.  Robert  F.  Winslow,  of  the  Eleventh 
Ward,  John  M.  Seaman,  of  the  Seventeenth  Ward,  and  John  L. 
Mason,  of  the  Fifteenth  Ward.  On  the  20th  of  January,  1847. 
the  committee  submitted  their  report  adverse  to  the  right  of  the 
Public  School  Society  to  "  establish  any  new  school  "  under  the 
amended  law  of  May  7,  1844.  The  facts  and  reasonings  of  the 
report  came  up  subsequently  on  the  adoption  of  the  report,  and 
were  presented  by  able  counsel  for  both  parties,  whose  argu- 
ments are  given  below.  The  recommendations  of  the  committee 
were  the  following : 

1.  Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Board  of  Education,  the  Public 
School  Society  has  no  right,  since  the  passage  of  the  act  entitled  "  An  Act 
more  Effectually  to  Provide  for  Common  School  Education  in  the  City  and 
County  of  New  York,"  passed  May  7,  1844,  to  establish  any  new  school ; 
and  that,  if  any  such  schools  have  been  or  may  be  established,  they  are  not 
entitled  to  participate  in  the  apportionment  of  the  school  moneys. 


536  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

2.  ResoheJ,  That  the  Public  School  Society  be  required  to  specify,  in 
their  annual  returns  of  scholars  to  be  made  to  this  board,  for  the  apportion- 
ment of  the  school  moneys,  the  number  of  scholars  who  have  attended  and 
are  connected  with  any  schools  established  by  them  since  May  7, 1844. 

3.  Resolved,  That  the  said  trustees  be  required,  in  their  annual  reports  of 
moneys  received  and  disbursed  by  them  for  the  support  of  their  schools,  to 
specify  how  much  has  been  expended  for  the  support  of  any  schools  estab- 
lished by  them  since  May  7,  1844,  including  in  such  expenses  not  only  the 
salaries  of  their  teachers,  but  also  the  prices,  if  any,  paid  for  the  rent  of 
buildings  or  lots,  or  in  the  purchase  of  lots  and  erection  of  buildings,  or  in 
the  payment  of  interest  on  moneys  expended  for  that  purpose. 

The  report  was  laid  on  the  table,  and  ordered  to  be  printed ; 
and,  on  the  10th  of  March,  the  president  laid  before  the  Board 
of  Education  a  communication  from  the  president  of  the  Public 
School  Society,  asking  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  before  the 
board  before  any  action  should  be  had  on  the  report  of  the  Spe- 
cial Committee.  On  the  reading  of  this  communication,  Mr. 
Nicoll  offered  a  resolution  ordering  a  special  meeting  of  the 
board  on  the  following  Wednesday,  March  17,  ior  the  purpose 
of  hearing  the  Public  School  Society  by  their  committee.  The 
board  accordingly  met,  and  UIKAM  KETCIIUM,  Esq.,  on  behalf  of 
the  Society,  made  the  following  remarks  : 

MB.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  :  By  a 
report  of  a  committee  of  your  board,  dated  January  20,  1847,  the  following 
resolution  is  recommended  to  your  adoption  : 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Board  of  Education,  the  Public 
School  Society  has  no  right,  since  the  passage  of  the  act  entitled  "  An  Act' 
more  Effectually  to  Provide  for  Common  School  Education  in  the  City  and 
County  of  New  York,"  passed  May  7,  1844,  to  establish  any  new  school ; 
and  that,  if  any  such  schools  have  been  or  may  be  established,  they  are  not 
entitled  to  a  participation  in  the  apportionment  of  the  school  moneys. 

It  is  quite  natural  that  the  Public  School  Society  should  feel  a  deep 
interest  in  the  deliberations  and  final  action  of  your  board  upon  this  resolu- 
tion. The  Society  has,  therefore,  respectfully  requested  your  board  to  allow 
an  expression  of  their  views,  which  request  has  been  kindly  and  promptly 
granted ;  and  therefore,  on  behalf  of  the  Society,  I  now  appear  to  solicit 
your  attention  for  a  few  moments. 

The  Board  of  Education  is  entrusted  with  the  school  fund,  for  distribu- 
tion in  the  mode  pointed  out  by  law.  The  Public  School  Society  is  entitled 
to  a  portion  of  this  fund,  and  the  great  practical  question  is,  By  what  rule 
shall  the  amount  be  ascertained  which  the  Society  is  entitled  to  receive  ? 
Shall  the  Society  draw  from  this  fund  according  to  the  number  of  children 
over  four  and  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  who  shall  have  actually  attended 
the  schools  of  the  Society  the  preceding  year  without  charge  ?  or  shall  it 


SPEECH   OF    HIRAM    KETCHTJM.  537 

draw  only  for  the  children  of  the  above  description  taught  in  such  of  those 
schools  as  -were  established  on  or  before  the  7th  day  of  May,  1844 — the  date 
of  the  act — and  were  in  existence  at  that  time  ?  Confessedly  there  have 
been  schools  opened  and  established  by  the  Society  since  the  passage  of  the 
act,  in  which  children  have  been  gratuitously  educated.  Are  these  schools 
entitled  to  a  participation  in  the  fund  ? 

The  answer  to  these  questions  must  be  looked  for  in  the  law  itself.  That 
law  contains  the  declaration  of  trust  under  which  the  Board  of  Education 
receives  the  money.  The  law  provides  the  rule  of  duty  as  well  for  this 
board  as  for  the  Public  School  Society. 

To  the  law,  then,  let  us  look.  The  12th  section  of  the  act  of  1844  says : 
"  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Board  of  Education  to  apportion  all  the  school 
moneys,  except  so  much  as  shall  have  been  raised  for  the  purpose  of  estab- 
lishing and  organizing  new  schools,  to  each  of  the  several  schools  provided 
for  by  this  ^ct  and  the  acts  mentioned  in  the  preceding  section,  according  to 
the  number  of  children  over  four  and  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  who  shall 
have  actually  attended  such  school  without  charge  the  preceding  year." 

Among  the  schools  provided  for  by  the  act  are  those  of  the  Public 
School  Society.  The  exception  quoted,  of  so  much  money  "  as  shall  have 
been  raised  for  the  establishing  and  organizing  new  schools,"  refers  to  the 
money  raised  under  the  act  for  the  special  purpose  of  building  school- 
houses,  which  is  a  distinct  fund  from  the  school  fund  proper.  The  12th  sec- 
tion further  provides  for  any  school  that  shall  have  been  organized  since  the 
last  annual  apportionment.  The  provision  is  for  any  school.  Then  comes 
the  exception  :  "  But  no  school  shall  be  entitled  to  the  portion  of  the  school 
moneys  in  which  the  doctrine  or  tenets  of  any  Christian  sect  shall  be 
taught,"  &c. 

Now,  the  Legislature  have  prescribed  who  shall  not  receive  from  the 
school  fund ;  and,  according  to  every  sound  rule  of  construction,  it  is  not 
competent  for  any  persons  acting  under  the  law  to  add  to  the  negative  ex- 
ception. The  general  words  of  the  law  embrace  all  children  taught  in  the 
schools  within  the  prescribed  ages.  The  exception  excludes  children  taught 
in  schools  where  sectarian  doctrines  are  inculcated.  None  others  can  be  ex- 
eluded.  Therefore,  children  educated  in  the  schools  opened  since  the  pas- 
sage of  the  act  of  May,  1844,  cannot  be  excluded. 

But  how  shall  the  Board  of  Education  be  informed  of  the  number  of 
scholars  taught  in  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  ?  The  36th  sec- 
tion of  the  act  provides  for  the  transmission  of  this  information.  "  The 
trustees  shall,  on  or  before  the  15th  day  of  February  in  every  year,  make 
and  transmit  a  report  in  writing  to  the  Board  of  Education."  What  infor- 
mation shall  it  contain  2  The  same  section  furnishes  the  answer. 

1.  The  whole  number  of  schools  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Society — 
specially  designating  the  schools  for  colored  children. 

This  certainly  means,  within  the  jurisdiction  at  the  time  of  the  report, 
and  not  at  the  date  of  the  passage  of  the  act. 

2.  The  length  of  time  each  school  shall  have  been  kept  open. 

3.  The  whole  number  of  scholars  over  four  and  under  sixteen  years  of 


538  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

age,  which  shall  have  been  taught  free  of  expense  to  such  scholars  in  their 
schools  during  the  year  preceding  the  1st  day  of  February. 

4.  The  average  number  that  has  actually  attended  their  schools. 

5.  The  amount  of  moneys  received  during  the  last  year  from  the  com- 
missioners of  school  money,  or  from  the   chamberlain   of   the   city,  and 
the  purposes  for  and  the  manner  in  which  the  same  shall  have  been  ex- 
pended. 

6.  A  particular  account  of  the  state  of  the  schools,  and  of  the  property 
and  affairs  of  each  school  under  the  care  of  the  Society. 

Now,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  trustees  of  each  ward,  and  the  trustees  of 
the  Public  School  Society,  are  alike  bound  to  report  the  number  of  schools 
within  their  jurisdiction,  and  the  condition  of  the  schools  at  the  time  of 
making  their  reports. 

Then,  if.  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  opened  and  estab- 
lished since  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1844,  are  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Society,  it  would  seem  to  follow,  conclusively,  that  these  schools  are  entitled 
to  participate  in  the  school  moneys.  If  they  are  not  within  such  jurisdic- 
tion, it  follows  not  only  that  they  are  not  entitled  to  participate,  but  that 
the  trustees  of  the  Society,  in  reporting  the  new  schools  and  claiming  a  por- 
tion of  the  school  fund,  have  subjected  themselves  to  a  penalty  under  sec- 
tion 37. 

The  next  inquiry  is,  whether  the  schools  established  by  the  Public 
School  Society  since  the  7th  of  May,  1844,  are  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Society.  If  they  are  not,  the  Society  has  no  legal  title  to  them  or  control 
over  them.  Those  who  deny  this  jurisdiction,  deny  it  on  the  ground  that 
the  Society  has  no  right  to  establish  such  schools.  Let  us  look  at  the  ques- 
tion of  right. 

What  is  now  the  Public  School  Society,  was,  originally,  incorporated  as 
"  The  Society  for  Establishing  a  Free  School  in  the  City  of  New  York,  for 
the  education  of  such  poor  children  as  do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  provided 
for  by,  any  religious  society."  By  the  2d  section  of  this  act,  passed  April 
9,  1805,  the  trustees  of  the  corporation  were  authorized  to  establish  two  or 
more  free  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York,  whenever  the  Society  might 
judge  it  expedient.  Here,  then,  we  have  a  purely  benevolent  Society  organ- 
ized and  incorporated.  Here  is  the  Society,  disconnected  from  any  grant  of 
money,  from  the  school  fund,  or  any  other  public  fund,  operating  actively 
with  the  means  supplied  by  its  members  and  private  contributions. 

Thus  existing,  it  had  a  right  by  law — the  law  of  its  creation  —to  build 
as  many  school-houses  and  open  as  many  schools  as  it  pleased.  Now,  with 
great  respect,  I  inquire,  When  was  this  original  corporate  right  ever  taken 
from  the  Society  ?  While  I  am  on  this  original  act,  allow  me  to  make  an- 
other suggestion.  The  Public  School  Society  is  called,  in  the  report  of  the 
committee,  "  a  close  corporation."  The  6th  section  of  the  original  act 
enacts  that  the  Mayor,  Recorder,  Aldermen,  and  Assistants  of  the  city  of 
New  York  shall  and  may  be  ex-officio  members  of  said  corporation,  and  that 
any  person  who  shall  subscribe  and  contribute  to  the  benefit  of  the  said 
Society  the  sum  of  eight  dollars,  shall,  by  virtue  of  such  contribution,  be  a 


SPEECH   OF  HIRAM   KETCHUM.  539 

member  of  the  said  corporation.  Is  that  a  close  corporation  ?  Show  me 
one  more  open. 

By  an  "  Act  for  the  Encouragement  of  Free  Schools  in  the  City  of  New 
York,"  passed  July  27,  1807,  there  was  granted  by  the  Legislature  to  this 
Society  the  sum  of  $4,000,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  certain  building  or 
buildings  for  the  instruction  of  poor  children ;  and  every  year  thereafter, 
until  the  pleasure  of  the  Legislature  should  be  otherwise  expressed,  an  annu- 
ity of  §1,000  was  granted  to  the  Society,  "  for  promoting  the  benevolent 
objects  of  said  corporation." 

In  1808,  th»  title  of  the  corporation  was  changed  to  that  of  the  "  Free- 
School  Society  of  New  York,"  and  its  powers  were  extended  "  to  all  chil- 
dren the  proper  objects  of  a  gratuitous  education." 

Farther  grants  to  the  Society,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  suitable  accom- 
modations for  the  instruction  of  poor  children,  were  afterward  made  by  the 
Legislature.  So  that  the  Legislature  not  only  gave  the  power  to  build,  but 
the  means  to  execute  the  power.  One  of  the  grants  of  means  is  contained 
in  the  3d  section  of  the  act  of  5th  April,  1817,  which  allows  the  Society  to 
appropriate  any  surplus  school  money,  after  the  payment  of  teachers,  &c., 
to  the  erection  of  buildings  for  schools.  By  the  act  of  28th  April,  1826,  the 
title  of  the  Society  is  again  altered  to  that  of  "  The  Public  School  Society 
of  the  City  of  New  York,"  and  the  power  is  again  conferred  on  the  trustees 
"  from  time  to  time  to  establish  in  said  city  such  additional  schools  as  they 
may  deem  expedient." 

From  this  recital,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  power  to  build  school-houses 
and  establish  additional  schools  was  always  possessed  by  the  Public  School 
Society,  and  is  still  possessed,  unless  the  power  is  taken  away,  as  contended, 
by  the  act  of  1844. 

Here  let  it  be  remembered,  that  this  right  is  a  chartered  right,  originally 
granted,  and  subsequently  confirmed.  For  the  means  to  purchase  ground 
and  build  school-houses,  the  Society  is,  and  ever  has  been,  dependent  upon 
private  or  public  bounty.  The  exercise  of  the  right  to  build  assumes 
the  possession  of  the  means  to  do  so.  Now,  supposing  the  means  are  in 
hand,  cannot  the  Society  employ  those  means  in  the  erection  of  new  school- 
houses  ? 

It  will  be  observed  that  I  am  not  now  upon  the  question  whether  or  not 
the  Legislature  has  furnished  the  means  to  build — that  will  be  considered  in 
another  place — but  whether  this  body  has  taken  away  the  power  to  build  ? 
Has  not  the  Society  the  same  power  in  this  respect  that  it  had  when  the 
original  act  was  passed  ? 

It  is  admitted,  in  the  report  of  the  committee,  that  the  section  of  the  act 
of  1826,  authorizing  the  Society  to  establish  such  additional  schools  as  it 
might  deem  expedient,  is  now  in  full  force,  unless  it  is  repealed  by  the  50th 
section  of  the' act  of  1844.  This  same  admission  might  also  be  extended  to 
the  2d  section  of  the  original  charter,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  gives  the 
trustees  power  to  establish  two  or  more  free  schools  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  The  "  50th  section  of  the  act  of  1844  repeals  the  acts  of  1842  and 
1843,"  and  all  other  acts  specially  applicable  to  public  or  common  schools 


54:0  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

in  the  city  and  county  of  New  York,  as  far  as  the  same  are  inconsistent  with 
the  provisions  of  this  act. 

The  argument  is,  that  the  power  to  establish  new  schools,  in  the  Public 
School  Society,  is  inconsistent  with  the  act  of  1844,  and  is,  therefore,  re- 
pealed. Admitting,  for  the  present,  that  the  Legislature  could,  in  this  man- 
ner, without  the  notice  required  by  the  statute,  divest  a  corporation  of  a 
chartered  right,  the  first  question  is,  Did  the  Legislature  regard  the  power 
to  establish  new  schools  as  inconsistent  with  the  act  of  1844  ? 

The  committee  say  it  appears  to  them,  "  from  an  examination  of  the  act 
of  1844,  in  connection  with  the  act  of  1842,  that  the  Legislature  intended 
to  vest  the  power  of  establishing  new  schools  exclusively  in  the  school  offi- 
cers named  in  these  acts." 

"  The  first  section  of  the  act  of  1842,"  say  the  committee,  "  provides  for 
the  election  of  Commissioners,  inspectors,  and  trustees  of  schools  in  the  sev- 
eral wards  of  the  city,  and  declares  that  these  officers  respectively  shall  have 
the  like  powers,  and  be  subject  to  the  same  duties,  with  the  commissioners 
and  inspectors  of  common  schools,  and  the  trustees  of  school  districts  in  the 
several  towns  of  the  State,  except  as  thereinafter  provided. 

"  Now,  by  reference  to  the  powers  and  duties  of  commissioners,  inspec- 
tors, and  trustee's  of  common  schools  in  the  several  towns  of  the  State,  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  whole  power  of  establishing  common  schools,  and  the 
whole  charge  of  them,  is  vested  in  these  officers,  and  in  them  exclusively." 

That  is  to  say,  the  common  school  system  of  the  State  takes  in  all  the 
children,  in  every  district.  Therefore,  when  that  system  is  extended  to  the 
city  of  New  York,  as  it  was  by  the  act  of  1842,  it  is  equally  comprehensive 
here — it  embraces  all  the  children  of  the  city.  I  mean  to  state  the  argument 
correctly. 

Now,  I  wonder  that  the  learned  committee  did  not  see  that  their  argu- 
ment proved  too  much.  For,  if  this  argument  be  sound,  the  very  existence 
of  the  Public  School  Society,  all  its  chartered  rights,  are  inconsistent  with 
the  new  system,  upon  the  reasoning  employed.  But  did  the  Legislature  so 
regard  it  ?  No ;  for  this  very  act  of  1842  puts  the  schools  of  the  Public 
School  Society  "  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  commissioners  of  the  respec- 
tive wards  in  which  any  of  the  said  schools  now  are,  or  hereafter  may  be, 
located,  subject  to  the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Education,  but  under  the 
immediate  government  and  management  of  their  respective  trustees,  man- 
agers, and  directors,  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  herein 
provided  in  respect  to  the  district  schools  herein  first  before  mentioned,  in 
said  city  and  county,"  &c.  Here,  then,  the  act  of  1842  expressly  provides 
for  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  thereafter  to  be  located.  Such  new 
erections  were  not  at  that  time  regarded  as  inconsistent  with  the  extension 
of  the  common  school  system  of  the  State  to  the  city  of  New  York. 

The  7th  section  of  this  act  provides  for  the  organization  of  schools  under 
the  new  system,  and  provides  that  none  such  shall  be  organized  unless  it 
can  be  certified  Ci  that  it  is  necessary  to  organize  one  or  more  schools  in  said 
ward,  in  addition  to  the  schools  mentioned  in  the  13th  section  ; "  that  is,  in 
addition  to  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  then  or  thereafter  to  be 


SPEECH   OF   I1IEAM    ZETCHUM.  541 

located  in  the  respective  wards.  The  act,  however,  did  not,  in  express 
terms,  provide  any  means  for  the  erection  of  any  new  buildings  by  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society.  This  omission  was  evidently  undesigned ;  for,  in  the 
amendment  of  the  act,  in  1843,  it  is  provided  that  "  the  trustees  of  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  may  appropriate  all  moneys  received  by  them  by  virtue 
of  the  act,  to  any  of  the  purposes  of  common  school  instruction,  including 
the  support  of  normal  schools,"  which  they  were  authorized  by  law  to  do 
before  the  passage  of  this  act ;  provided  always,  that  the  fee  of  all  real 
estate  purchased  under  the  act  "  shall  vest  in  the  city  and  county  of  New 
York." 

Consequently,  then,  the  new  system  introduced  by  the  act  of  1842  was 
not  deemed  by  the  Legislature  inconsistent  with  the  establishment  of  new 
schools  by  the  Public  School  Society.  Nor  was  it  so  deemed  when  the 
amended  act  of  1843  was  passed. 

Did  the  Legislature  of  1844  mean  to  say  the  establishment  of  new 
schools  by  the  Public  School  Society  was  inconsistent  with  the  provisions 
of  the  act  passed  by  that  body  ?  It  is  said  this  power  was  granted  exclu- 
sively to  the  school  officers  named  in  the  act.  By  the  8th  section  of  this 
act,  before  the  organization  of  any  new  ward  school,  it  must  appear  that  an 
additional  school  is  necessary ;  that  is,  additional  to  the  schools  already 
organized.  If  there  are  a  sufficient  number  of  public  schools  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  contemplated  organization,  then  no  additional  school  shall 
be  organized.  The  power,  then,  of  the  Public  School  Society  to  open  new 
schools,  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  power  of  the  ward  officers  to  organize 
additional  schools.  If  it  were  true,  as  a  fact,  that  the  new  system  must 
necessarily  occupy  the  whole  ground  of  common  school  education,  then,  of 
course,  the  power  to  build  new  school-houses  must  be  exclusive  ;  but  this  is 
not  true  as  a  fact ;  the  new  system  occupfes  not  the  whole,  but  additional 
ground.  Now,  the  question  comes,  Additional  to  what  ?  I  answer,  Addi- 
tional to  the  schools,  among  others,  of  the  Public  School  Society — a  corpo- 
ration having  schools,  and  possessing  a  chartered  right  to  establish  new 
schools. 

But  the  committee  describe  the  mode  pointed  out  by  the  8th  section  of 
the  act  of  1844  for  the  organization  of  a  new  school,  and  say :  "  In  order, 
then,  to  establish  a  new  school,  a  majority  of  the  school  officers  of  the  ward 
must,  in  the  first  instance,  determine  that  it  is  needed ;  and  then  they  must 
apply  to  the  Board  of  Education,  stating  the  reasons  of  their  application ; 
and  the  Board  of  Education  must  investigate  the  matter,  and  grant  or  deny 
the  application,  as  they  may  deem  best."  • 

"  Surely,"  say  the  committee,  "  such  careful  provisions  in  regard  to  the 
establishment  of  new  schools  is  entirely  inconsistent  with  the  idea  that  the 
same  power  is  concurrently  given  to  a  close  corporation,  with  no  responsi- 
bility as  to  the  manner  of  its  exercise." 

Why  are  these  careful  provisions  prescribed  in  the  act  ?  Because  the 
money  is  to  be  raised  by  a  special  tax,  imposed  upon  all  the  property  of  the 
city,  for  the  express  purpose  of  buying  the  land  and  erecting  the  school- 
house.  This  tax  is  imposed,  in  effect,  by  the  very  men  who  make  the  scru- 


542  THE  PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

tiny.  The  formalities,  therefore,  are  required  to  determine  the  question,  Is 
the  high  and  extremely  delicate  function  of  government,  the  imposition  of 
a  tax,  to  be  exercised  ?  But  if  the  Public  School  Society  have  the,  money, 
derived  from  private  or  public  bounty,  what  objection  can  the  Legislature 
have  to  its  appropriation  in  the  organization  of  a  new  school  ?  especially  as 
such  organization  may  prevent  the  necessity  of  laying  a  tax  to  erect  an 
additional  school.  Such  appropriation  is  not,  certainly,  inconsistent  with 
the  power  vested  by  law  in  the  ward  officers  to  organize  additional  schools. 

That  the  intention  was  to  provide  for  the  establishment  of  additional 
schools  only,  is  obvious  enough  from  the  reading  of  the  statute ;  but,  beyond 
this,  the  contemporaneous  history  of  the  school  controversy  exemplifies  the 
same  truth.  The  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  were  always  the 
favorites  of  the  commissioners  of  school  money,  of  the  Corporation  of  the 
city,  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  and  of  the  public  at  large. 

There  were  never  any  complaints  made  against  this  Society  for  infidelity 
in  the  expenditure  of  the  many  thousands  of  dollars  entrusted  to  it.  There 
were  never  any  allegations  that  it  did  not  furnish  a  good  and  an  economical 
education  to  the  many  thousand  children  instructed  in  its  school?.  Every 
investigation  made — and  there  were  many — showed  that  the  management, 
order,  and  discipline  of  the  public  schools  in  the  city  were  far  preferable  to 
those  of  country  schools.  The  Legislature  never  meant  to  say  or  do  any 
thing  indicating  an  unfriendly  feeling  to  the  Public  School  Society.  There 
were  no  facts  to  authorize  such  feelings ;  but  it  did  come  out,  in  the  investi- 
gations made  by  the  Legislature,  that  there  were  many  children  in  the  city 
of  New  York  who,  from  prejudice  or  some  other  cause,  did  not  receive  the 
advantages  which  the  Society  proffered.  The  new  system  was  therefore 
enacted,  not  to  destroy  the  old  schools  or  retard  the  operations  of  the  Soci- 
ety, but  to  provide  additional  schools,  which  should  take  up  the  scholars 
whom  the  Society  could  not  or  did  not  reach. 

Thus  the  two  systems  were  intended — and  wisely  so — to  operate  side  by 
side,  under  the  supervision  of  this  board. 

And  now  let  us  ask,  Does  not  experience  show  that  the  two  systems  mu- 
tually stimulate  each  other,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  pupils  instructed 
in  the  schools  ?  I  am  informed  that  the  public  schools  were  never  better 
attended,  and  were  never  more  useful ;  and  it  will,  I  am  sure,  be  admitted, 
that  the  ward  schools  have  been  greatly  aided  by  the  example  of  the  public 
schools. 

It  is  thus  apparent  that  the  Legislature  did  not  intend  to  repeal  the  clear 
chartered  right  of  the  Society  to  multiply  the  number  of  its  schools. 

Having  shown  that  the  Legislature  never  regarded  the  right  of  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  to  open  new  schools  as  inconsistent  with  the  provisions 
of  the  act  of  May,  1844,  and  therefore  that  there  never  was  an  intention  to 
repeal  the  portions  of  the  charter  conferring  this  right,  the  next  question  is, 
Could  the  Legislature,  if  it  had  been  so  disposed,  repeal  the  charter  ? 

The  report  of  the  committee,  in  discussing  this  point,  refers  to  the  case 
of  McLaren  «».  Pennington,  1  Paige's  Reports,  107. 

The  following  is  a  pait  of  the  marginal  note  in  this  case : 


SPEECH   OF   HIRAM  KETCHTJM.  543 

The  privileges  and  franchises  granted  to  a  private  corporation  are  vested 
rights,  and  cannot  be  divested  or  altered,  except  with  the  consent  of  the 
corporation,  or  by  a  forfeiture  declared  by  a  proper  tribunal. 

A  State  cannot  pass  any  law  which  alters  or  amends  the  charter  of  a  pri- 
vate corporation,  without  the  consent  of  such  corporation. 

"  Yet,"  the  committee  say,  "  it  is  a  principle  equally  well  settled,  that 
public  corporations,  or  those  whose  powers  are  a  public  trust,  to  be  executed 
for  the  common  weal,  are  entirely  within  the  control  of  the  Legislature ; 
that  these  powers  are  not  vested  rights  as  against  the  State,  but  that  they 
may  be  abrogated  as  well  by  a  general  law  affecting  the  whole  State,  as  by 
a  special  act  altering  the  powers  of  the  corporation."  In  support  of  this 
principle,  reference  is  made  to  the  case  of  The  People  vs.  Morris,  13  Wend., 
325,  331. 

This  was  a  case  of  alleged  interference  with  rights  granted  in  the  char- 
ter to  the  village  of  Ogdensburgh,  St.  Lawrence  county.  The  defendant 
was  indicted  for  selling  spirituous  liquors  and  permitting  the  same  to  be 
drunk  in  his  grocery  store,  without  having  obtained  a  license  as  a  tavern- 
keeper.  He  admitted  the  sale  of  liquor,  &c.,  but  justified,  under  a  license 
from  the  trustees  of  the  village,  to  "  keep  a  grocery  and  victualling  house 
in  the  village,  in  which  to  sell  fruit,  victuals,  and  liquor."  The  act  of  in- 
corporation of  the  village  authorized  the  trustees  "  to  regulate  and  license 
grocers  and  keepers  of  victualling-houses  and  ordinaries,  where  fruit, 
victuals,  and  liquor  shall  be  sold  to  be  eaten  or  drunk  in  such  houses  or  gro- 
ceries." Under  this  authority,  a  license  was  granted  to  defendant,  and  paid 
for  by  him. 

The  Supreme  Court  did  not  sustain  the  justification  of  the  defendant 
under  the  village  license,  and  they  put  themselves  upon  the  ground  that 
political  power,  conferred  by  the  Legislature,  could  not  become  a  vested 
right  as  against  the  Government,  in  any  individual  or  body  of  men. 

Then  the  question  is,  Is  the  right  to  educate  children,  granted  by  the  act 
of  1805  and  confirmed  by  the  act  of  1826,  political  power,  within  the  sense 
of  this  decision  ?  If  it  be,  it  would  seem  to  follow  that  the  powers  of  our 
colleges  and  universities,  granted  by  charter,  which  are  powers  to  educate, 
are  political  powers,  and  not  the  subjects  of  private  right.  Yet  we  see  that 
a  very  different  doctrine  was  held  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  great  case  of  Dartmouth  College  vs.  Woodward,  4  Wheaton, 
518.  In  that  case,  there  was  a  charter  granted  by  the  British  crown  to  the 
trustees  of  Dartmouth  College.  An  act  of  the  Legislature  of  New  Hamp- 
shire was  passed,  altering  the  charter  in  a  material  respect,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  corporation.  This  act  was  declared  to  be  unconstitutional  and 
void.  This  case,  I  contend,  is  analogous  to  the  one  now  under  considera- 
tion. The  powers  granted  to  the  Public  School  Society  are  not  political 
powers. 

I  have  considered  this  point  because  I  have  been  called  to  it  i>y  the  posi- 
tion taken  by  the  committee,  and  have  thus  been  led  to  the  discussion  of  the 
legal  rights  of  the  Society  ;  not  that  I  suppose  the  time  will  ever  come  when 
there  will  be  a  disposition  to  exercise  these  rights  in  opposition  to  the  will 


544  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

of  the  Legislature.  The  Society  would  probably  shrink  from  a  conflict  with 
the  Legislature. 

It  is  thus  manifest  that  the  Public  School  Society  has  a  chartered  right 
to  build  school-houses  and  open  schools  ;  that  it  was  never  the  intention  of 
the  Legislature  to  take  away  or  interfere  with  that  right ;  and  that  it  had 
no  right  to  take  away  such  chartered  right  without  the  consent  of  the  Soci- 
ety— which  consent  has  never  been  given. 

Then  the  proposition  of  the  committee,  that  the  Public  School  Society, 
since  the  act  of  May  7,  1844,  has  no  right  to  establish  any  new  school,  is 
untrue.  As  an  abstract  proposition,  it  is  confessedly  untrue. 

The  next  proposition  of  the  committee  is,  that,  if  any  such  schools  have 
been  or  may  be  established,  that  they  are  not  entitled  to  participate  in  the 
apportionment  of  the  school  moneys. 

This,  too,  is  untrue  ;  for  the  Society  has  a  legal  right,  as  has  been  shown, 
to  draw  for  all  scholars,  between  the  ages  of  four  and  sixteen  years,  edu- 
cated free  of  expense  in  the  schools  within  its  jurisdiction.  The  schools 
opened  since  May  7,  1844,  are  confessedly  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Society,  so  that  there  is  no  longer  room  for  argument. 

But  the  great  practical  question,  after  all,  is,  Whence  can  the  Society 
obtain  the  means  of  opening  new  schools  ? 

1st.  It  can  borrow  money  and  mortgage  its  property  for  the  payment 
thereof,  under  the  act  of  1829.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt  in  the  mind 
of  any  man  who  will  look  at  that  act.  The  money  so  legally  borrowed  is 
the  property  of  the  Society ;  and,  having  means,  it  can  establish  new 
schools. 

2d.  The  Society  can  participate  in  the  apportionment  of  the  school 
moneys,  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  the  ward  schools. 
The  manner  is  pointed  out  in  section  6  of  the  act  of  1844.  The  extent  is 
defined  in  section  12  : 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Board  of  Education  to  apportion  all  the 
school  moneys,  except  so  much  as  shall  have  been  raised  for  the  purpose  of 
organizing  and  establishing  new  schools,  to  each  of  the  several  schools  pro- 
vided for  by  this  act,  according  to  the  number  of  children,  over  four  and 
under  sixteen  years  of  age,  who  shall  have  actually  attended  such  school 
without  charge  the  preceding  year. 

The  Society's  school?  and  the  ward  schools  alike  draw  from  the  fund, 
according  to  the  number  of  children  taught ;  they  participate  par  capita,. 
There  is,  then,  no  doubt  as  to  the  rule  by  which  the  money  shall  be  received. 
For  what  purposes  can  it  be  used  ?  Section  12  provides  that,  if  the  money 
apportioned  agreeably  to  that  section  shall  exceed  the  necessary  and  legal 
expenses  of  either  of  the  schools  or  societies  provided  for  in  the  act,  the 
balance  shall  be  paid  into  the  city  treasury. 

Then  the  Public  School  Society  can  use  the  money  it  receives  to  pay  its 
necessary  and  legal  expenses.  What  are  these  t  The  necessary  expenses  of 
a  school  for  supplying  gratuitous  education  to  all  children  whom  it  can 
accommodate  and  instruct,  are  easily  indicated.  There  must  be  one  or  moro 
teachers  ;  there  must  be  fuel,  school  furniture,  stationery,  and  a  house.  All 


SPEECH   OF   HIRAM    KETCHUM.  545 

these  must  be  paid  for,  and  the  expenses  therefor  are  necessary  expenses. 
They  are  legal  expenses,  too,  if  the  objects  named  are  within  the  scope  of 
the  purposes  for  which  the  fund  was  originally  created  by  law.  Now,  what 
are  these  purposes  ?  Section  5  of  the  act  of  1844  defines  them  ;  they  are, 
purposes  of  common  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York.  This  section  pro- 
vides that  there  shall  be  raised  by  tax  a  sum  equal  to  that  received  from  the 
school  fund,  and  also  one  twentieth  of  one  per  cent,  on  all  assessable  prop- 
erty in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  purposes 
of  common  schools  in  said  city.  Then,  if  salaries  of  teachers,  fuel,  school 
furniture,  stationery,  and  a  house — objects  all  of  which  are  necessary  to  the 
existence  and  operations  of  common  schopls — are  comprehended  in  the  pur- 
poses of  common  schools,  the  expenses  necessary  to  procure  them  are  both 
necessary  and  legal  expenses,  under  section  12  already  referred  to. 

What  objects  were  included  in  the  purposes  of  common  schools  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  before  the  passage  of  the  act  of  May,  1844  ? 

I  first  notice  the  act  entitled  "  An  Act  Relating  to  Common  Schools  in 
the  City  of  New  York,"  passed  November  19,  1824.  The  provisions  of  this 
act  require  that  an  equal  amount  received  from  the  school  fund  shall  be 
raised  by  tax ;  and  the  aggregate  amount  shall  be  deposited  in.  a  bank,  to 
the  credit  of  commissioners  of  the  school  fund.  The  act  farther  provides, 
that  the  institutions  or  schools  entitled  to  receive  said  school  moneys  shall, 
once  in  three  years,  be  designated  by  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  who  shall  have  power  to  prescribe  the  limitations  and  restrictions 
under  which  said  moneys  shall  be  received  by  said  institutions  or  schools,  or 
any  of  them. 

Under  this  law,  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  New  York,  by  ordinance, 
designated  the  institutions  and  schools  which  should  participate  in  the 
fund  ;  and  they  provided  that  every  other  institution  and  school,  besides  the 
Public  School  Society,  should  receive  only  a  sufficient  amount  to  pay  teach- 
ers employed,  but  that  this  Society  was  authorized  to  apply  any  surplus, 
after  paying  the  salaries  of  teachers,  to  the  erection  of  buildings  for  schools, 
and  to  all  the  useful  purposes  of  a  common  school  education.  By  the  judg- 
ment, then,  of  the  Corporation,  the  school  fund,  without  any  special  desig- 
nation thereto  by  the  Legislature,  could  be  appropriated  to  the  erection  of 
buildings,  and  all  the  needful  purposes  of  education  in  common  schools. 
By  an  act  passed  April  25,  1829,  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  New  York  i* 
authorized  annually  to  raise  and  collect  by  tax  a  sum  equal  to  one  eightieth 
of  one  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  real  and  personal  property  in  the  city 
liable  to  assessment,  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  purposes  of  common 
schools  in  the  said  city. 

By  another  act,  passed  April  13,  1831,  the  Corporation  is  authorized  to 
lay  an  additional  amount,  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  purposes  of  com- 
mon schools  in  said  city. 

Thus  the  Legislature  authorized  the  funds  to  be  raised,  defining  the 
object  to  be,  generally,  for  the  purposes  of  common  schools,  but  not  specify- 
ing what  particular  objects  were  comprehended  within  those  purposes.  The 
Corporation  could  prescribe  the  limitations  and  restrictions  under  which 
35 


546  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

each  society  or  school  should  receive  the  fund,  but  it  could  not  enlarge  the 
purposes  for  which  the  fund  -was  created.  With  this  power  only,  the  Cor- 
poration settled,  by  ordinance,  that  building  school-houses,  purchasing  sta- 
tionery, &c.,  were  purposes  of  common  schools,  as  well  as  the  payment  of 
teachers.  Under  this  practical  construction  of  the  law,  before  the  act  of 
1842,  the  school  moneys  for  this  city  were  distributed,  for  nearly  twenty 
years,  without  objection  or  complaint,  either  from  the  Superintendent  of 
Common  Schools  or  the  Legislature,  who  were  annually  informed  of  tho 
mode  of  distribution. 

The  same  language,  to  designate  the  object  of  the  fund,  is  employed  in 
section  5  of  the  act  of  1844,  as  was  previously  employed  in  the  acts  of  1829 
and  1831.  Does  it  not,  then,  follow,  that  this  fund  can  be  now  used  for  like 
purposes — that  the  fund,  similarly  created  and  described,  had  been  used 
with  manifest  approbation  ? 

If  there  were  no  other  enactment  in  the  act  of  1844  for  raising  money  by 
tax,  then,  beyond  all  controversy,  this  question  must  be  answered  in  the 
affirmative.  The  words,  "  the  purposes  of  common  schools,"  in  the  5th  sec- 
tion, would  embrace  all  the  purposes  of  common  schools  ;  and  "  the  neces- 
sary and  legal  expenses  "  of  the  Public  School  Society  would  be  those  ex- 
penses to  which  it  was  subjected  in  accomplishing  any  or  all  of  these  pur- 
poses. 

But  it  is  said  the  act  of  1844,  besides  the  fund  composed  of  the  school 
moneys,  and  the  equivalent  tax  raised  in  the  city,  and  the  farther  tax  of  one 
eightieth  of  one  per  cent,,  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  purposes  of  com- 
mon schools,  provides  a  mode,  in  the  same  section  5,  for  raising  and  collect- 
ing an  additional  sum  for  erecting,  purchasing,  or  leasing  school-houses,  and 
procuring  sites  therefor,  and  the  fitting  up  thereof.  Now,  because  the 
objects  last  specified  are  specially  provided  for  in  the  act,  it  is  said  they 
cannot  be  embraced  in  the  provisions  for  creating  the  other  fund,  although 
the  terms  of  those  provisions  are  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  embrace  the 
same  objects.  With  great  respect,  I  deny  this  conclusion ;  it  is  unsound  and 
illogical.  The  additional  provision  for  raising  money  for  some  of  the  pur- 
poses of  common  schools,  shows  that,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Legislature, 
more  funds  were  required  for  these  purposes ;  but  it  by  no  means  proves 
that  the  same  purposes  were  not  comprehended  under  the  general  expres- 
sion, "  purposes  of  common  schools."  The  new  system  required  new  houses, 
and  it  demanded  more  aid  for  this  purpose  than  could  be  supplied  by  the 
fund  as  formerly  constituted.  To  supply  houses,  therefore,  for  this  new  sys- 
tem, required  an  additional  source  of  revenue ;  but  the  opening  of  that 
source  did  not  change  the  character  of  the  old  fountain  of  supply ;  that 
remains  as  before. 

Under  the  act  of  1844,  then,  the  Board  of  Education  receives  the  school 
money ;  it  apportions  it  among  the  schools  and  societies  mentioned  in  the 
act,  to  be  by  them  applied  to  the  purposes'  of  common  schools  in  the  city 
of  New  York.  The  purposes  of  common  schools  have  been  defined  by 
established  usage.  What  these  purposes  are.  is  settled  by  approved  custom. 
Among  others,  they  are,  the  payment  of  teachers'  salaries,  the  purchase  of 


6PEECH   OF   HIKAM    KETCHUM.  547 

stationery,  fuel,  and  school  furniture,  the  hiring  of  rooms,  and  the  erection 
of  buildings  for  schools. 

Although  the  erection  of  buildings  for  schools  is  clearly  one  of  the  pur- 
poses of  common  schools,  yet,  in  the  apportionment  of  school  money  for  a 
single  year,  as  this  board  is  bound  to  apportion,  it  might,  perhaps,  admit  of 
a  doubt  whether  a  purpose  so  permanent,  looking  forward  to  many  years  in 
the  future,  could  properly  be  provided  for  in  such  annual  apportionment.  1 
say,  it  might  admit  of  a  doubt,  unless  the  board  can  find  evidence,  in  the 
act  itself,  that  such  erections  were  contemplated  by  the  Legislature.  Is 
there  such  evidence  in  the  act  of  1844  ?  The  last  sentence  in  the  llth  sec- 
tion of  this  act  is  in  these  words  : 

Titles  to  all  school  property,  real  and  personal,  hereafter  purchased  from 
all  moneys  derived  from  the  distribution  of  the  school  fund,  or  raised  by 
taxation  in  the  city  of  New  York,  shall  be  vested  in  the  Mayor,  Aldermen, 
and  Commonalty  of  said  city. 

This  sentence  contemplates  that  real  estate  might  be  purchased  with 
money  derived  from  the  distribution  of  the  school  fund.  How  could  there 
be  any  such  money,  unless  there  happened  to  be  a  surplus  after  the  payment 
of  teachers,  &c.  ?  This  surplus  had  generally  been  found  in  the  schools  of 
the  Public  School  Society.  If  the  surplus  could  not  be  used  in  the  erection 
of  school-houses,  it  would  have  to  go  back  to  the  city  treasury.  If — as 
seems  to  be  contemplated  in  the  sentence  quoted — it  could  be  used  for  the 
purchase  of  real  estate,  the  title  to  that  estate  was  made  to  vest  in  the  Cor- 
poration. To  me  it  seems  that  the  words  quoted  are  entirely  insensible, 
unless  they  recognize  the  fact  that,  as  in  all  former  times  since  1817  had 
been  the  practice,  the  Public  School  Society  should  have  the  right  to  vest 
the  surplus  in  real  estate.  It  will  be  remembered  that  section  11  makes  pro- 
vision for  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  other  corporate 
schools,  and  it  was  not  necessary  to  use  the  sentence  quoted,  in  order  to 
vest  the  title  to  the  real  estate  purchased  for  ward  schools  in  the  Corpora- 
tion ;  that  had  been  done  before,  at  the  end  of  section  9.  Connect  these 
considerations  with  the  fact  that,  in  the  amendatory  act  of  1843,  the  power 
to  use  the  school  fund  for  the  purchase  of  real  estate  was  clearly  given  to 
the  Public  School  Society,  and  the  title  to  such  estate  was  made  to  vest  in 
the  Corporation,  and  it  seems  to  me  the  intention  of  the  Legislature  cannot 
be  doubted. 

Yet  still  I  confess  that  intention  has  not  been  as  clearly  expressed  as  I 
could  desire ;  and  if  this  board  entertain  a  serious  doubt  as  to  its  right  to 
allow  the  Public  School  Society  to  use  the  school  moneys  for  the  erection 
of  school-houses,  although  the  title  should  be  vested  in  the  Corporation, 
then  I  would  respectfully  suggest  that  it  unite  with  the  Public  School  Soci- 
ety in  an  application  to  the  Legislature,  now  in  session,  to  pass  a  short 
declaratory  act,  making  that  clear  which  now  seems  obscure. 

In  such  an  act  I  am  willing  that  there  should  be  inserted  a  provision  that 
the  Public  School  Society  should  not  erect  a  new  building,  unless  the  loca- 
tion were  approved  by  this  board. 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that,  under  the  increased  expenses  of  the  Society, 


548  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

growing  out  of  the  new  order  of  things,  there  •will  probably  be  very  little 
surplus  moneys  remaining  in  its  hands ;  yet  I  respectfully  suggest  that  the 
same  right  to  use  that  surplus,  heretofore  enjoyed,  should  be  still  retained. 
With  these  remarks,  the  whole  subject  is  respectfully  submitted. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Ketclram's  speech,  Mr.  Mason 
offered  a  resolution,  being  an  amended  form  of  the  first  recom- 
mendation of  the  committee,  as  follows  : 

fiesolced,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Board  of  Education,  the  Public 
School  Society  has  no  right,  since  the  passage  of  the  act  entitled  "  An  Act 
more  Effectually  to  Provide  for  Common  School  Education  in  the  City  and 
County  of  New  York,"  passed  May  7,  1844,  to  establish,  any  new  schools 
entitled  to  participate  in  the  apportionment  of  the  school  moneys. 

Mr.  Mason  sustained  his  resolution  in  a  reply  to  Mr.  Ketch- 
urn,  as  follows : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  Before  proceeding  to  the  discussion  of  the  resolution 
which  has  just  been  read,  I  beg  leave  to  submit  one  or  two  preliminary 
remarks. 

In  the  first  place,  I  am  happy  that  this  discussion  has  taken  place,  and 
that  this  board  so  promptly  acceded  to  the  request  of  the  Public  School 
Society,  to  allow  them  to  be  heard  on  the  subject  of  this  resolution  by  their 
committee.  Such  a  course  was  due  to  that  Society,  composed  as  it  is  of  so 
many  of  our  most  respectable  citizens,  and  exercising  so  important  an  influ- 
ence upon  the  public  education  of  the  city.  It  was  due  also  to  this  board, 
that,  before  deciding  on  a  step  so  important  as  that  involved  in  the  resolu- 
tion, it  should  patiently  hear  and  examine  both  sides  of  the  question. 

In  the  next  place,  the  impression  has  been  made  in  some  quarters  that 
the  resolution  and  the  report  of  the  committee  on  which  it  is  founded,  pro- 
ceeds from  a  feeling  of  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  board  toward  the  Public 
School  Society,  and  that  a  desire  exists  to  injure  and  weaken  the  Society. 
For  myself,  I  utterly  disclaim  any  such  feeling.  The  Public  School  Society 
is,  in  my  judgment,  entitled  to  the  wannest  gratitude  of  this  community. 
For  a  number  of  years  the  common  school  education  of  the  city  was,  for  the 
most  part,  committed  to  this  Society ;  and  it  has,  with  great  ability  and 
fidelity,  discharged  the  high  trust  confided  to  it ;  and  I  would  resist  to  the 
utmost  of  my  power  any  attempt  to  interfere  in  the  least  degree  with  any 
of  the  powers  conferred  upon  it  with  regard  to  those  schools  which  existed 
at  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1844  ;  and  these  I  believe  to  be  the 
sentiments  of  the  board. 

But  the  question  is  a  naked  question  of  law,  involving  the  interpretation 
of  the  statute  under  which  we  are  constituted,  and  one  which  it  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  us  to  settle,  in  order  properly  to  fulfil  the  duties  we  have 
to  perform. 

I  have  listened,  this  evening,  to  the  able  argument  of  the  learned  advo- 


SPEECH   OF  ME.   MASON.  549 

cate  of  the  Public  School  Society  iu  opposition  to  the  resolution  and  report 
of  the  co/nmittee  now  under  consideration,  but  he  has  failed  to  convince  me 
that  the  position  taken  by  the  committee  is  erroneous.  On  the  contrary,  I 
have  no  doubt  that  the  construction  given  by  the  committee  to  the  act  of 
May  7,  1844,  is  the  true  one. 

Let  us  clearly  understand  the  question  involved  ;  for,  with  great  respect, 
I  think  the  learned  gentleman  has  somewhat  obscured  it. 

The  question  before  us,  then,  is,  not  whether  the  Public  School  Society 
has  or  has  not  faithfully  discharged  the  trust  confided  to  it.  I  should  have 
no  hesitation  in  answering  this  question  in  the  affirmative.  Nor  is  it 
whether,  by  the  law  of  1844,  the  schools  of  the  Society  arc  merged  in  the 
ward  schools ;  such  a  position  has  never  been  advanced,  much  less  contend- 
ed for.*  Nor  is  it  whether  the  Society  have  or  have  not  a  corporate  right  to 
establish  free  schools,  to  be  supported  by  the  private  contributions  of  the 
members  of  the  Society.  But  the  question  is,  whether  the  Society  has  a- 
right  to  establish  new  common  schools,  which  will  be  entitled,  under  the 
act  of  1844,  to  participate  in  the  school  moneys,  and  a  right  to  use  their  sur- 
plus funds,  derived  from  the  school  moneys,  in  building  or  renting  school- 
houses  for  such  new  schools. 

This  was  the  question  discussed  in  the  report  of  the  committee.  The 
term  "  schools  "  was  indeed  used  in  that  report  without  any  other  designa- 
tion or  qualification,  because  it  was  only  with  common  schools  that  this 
board  has  any  thing  to  do. 

In  order  the  more  clearly  to  understand  the  subject,  I  will  briefly  advert 
to  the  course  of  legislation  in  relation  to  common  schools. 

The  Legislature,  many  years  since,  established  the  common  school  sys- 
tem, extending  to  every  part  of  the  State,  except  the  city  and  county  of 
New  York. 

By  the  provisions  of  that  system,  as  is  well  known,  different  officers  are 
elected  in  the  various  towns  of  the  State,  each  having  their  distinct  and 
appropriate  duties :  commissioners,  to  receive  the  school  moneys  appor- 
tioned from  the  revenue  of  the  common  school  fund,  and  to  distribute  them, 
with  a  like  amount  raised  by  tax,  among  the  school  districts  ;  inspectors,  to 
examine  into  the  qualifications  of  persons  proposed  as  teachers ;  and  trus- 
tees of  districts,  to  take  charge  of  the  school-houses,  pay  the  teachers,  &c. 

These  officers,  it  is  also  well  known,  have  exclusive  jurisdiction  in  these 
matters.  They  alone  have  power  to  establish  common  schools  in  their 
respective  towns,  and  no  other  schools  but  common  schools  thus  established, 
and  managed  by  the  school  officers  of  the  town  and  district  in  which  they 
are  situated,  have  a  right  to  participate  in  the  school  moneys. 

*  Allusion  is  here  made  to  some  of  Mr.  Ketchum's  remarks  which  do  not  appear 
in  the  printed  report  published  by  the  Society.  These  remarks,  as  they  appear  in 
print,  are  somewhat  modified  from  their  original  shape.  The  reply  now  presented 
immediately  followed  the  remarks,  and  were  founded  on  a  few  notes,  many  of  which 
were  taken  while  Mr.  Ketchum  was  speaking,  and  have  since  been  reduced  to  writing 
at  the  request  of  the  Board  of  Education. 


550  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

This  common  school  system,  1  have  said,  did  not  originally,  nor  until  a 
very  late  period,  extend  to  this  city. 

The  various  religious  societies  in  the  city  had,  for  the  most  part,  schools 
belonging  to  their  respective  denominations;  and,  in  the  year  1805,  thu 
Free-School  Society,  now  the  Public  School  Society,  was  established  for  the 
instruction  of  poor  children  who  did  not  belong  to,  or  were  not  provided 
for  by,  any  religious  society.  The  schools  which  it  formed,  according  to  tho 
original  plan  of  the  Society,  were  to  be  supported  by  private  contributions, 
and  it  was,  in  every  respect,  a  private  eleemosynary  institution. 

In  the  year  1826,  however,  the  character  of  this  Society  was  essentially 
changed.  The  first  section  of  the  act  of  January  28,  1826,  entitled  "  An 
Act  in  Relation  to  the  Public  School  Society  of  New  York,"  altered  its 
name  to  that  of  "  The  Public  School  Society  of  New  York ;  "  and  the  sec- 
ond section  made  it  the  duty  of  said  Society  to  provide,  so  far  as  their 
means  might  extend,  for  the  education  of  all  children  in  the  city  of  New 
York  not  otherwise  provided  for,  whether  such  children  were  or  were  not 
the  proper  subjects  of  gratuitous  education,  and  without  regard  to  the 
religious  sect  or  denomination  to  which  such  children  or  their  parents  might 
belong. 

Thus  an  important  public  trust  was  committed  to  the  Society  ;  the  com- 
mon school  education  of  the  city  was  placed  under  its  control ;  the  duties 
and  powers  of  commissioners,  trustees,  and  inspectors  in  the  county,  were 
vested  in  its  officers ;  they  became  the  executive  officers  of  the  Government 
for  this  important  branch  of  public  service  ;  new  and  distinct  powers  were 
grafted  upon  their  original  charter;  and,  by  a  subsequent  section  of  the 
same  act,  their  right  to  draw  upon  the  school  fund  was  expressly  recognized. 

But,  in  the  year  1842,  the  Legislature  saw  fit  to  extend  the  common 
school  system,  which  prevailed  throughout  the  State,  to  the  city  of  New 
York,  with  some  modifications. 

The  act  of  1842  provided  for  the  appointment  of  commissioners,  inspec- 
tors, and  trustees,  with  the  like  powers  and  duties  with  the  commissioners 
and  inspectors  of  common  schools,  and  the  trustees  of  school  districts  in  the 
several  towns  of  the  State,  "  except  as  thereinafter  provided." 

Now,  if  the  powers  and  duties  of  those  officers  in  the  several  towns  in 
the  State  were  to  be  exercised  by  them,  and  by  them  alone,  and  were  exclu- 
sive in  their  very  nature,  they  must  be  equally  so  in  the  city,  excepting  in  so 
far  as  they  are  modified  by  the  act  itself;  and  this  position  by  no  means 
proves,  as  the  learned  gentleman  insisted,  that  the  schools  of  the  Public 
School  Society  are  merged  in  the  ward  schools,  and  all  the  powers  of  the 
Society  destroyed,  if,  as  we  know  to  be  the  case,  the  exception  provides  for 
its  schools. 

The  13th  section  of  the  act  of  1842  expressly  recognizes  the  schools  of 
the  Public  School  Society  then  in  existence,  protects  them  in  the  enjoyment 
of  all  their  rights,  and  secures  to  them,  in  a  manner  that  never  was  done 
before,  their  full  share  of  the  school  moneys. 

But,  as  to  all  matters  not  embraced  within  the  exception,  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  commissioners,  inspectors,  and  trustees,  are  and  must  be  exclu- 


SPEECH   OF   ME.    MASON.  551 

sive,  or  the  act  has  no  meaning.  If  this  is  not  so,  but  the  Public  School 
Society  could  go  on  establishing  new  schools  as  before,  it  is  incumbent  upon 
it  to  show  that  power  to  do  so  is  reserved  to  it  in  the  act. 

The  learned  advocate  of  the  Society  has  invoked  the  7th  section  of  the 
act  of  1842  to  his  aid.  It  provides  that,  "  whenever  the  trustees  elected  in 
any  ward  shall  certify  in  writing,  to  the  commissioners  and  inspectors  of 
common  schools  thereof,  that  it  is  necessary  to  organize  one  or  more  schools 
in  said  ward,  in  addition  to  the  schools  mentioned  in  the  13th  section  of 
this  act  (in  which  section  the  schools  of  the  Society  are  expressly  named),  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  commissioners  and  inspectors  to  meet  together 
and  examine  into  the  facts  and  circumstances  of  the  case  ;  and,  if  they  shall 
be  satisfied  of  such  necessity,  they  shall  certify  the  same,  under  their  hands, 
to  the  Board  of  Education,  and  then  shall  proceed  to  organize  one  or  more 
school  districts  therein,  and  shall  procure  a  school-house,"  &c.  The  provis- 
ion of  the  act  of  1844  is  the  same  in  substance,  although  more  general  in  its 
terms.  The  8th  section  provides  that,  whenever  the  commissioners,  &c., 
shall  certify  to  the  Board  of  Education  that  it  is  necessary  to  organize  one 
or  more  additional  schools  in  said  ward,  &c.  It  is  obvious  that  the  same 
construction  must  be  given  to  these  words  "in  addition,"  in  the  act  of  1844, 
as  was  given  to  the  words  of  like  import  in  the  7th  section  of  the  act  of 
1842,  just  referred  to. 

It  is  strange  that  this  section  should  have  been  adverted  to  by  the 
learned  gentleman.  If  it  means  any  thing,  it  means  that  the  power  of  erect- 
ing schools  in  addition  to  those  then  established,  is  vested  in  the  ward 
officers.  There  are,  say  the  Legislature,  certain  schools  established  by  the 
Public  School  Society ;  with  these  schools  we  do  not  wish  to  interfere,  but 
whenever  schools  are  needed  in  any  ward,  in  addition  to  those  already  estab- 
lished, you,  the  commissioners,  inspectors,  &c.,  must  judge  of  that,  and 
establish  them,  if  found  necessary. 

To  insist,  as  was  done  in  the  argument  of  the  counsel,  that  these  words, 
"  in  addition,"  mean  in  addition  to  the  schools  thereafter  to  be  established 
by  the  Society,  is  begging  the  question. 

The  13th  section  of  the  act  of  1842  was  next  referred  to,  which  puts  the 
schools  of  the  Public  School  Scoiety  under  "  the  general  jurisdiction  of  the 
commissioners  of  the  respective  wards  in  which  any  of  the  said  schools  now 
are  or  may  hereafter  be  located ;  "  and  it  was  insisted  that  the  act  provides 
for  schools  thereafter  to  be  located  or  established.  So  far  from  it,  the  act 
merely  defines  under  whose  jurisdiction  the  existing  schools  of  the  Society 
shall  be,  in  case  of  a  division,  or  alteration  of  the  bounds,  of  any  of  the 
wards ;  that  they  shall  be  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  officers  in  whose 
bounds  they  then  were,  or,  upon  a  division  of  the  wards,  they  might  hap- 
pen to  be. 

The  question  then  arises,  Had  the  Legislature  the  right  to  take  away 
this  power  from  the  Public  School  Society  of  establishing  new  common 
schools  ? 

It  is  contended  that  they  had  not,  because  it  was  a  chartered  right. 

The  learned  counsel  has  spent  much  time  in  endeavoring  to  show  that 


552  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  Society  has  a  chartered  right  to  establish  free  schools,  to  be  supported 
by  private  munificence,  and  that  this  right  ia  not  taken  away.  I  might 
safely  concede  this  position,  and  the  argument  would  not  be  advanced  a 
step ;  any  more  than  it  would  be  if  he  had  proved — what  no  one  denies — 
that  any  individual  has  a  right  to  educate  as  many  children  as  he  pleases, 
free  of  expense.  But  that  would  not  prove  that  such  an  individual  has  a 
right  to  use  the  public  moneys  to  aid  him ;  nor  that,  if  the  law  has  once 
given  him  some  aid,  he  has  a  vested  right  in  it  for  all  time  to  come. 

The  distinction  is  between  the  corporate  right  to  establish  free  schools  at 
the  Society's  expense,  and  the  right  and  duty  of  establishing  common 
schools  to  be  supported  at  the  public  expense. 

The  one  we  do  not  interfere  with ;  the  other  is,  and  always,  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  must  be,  subject  to  legislative  control. 

The  established  doctrine  on  this  subject  is  well  expressed  in  the  case  of 
the  People  vs.  Morris,  13th  Wend.,  323,  341,  in  which  the  court  say  that 
"  public  corporations,  or  those  whose  powers  are  a  public  trust,  to  be  exe- 
cuted for  the  common  weal,  are  entirely  within  the  control  of  the  Legisla- 
ture ;  that  these  powers  are  not  vested  rights  as  against  the  State,  but  that 
they  may  be  abrogated  as  well  by  a  general  law  affecting  the  whole  State,  as 
!>y  a  special  act  altering  the  powers  of  the  corporation." 

The  learned  gentleman  has  been  at  some  pains,  in  examining  the  particu- 
lar facts  of  that  case,  to  show  that  the  power  exercised  by  the  defendant  in 
that  case,  of  selling  spirituous  liquors,  was  a  political  power ;  and  he  con- 
tended that  the  right  to  educate  children  is  not  a  political  power.  I  would 
ask,  What  is  a  political  power  ?  What  is  the  meaning  of  political  ?  It  is 
defined  to  be  something  which  relates  to  public  affairs — affairs  in  which  the 
whole  public  are  interested.  And  are  we  to  be  gravely  told  that  the  regu- 
lation and  licensing  of  grocers  and  victualling-houses  in  a  village  (which 
was  the  power  referred  to  in  the  case  quoted  from  Wendell)  is  a  political 
power,  in  which  the  whole  public  are  interested,  and  which  the  Government 
can  regulate  as  they  please ;  but  that  the  education  of  all  the  children  of 
our  city  is  a  matter  of  private  concern,  with  which  the  public  have  nothing 
to  do — -which  the  Legislature  cannot  regulate  or  control ;  and  that,  having 
once  delegated  certain  duties  relative  to  it  to  a  private  corporation,  they 
have  placed  the  matter  forever  out  of  their  reach  ? 

The  case  of  Dartmouth  College  TS.  Woodward,  5  Wheaton,  518,  cited  by 
the  counsel,  does  not  in  the  least  conflict  with  that  of  The  People  vs.  Morris. 
The  decision  in  that  case  was  put  expressly  on  the  ground  that  the  college 
was  a  private  eleemosynary,  and  not  a  public  corporation,  and  so  the  gentle- 
man himself  read  from  the  case,  and  felt  bound  to  insist  that  the  Public 
School  Society  was  a  private,  and  not  a  public,  corporation.  If  so,  let  it 
confine  itself  to  those  private  rights  originally  granted  to  it,  and  not  claim 
to  exercise  the  powers  conferred  upon  it  as  the  agent  of  the  Government, 
and  there  is  then  no  question  on  which  we  are  at  issue.  But  let  it  not  insist 
upon  a  perpetual  grant  of  public  and  political  powers  and  duties,  because 
its  charter  gives  it  certain  private  rights. 

There  is,  then,  no  constitutional  objection  to  the  establishment  of  the 


SPEECH   OF   ME.  MASON.  553 

new  system.  It  is  no  violation  of  the  chartered  rights  of  the  Society.  It  is 
only  a  withdrawal  of  a  public  trust  confided  to  it,  and  vesting  it  in  other 
hands. 

But  again.  The  exercise  by  the  Public  School  Society  of  the  right  to 
establish  new  schools,  is  entirely  inconsistent  with  the  exercise  of  the  same 
right  by  this  board.  It  would  be  in  the  power  of  the  Society  to  prevent 
this  board  from  ever  establishing  any  new  schools. 

Our  proceedings  are  public,  and  necessarily  slow.  The  ward  officers 
must  first  determine  that  a  school  is  necessary;  they  must  then  apply  to  this 
board,  which  meets  ordinarily  but  once  a  month ;  the  matter  is  referred  to  a 
committee,  who  may  report  at  the  expiration  of  one  month,  perhaps  two. 
The  site  for  a  building  must  then  be  purchased,  and  appropriations  made, 
which  generally  take  another  month.  In  the  meanwhile,  before  the  ward 
officers  have  fairly  commenced  operations,  the  Public  School  Society,  whose 
deliberations  are  more  secret,  may  have  purchased  ground  and  erected  a 
building  in  the  very  neighborhood  of  the  one  proposed  to  be  established  by 
this  board,  and  render  the  establishment  of  a  school  by  the  ward  officers 
entirely  unnecessary  and  inexpedient.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  Soci- 
ety would  take  such  a  course.  I  do  not  believe  they  would.  I  merely  state 
the  case  by  way  of  illustration,  to  show  what  could  be  done,  and  thus  test 
the  accuracy  of  the  position  taken  by  us  on  this  subject.  It  cannot  be  that 
the  Legislature  meant  that  this  power  should  be  exercised  simultaneously  by 
both  bodies. 

The  soundness  of  the  position  taken  by  the  committee  will  further 
appear  by  the  course  of  legislation  with  regard  to  the  school  moneys. 

The  words  "  school  moneys  "  are  used  throughout  the  act  of  May,  1844. 
The  term  is  a  technical  one,  and  is  defined,  in  1  R.  S.,  196,  1st  ed.  §  2,  to 
mean  the  revenues  of  the  common  school  fund  which  are  annually  distrib- 
uted for  the  support  and  encouragement  of  common  schools. 

These  moneys  are  paid  into  the  hands  of  the  commissioners  for  schools 
in  the  several  towns  of  the  State,  and,  together  with  the  moneys  raised  by 
tax  in  the  tcywns,  are  apportioned  by  the  commissioners  among  the  several 
school  districts,  and  paid  to  the  trustees  (1  R.  S.,  470,  1st  ed.  §§  5-6),  who 
are  required  to  appropriate  them  to  the  payment  of  teachers'  wages  (ib.  481, 
§§  8-9)  ;  and  the  moneys  received  from  both  these  sources  are  designated 
by  the  general  term  of  "  school  moneys." 

The  sums  necessary  for  purchasing  the  sites  for  school-houses,  for  build- 
ing, hiring,  or  purchasing  school-houses,  keeping  them  in  repair,  furnishing 
them  with  necessary  fuel  and  appendages,  are  provided  for  by  additional 
tax  imposed  upon  the  inhabitants  at  a  school-district  meeting  (ib.  478,  §  61, 
sub.  5). 

By  an  act  passed  April  17,  1838  (Laws,  1838,  p.  220),  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  and  ten  thousand  dollars  of  the  income  of  the  United  States  de- 
posit fund  is  directed  to  be  annually  distributed  to  the  support  of  common 
schools,  in  like  manner  and  upon  the  like  conditions  as  the  school  moneys 
are  or  may  be  distributed. 

There  are  also  various  other  acts  to  be  found  in  the  statute-book,  show- 


554  THE    PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

ing  how  sacredly  the  school  moneys  are  appropriated  to  the  teachers'  wages  ; 
as,  for  instance,  a  law  passed  in  1837  (Laws,  1837,  p,  232),  authorizing  the 
inhabitants  of  school  districts  to  levy  a  tax  for  the  purchase  of  a  book  to 
record  the  proceedings  of  the  trustees;  and  another  law,  in  1841  (Laws, 
1841,  p.  236),  authorizing  a  special  tax,  not  exceeding  $20  in  any  one  year, 
to  purchase  maps,  globes,  black-boards,  and  other  school  apparatus — all 
showing  that  the  "  school  moneys,"  so  called,  could  not  be  used  in  these 
ways,  but  that  they  are  sacredly  appropriated  to  the  support  of  teachers. 

The  Public  School  Society  would  have  had  no  right  at  any  time  to  appro- 
priate the, school  moneys  received  by  it  to  any  other  purpose,  but  for  the 
permission  given  in  the  act  of  April  5,  1817,  referred  to  by  the  counsel. 

The  act  of  May  7,  1844,  makes  the  same  distinction  between  "  school 
moneys,"  properly  so  called,  and  the  sums  necessary  for  establishing  and 
organizing  new  schools. 

The  5th  section  provides  that  the  supervisors  shall  annually  raise,  by  tax, 
a  sum  of  money  equal  to  the  city's  share  of  the  school  moneys  received  from 
the  general  fund,  and  also  one  twentieth  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  real  and 
personal  estate  in  the  city,  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  purposes  of  com- 
mon schools  in  said  city. 

That  these  purposes  are  not  erecting,  or  leasing,  or  purchasing  sites  for 
school-houses,  or  school-houses  themselves,  is  manifest  from  what  follows  in 
the  same  section,  which  provides  that  the  Corporation  shall  raise  by  tax 
such  further  sum  as  may  be  necessary  for  these  last-mentioned  objects,  and 
also  for  fitting  up  of  the  school-houses. 

The  sums  first  designated  in  section  5  are,  by  the  6th  section,  directed  to 
be  deposited  to  the  credit  of  the  commissioners  of  common  schools  in  the 
several  wards,  and  of  the  societies  and  schools  enumerated  in  the  llth  sec- 
tion (including  the  Public  School  Society),  in  the  proportion  to  which  they 
shall  respectively  be  entitled. 

By  the  7th  section,  the  balance  of  the  funds  to  be  raised,  pursuant  to 
section  5,  for  the  erection,  purchase,  or  leasing  of  school-houses,  and  procur- 
ing the  sites  therefor,  and  fitting  up  thereof,  are  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  by  appropriation,  for  the  establishment  and  organi- 
zation of  schools,  as  provided  in  the  8th  section. 

The  8th  section  provides  for  the  establishment  of  new  schools  by  the 
Board  of  Education,  and  by  none  other ;  and  these  schools  are  denominated 
by  the  3d  section,  "  ward  schools." 

Here,  then,  are  two  distinct  funds,  both  placed  under  the  control  of  the 
Board  of  Education :  the  first  consisting  of  the  funds  annually  raised  for 
the  support  of  common  schools,  and  denominated  "  school  moneys " 
throughout  the  act.  In  these  moneys  the  Public  School  Society  partici- 
pates according  to  the  number  of  its  scholars,  in  common  with  the  ward 
schools,  and  the  other  schools  and  societies  mentioned  in  the  act. 

The  second  fund  is  a  special  one,  to  be  raised  from  time  to  time,  for 
establishing  and  organizing  new  ward  schools,  and  them  alone. 

Now,  if  we  turn  to  the  llth  section,  we  shall  find  that  the  schools  of  the 
Public  School  Society,  with  the  other  schools  mentioned  in  the  section, 


SPEECH    OF  ME.    MASON.  555 

"  participate  in  the  apportionment  of  the  '  school  moneys '  in  the  same  man- 
ner and  to  the  same  extent "  as  are  provided  with  regard  to  the  ward 
schools. 

The  next  section  (12th)  shows  in  what  manner  and  to  what  extent  the 
ward  schools,  and,  of  course  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  are 
entitled  to  participate  in  the  school  moneys  which  may  be  apportioned  to 
them. 

If,  by  reason  of  peculiar  circumstances,  any  of  the  newly-organized 
schools  are  entitled  to  a  larger  sum  than  they  will  receive  under  the  appor- 
tionment, then  the  Board  of  Education  are  required  to  make  for  them  such 
further  allowance  out  of  the  said  school  moneys  as  may  be  just  and  proper. 
But  "  if  the  school  moneys  apportioned  agreeably  to  this  section  shall  ex- 
ceed the  necessary  and  legal  expenses  of  either  of  the  schools  or  societies 
provided  for  in  this  act,  the  board  shall  authorize  the  payment  only  of  such 
necessary  and  legal  expenses ;  any  balance  remaining  in  deposit  at  the  end 
of  each  year  shall  be  paid  by  the  Board  of  Education  into  the  city  treasury, 
and  any  deficiency  to  meet  the  necessary  and  legal  expenses  of  either  of  the 
said  schools  or  societies  shall  be  supplied  by  the  Common  Council,  in  antici- 
pation of  the  annual  tax  for  the  support  of  common  schools,  as  provided  by 
section  5  of  this  act." 

Now,  what  are  these  "necessary  and  legal  expenses"  to  which  the  school 
moneys  are  to  be  applied  ? 

The  words  must  have  the  same  meaning  in  their  application  to  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  and  the  ward  schools,  because  the  Society  participates  in 
these  moneys  only  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  the  ward 
schools. 

The  learned  gentleman  contends  that  the  Public  School  Society  has  the 
right,  under  the  term  "  necessary  and  legal  expenses,"  to  build  new  school- 
houses  whenever  it  shall  deem  proper.  If  this  is  so,  and  if  the  building  of 
new  school-houses  is  a  necessary  and  legal  expense,  within  the  meaning  of 
the  act,  then,  if  the  cost  of  erection  of  a  new  school-house  should  exceed 
the  sum  apportioned  to  the  Society,  the  Board  of  Education  would  be 
bound  to  certify  the  fact  to  the  Common  Council,  and  the  Common  Council 
would  be  bound  to  provide  for  the  deficiency  by  tax,  and  the  way  is  clear 
for  the  Society  to  extend  their  schools  when  and  where  they  please. 

By  parity  of  reasoning,  the  officers  of  the  ward  schools  have  a  right  to 
establish  new  schools  of  their  own  motion,  without  the  interference  of  the 
Board  of  Education,  because  the  ward  schools  and  the  Public  School  Soci- 
ety stand  on  the  same  footing  precisely  with  regard  to  these  school  moneys. 
If  the  building  of  new  school-houses  is,  upon  a  just  construction  of  the  act, 
one  of  the  "  necessary  and  legal  expenses  "  of  the  Public  School  Society,  it 
must  be  also  one  of  the  necessary  and  legal  expenses  of  the  ward  schools ; 
and  we  are  thus  driven  to  a  conclusion  entirely  at  variance  with  the  whole 
scope  and  tenor  of  the  act,  and  with  many  of  its  positive  provisions. 

No  person  who  reads  the  act  can  doubt  for  a  moment  what  are  the 
"  necessary  and  legal  expenses  "  of  the  ward  schools,  to  which  the  school 
moneys  may  be  applied.  They  are,  upon  the  most  liberal  construction,  the 


556  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

annual  expenses  required  to  keep  up  the  school — payment  of  teachers,  fuel, 
ordinary  repairs,  stationery,  &c. ;  and  they  cannot  be  applied  to  building  or 
hiring  school-houses  for  new  schools,  because  the  power  of  establishing  new 
schools,  and  raising  the  requisite  funds  for  that  purpose,  is  placed  in  the 
Board  of  Education. 

If,  then,  the  ward  schools  have  no  power  to  expend  the  school  moneys 
annually  apportioned  to  them  in  the  establishment  of  new  schools,  how  can 
the  Public  School  Society  make  such  an  application  of  the  school  moneys 
apportioned  to  them,  when  they  participate  in  these  moneys  only  in  the 
same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  with  the  ward  schools  ? 

Let  the  Society  point  out  the  clause  or  section  in  the  act  of  1844  which 
gives  them  this  power. 

An  express  authority  was  given  them  thus  to  use  the  school  moneys  by 
the  act  of  April  5,  1817 — the  act  of  1842  was  supposed  to  take  it  away ;  the 
13th  section  of  that  act  declaring  that,  so  far  as  related  to  the  distribution 
of  the  school  moneys,  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  should  be 
considered  as  district  schools  of  the  city. 

This  power  was  restored  by  the  13th  section  of  the  act  of  1843,  which 
authorized  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  to  appropriate  all 
moneys  received  by  them  by  virtue  of  that  act  "  to  any  of  the  purposes  of 
common  school  instruction,  including  the  support  of  normal  schools,  which 
they  were  authorized  by  law  to  do  before  the  passage  of  that  act :  Provided, 
however,  that  the  fee  of  all  real  estate  purchased  under  that  act  shall  vest  in 
the  city  and  county  of  New  York." 

The  llth  section  of  the  act  of  1844,  corresponding  to  the  13th  section 
of  the  act  of  1843,  omits  this  power  altogether,  except  as  it  regards  the  nor- 
mal schools.  Its  language  is  as  follows  : 

And  said  schools  (i.  «.,  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  with 
others)  shall  participate  in  the  apportionment  of  the  school  moneys  in  the 
same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  herein  provided,  in  respect  to  such 
schools  as  may  be  organized  under  this  act,  or  which  shall  have  been  organ- 
ized under  the  act  passed  April  11, -1842,  or  the  amended  act  passed  April 
18,  1843,  and  including  the  support  of  normal  schools  of  the  Public  School 
Society  for  the  education  of  teachers  employed,  or  to  be  employed,  in  any 
of  the  schools,  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act.  Titles  to  all  school 
property,  real  or  personal,  hereafter  purchased  from  moneys  derived  from 
the  distribution  of  the  school  fund,  or  raised  by  taxation  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  shall  be  vested  in  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalfy  of  said  city. 

Now,  why  was  this  power,  to  the  Public  School  Society  so  expressly 
given  in  the  act  of  1843,  stricken  out  of  the  act  of  1844  ? 

Because,  as  we*  have  been  told,  the  act  of  1844  is  sufficiently  clear  with- 
out it. 

Is  it  so  ?  Was  it,  then,  stricken  out  at  the  instance,  or  with  the  sanction 
or  concurrence,  of  the  friends  of  the  Public  School  Society,  because  the  act 
of  1844,  in  its  other  provisions  and  clauses,  was  so  clear  in  support  of  the 
claims  of  the  Society  as  to  render  this  clause  unnecessary  ? 

Where  are  those  other  clauses  and  provisions  ?  The  learned  counsel  has 
referred  us  to  but  one,  but  that  one  he  has  considered  conclusive.  It  is  the 


SPEECH   OF  ME.   MASON.  557 

I 

last  sentence  of  the  llth,  section,  just  quoted,  "with  regard  to  the  titles  of 
school  property  ;  and  the  question  has  been  asked  with  an  air  of  triumph, 
Why  provide  for  the  manner  in  which  the  titles  to  real  estate,  thereafter 
purchased  from  moneys  to  be  derived  from  the  distribution  of  the  school 
fund,  shall  be  vested,  if  no  real  estate  whatever  can  be  purchased  from  those 
moneys  ? 

To  this  I  answer : 

1.  That,  if  the  power  is  given  by  this  clause,  it  is  only  given  by  implica- 
tion.   It  is  inferred  from  the  phraseology  that  the  Legislature  intended  to 
give  the  power ;  it  is  not  given  in  express  terms. 

Now,  it  is  a  rule  that  you  cannot,  from  a  single  clause  or  a  few  words  in 
a  statute,  imply  a  power  or  authority,  when  there  are  other  clauses  or  sec- 
tions in  the  statute  which  expressly  prohibit  it.  The  law  or  statute  must  be 
so  construed,  if  possible,  as  to  be  consistent  with  itself. 

You  cannot  infer,  from  the  provisions  about  the  title  to  property  to  be 
purchased  with  the  school  moneys,  that  the  Society  had  a  right  to  expend 
their  surplus  moneys  in  the  establishment  of  new  schools,  when  the  very 
next  section  requires  all  these  surplus  moneys,  after  defraying  their  "  neces- 
sary and  legal  expenses,"  which,  we  have  seen,  means  the  ordinary  current 
expanses,  to  be  paid  into  the  public  treasury.  You  cannot,  I  say,  infer  this, 
if  there  is  any  other  construction  which  will  make  the  two  sections  har- 
monize. 

2.  If  we  look  at  the  13th  section  of  the  act  of  1843,  we  shall  see,  I  think, 
the  true  reason  of  the  section  in  question,  and  the  explanation  of  the  diffi- 
culty. 

That  section  provided  that  the  fee  of  all  real  estate  purchased  under  that 
act  should  vest  in  the  city  and  county  of  New  York.  The  act  of  1844  was 
passed  on  the  7th  of  May,  and  repealed  the  act  of  1843,  or,  at  least,  this  sec- 
tion of  it.  On  the  1st  of  May,  1844,  the  amount  apportioned  to  the  Public 
School  Society,  with  others,  had  been  paid.  It  was  paid  under  the  act  of 
1843,  and  the  Society  had  a  right  to  employ  it  in  the  manner  authorized  by 
that  act.  The  act  of  1844  was  prospective,  and  applied  only  to  moneys 
thereafter  to  be  received.  It  might  have  been  a  question  whether,  if  a  pur- 
chase of  real  estate  were  made  by  the  Public  School  Society  after  the  7th 
of  May,  1844,  out  of  moneys  received  on  the  1st  of  May,  1844,  it  would 
have  been  obliged  to  vest  the  title  in  the  Corporation,  the  act  of  1843  hav- 
ing been  repealed ;  and,  to  obviate  any  doubt  on  this  point,  the  section  in 
the  law  of  1844  was  doubtless  passed. 

If  it  were  necessary  to  adduce  any  authority  in  support  of  the  views  I 
have  taken  of  this  whole  subject,  it  is  at  hand — and  authority  which  ought 
to  be,  with  the  Public  School  Society,  perfectly  decisive.  It  is  that  of  their 
own  recorded  opinions,  expressed  not  once,  or  twice,  or  casually,  or  inadver- 
tently, but  frequently  and  deliberately,  from  year  to  year. 

The  position  now  taken  by  its  learned  advocate  is,  that  the  acts  of  1842 
and  1844  have  not  taken  away  any  of  the  powers  which  the  Society  formerly 
possessed,  and  were  not  framed  with  that  intent,  but  that  the  right  of  the 
Public  School  Society  to  establish  new  schools  with  the  public  moneys,  and 


558  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

to  have  those  schools  supported  at  the  public  expense,  still  exists  in  full 
vigor ;  that  the  onty  object  of  the  new  system  was  to  supply  the  wants 
which  the  Society  could  not  satisfy  ;  in  fine,  that  the  new  system  only  came 
in  aid  of  the  Society,  and  that  the  two  systems  were  intended,  and  wisely 
intended,  to  operate  side  by  side,  I  think  the  expression  was. 

Now,  let  us  look  at  the  published  documents  of  the  Society. 

In  the  thirty-seventh  annual  report,  for  1842,  published  shortly  after  the 
act  of  April,  1842,  they  say,  in  reference  to  that  act : 

It  has  pleased  the  Legislature  of  our  State  to  enact  a  statute  which,  the 
trustees  fear,  will  result  in  subjecting  their  noble  institution  to  the  blighting 
influence  of  party  strife  and  sectarian  animosity.  The  glory  of  their  system, 
its  uniformity,  its  equality  of  privilege  and  action,  its  freedom  from  all  that 
could  justly  offend,  its  peculiar  adaptation  to  a  floating  population,  embrac- 
ing an  immense  operative  mass,  unable,  from  their  circumstances,  to  devote 
many  years  to  educational  pursuits,  is  dimmed,  they  fear,  forever. 

How  can  this  be,  if  the  doctrine  now  contended  for  be  true  ?  If  this 
Society  has  the  same  power  now  which  it  formerly  possessed,  of  extending 
its  schools  ad  libitum,  how  is  the  glory  of  the  system  dimmed  in  the  least 
degree  ?  Is  it  because  the  officers  elected  by  the  people  can  establish  com- 
mon schools  without  the  intervention  of  the  Society,  and  that  the  exclusive 
right  of  the  Society  is  taken  away,  or  because  the  power  of  establishing  new 
schools  was  considered  as  altogether  lost  ? 

But  to  this  same  report  is  appended  a  sketch  of  the  rise  and  progress  of 
the  Public  School  Society — an  extremely  interesting  document,  which  ought 
to  be  read  by  all  who  wish  to  become  acquainted  with  the  history  of  com- 
mon school  education  in  this  city. 

On  page  37  we  read  as  follows : 

In  April,  1842,  by  hasty  legislation,  an  act  was  passed,  materially  alter- 
ing the  existing  arrangement  and  supervision  of  the  schools  and  the  distri- 
bution of  the  school  moneys,  &c.,  and  contravening  the  special  statutes 
under  which  this  Society  had  hitherto  acted. 

How  are  we  to  understand  this,  if  all  the  powers  of  the  Society  are  in 
full  force,  and  the  new  system  is  only  auxiliary  to  the  old  ?  The  admission 
of  new  schools  to  participate  in  the  school  moneys  is  no  contravention  of 
any  special  statutes  under  which  the  Society  had  acted,  for  new  schools  had 
before  been  admitted  to  a  participation  of  those  moneys  without  a  murmur 
from  the  Society.  Besides,  they  had  as  much  money  under  the  new  law  as 
under  the  old.  How,  then,  did  the  new  law  contravene  the  old,  except  by 
taking  away  some  of  the  powers  of  the  Society  ?  and  what  powers  were 
taken  away,  but  those  of  extending  their  schools  indefinitely  ? 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  thirty-eighth  annual  report,  for  1843,  published 
shortly  after  the  act  of  April,  1843.  In  that  report  they  say  : 

At  the  time  of  their  last  report,  the  trustees  were  under  painful  appre- 
hensions as  to  the  future  prospects  of  the  institution,  induced  by  the  then 
recent  enactment  of  the  law  of  April,  1842,  the  operation  of  which,  they 
much  feared,  would  paralyze  the  public  school  system,  and  probably  result 
in  the  dissolution  of  the  Society.  They  have  now  the  satisfactto-  nf  «taMno 
that,  on  their  application,  the  Legislature  passed  an  amendatorj  . 


SPEECH   OF   MR.    MASON.  559 

although  not  granting  all  that  was  asked  for,  has  rendered  the  law  alluded 
to  more  clear  and  less  objectionable,  by  the  adoption  of  one  very  essential 
and  other  important  features.  Under  the  act  as  it  now  stands,  the  board 
hope  to  be  able  not  only  to  continue  their  present  schools,  but  also  to  make 
gradual  additions  to  them ;  for  they  feel  assured  that  the  eminent  advan- 
tages they  derive  from  long  experience,  especially  in  their  economical 
arrangements,  will  enable  the  Public  School  Society  to  enlarge  their  school 
accommodations  out  of  an  appropriation  that  would  scarcely  sustain  them 
upon  any  other  foundation. 

We  can  be  at  no  loss  to  divine  what  that  one  very  essential  feature  was 
which  the  Legislature  had  inserted  in  the  law  of  1843  ;  for  the  trustees  ex- 
pressly say  that,  by  virtue  of  it,  they  would  be  able  to  make  gradual  addi- 
tions to  their  schools  out  cf  their  appropriation.  It  was  the  clause  in  the 
13th  section,  before  alluded  to,  authorizing  them  to  "  appropriate  all  moneys 
received  by  them  by  virtue  of  that  act,  to  any  of  the  purposes  of  common 
school  instruction,  including  the  support  of  normal  schools,  which  they 
were  authorized  by  law  to  do  before  the  passage  of  that  act." 

Here,  then,  we  have  again  the  deliberate  opinion  of  the  trustees,  ex- 
pressed in  no  equivocal  terms,  that  this  clause  of  the  act  of  1843  restored  to 
them  the  power  of  adding  to  the  number  of  their  schools,  which  had  been 
taken  away  by  the  act  of  1842. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Their  next  annual  report  was  dated  January  1,  }845. 
In  that  report  they  say : 

By  the  provision  of  the  act  of  April,  1843,  sufficient  means  having  been 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  board,  they  availed  themselves  of  it,  and  have 
erected  a  new  public  school  on  Thirteenth  street,  and  •  also  several  new  pri- 
mary schools  in  desirable  locations. 

Thus  reiterating  the 'fact  that  their  power  to  increase  the  number  of  their 
schools  was  derived  from  the  provision  of  the  act  of  1843,  which  placed 
sufficient  means  at  their  disposal. 

They  then  add  as  follows  :' 

By  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  April,  1844,  it  is  understood  the  board 
are  prohibited  from  the  further  erection  of  buildings  ;  and  it  is  even  doubt- 
ed whether  they  are  authorized  to  pay  rent  on  school  premises,  or  the  inter- 
est on  the  large  debt,  which,  in  the  absence  of  an  adequate  tax,  they  were 
induced  to  incur  by  mortgaging  several  of  the  school-buildings  from  time 
to  time  during  a  series  of  years  past,  in  order  to  meet,  as  far  as  practicable, 
the  pressing  wants  of  a  rapidly-increasing  population.  Should  application 
be  made  to  the  Legislature,  at  its  next  session,  for  relief  in  the  premises,  it 
can  hardly  be  doubted  that  it  will  be  granted. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  took, 
from  the  very  beginning,  the  same  view  of  the  law  which  the  committee 
have  done,  and  that  they  thought  it  so  clear,  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to 
publish  it  from  year  to  year  to  the  world  as  the  only  true  interpretation. 
They  had  not  then,  nor  until  a  comparatively  recent  period,  discovered  that 
the  new  system  was  only  an  auxiliary  to  the  old,  designed  to  provide  addi- 
tional schools  for  those  whom  the  Society  could  not  or  did  not  reach  ;  and 
it  ought  not  to  be  a  matter  of  surprise  or  disappointment  to  them  if  this 
board  should,  on  examination,  entertain  the  same  opinions  as  to  the  mean- 


560  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

ing  of  the  law  which  the  trustees  of  the  Society  themselves  have  so  fre- 
quently and  deliberately  expressed. 

The  construction  for  which  the  committee  have  contended,  is  one  which 
will  not  interfere  with  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  established 
before  the  act  of  1844.  It  leaves  them,  as  the  law  of  that  year  left  them,  in 
the  enjoyment  of  all  their  privileges,  and  with  a  fund  amply  sufficient  for 
all  their  necessary  and  legal  expenses. 

The  trustees  of  that  Society  now  have  under  their  care  eighteen  public 
schools,  in  which  were  instructed,  during  the  last  year,  14,103  children,  and 
fifty-six  primaries,  or  schools  for  small  children,  having  8,108  children,  and 
two  public  and  six  primary  schools  for  colored  children,  in  which  1,181 
pupils  were  taught ;  making  an  aggregate  of  23,392  *  pupils  taught  in 
eighty-two  schools  under  their  jurisdiction  during  the  last  year. 

The  school  moneys  apportioned  to  the  several  schools  and  societies  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  for  the  year  1846,  amounted  to  $189,107.17;  of  which 
sum  the  Public  School  Society  received,  for  their  twenty  public  and  sixty- 
two  primaries,  $122,184.99,  or  two  thirds  of  the  whole ;  while  the  ward 
schools,  under  the  immediate  care  of  the  ward  officers,  received  for  their 
nineteen  ward  schools  and  primaries  the  sum  of  $55,356.08  ;  the  difference 
between  these  two  sums  and  the  whole  amount  apportioned  being  distrib- 
uted* to  the  orphan  asylums  and  other  corporate  schools  provided  for  by 
law. 

The  resolution  now  before  you  will  not,  it  is  believed,  affect  any  of  the 
schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  except  two  or  three  primaries  estab- 
lished since  the  passage  of  the  act  of  May,  1844,  nor  deprive  the  Society  of 
any  part  of  the  moneys  which  may  be  necessary  to  •  enable  them  to  sustain 
their  schools  on  the  most  liberal  scale ;  but  I  respectfully  submit  and  insist 
that  this  board  are  bound  to  see  that  the  public  moneys  under  their  control 
are  not  appropriated  in  a  manner  or  for  purposes  contravening  the  provi- 
sions of  the  law  which  we  are  called  upon  to  execute,  and  therefore  hope 
that  the  resolution  proposed  by  the  committee  will  be  adopted. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Mason's  remarks,  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion adjourned  to  the  following  Wednesday,  the  24th  of  March, 
at  which  meeting  Hon.  JOSEPH  L.  BOSWOKTU  continued  the  *eply 
to  Mr.  Ketchum,  and  spoke  as  follows : 

MR.  PRESIDENT:  I  should  not  have  entered  into  this  discussion  with 
such  formal  preparation  as  the  papers  before  me  would  seem  to  indicate,  but 
for  a  single  consideration.  The  able  argument  which  was  made  before  this 
board  at  its  last  meeting,  in  behalf  of  the  Public  School  Society,  has  since 
been  repeated  to  the  people,  by  the  publication  of  it  in  pamphlet  form. 
This  indicates  that  the  Public  School  Society  has  great  confidence  in  the 
soundness  of  its  positions,  and  regards  the  questions  under  discussion  —and 

*  See  the  Fortieth  Annual  Report  of  the  Public  School  Society,  for  1847,  for  these 
particulars. 


SPEECH   OF   ME.    BOSWOBTH.  561 

justly  so,  I  concede— as  questions  of  important  public  concern.  Entertain- 
ing very  different  views  from  those  presented  in  behalf  of  that  Society,  I 
have  deemed  it  due  to  the  questions  before  the  board,  and  to  the  interest 
which  the  people  of  this  city  have  in  the  decision  of  these  questions,  to  not 
only  examine  them  with  care,  but  to  reduce  my  views  to  form,  that  I  might 
reexamine  them  before  attempting  to  present  them  here,  and  thus  be  the 
better  able  to  judge  of  their  accuracy.  This  is  my  apology,  if  any  be  neces- 
sary, for  departing,  on  this  occasion,  from  the  usual  manner  of  discussing 
questions  before  the  board. 

The  practical  questions  for  the  Board  of  Education  to  decide  are  these  : 

To  what  extent  has  the  Public  School  Society  a  right  to  participate  in 
the  "  school  moneys,"  since  the  passage  of  the  act  of  May  7th,  1844,  entitled 
"  An  Act  more  Effectually  to  Provide  for  Common  School  Education  in  the 
City  and  County  of  New  York  "  ? 

What  portion  of  those  moneys  can  this  board  "  authorize  "  to  be  paid 
annually  to  that  Society  ? 

These  questions  should  be  determined  accurately.  This  board  has  a 
duty  to  perform  in  apportioning  these  moneys,  and  its  members  desire  to 
know  what  that  duty  is,  and  to  discharge  it  faithfully  and  firmly.  Their 
business  is  to  execute  the  law  as  they  find  it,  and  not  to  pervert  it,  or  en- 
large or  restrict  the  clear  meaning  of  its  provisions  by  construction  or  infer- 
ence. 

By  the  act  of  May  7th,  1844,  certain  moneys  which  this  board  must 
apportion  are  designated  as  "  school  moneys,  or  moneys  for  the  purposes  of 
common  schools  ;  "  as  contradistinguished  from  moneys  to  be  raised  by  tax- 
ation "  for  the  erecting,  purchasing,  or  leasing  of  school-houses,  and  procur- 
ing the  sites  therefor,  and  the  fitting  up  thereof."  Sees.  5  and  12 ;  and 
1  R,  S.,  183,  sec.  2. 

The  moneys  usually  denominated  "  school  moneys  "  consist  of  the  amount 
annually  received  for  the  use  of  the  common  schools  of  this  city  from  the 
common  school  fund  of  the  State,  an  equal  sum  to  be  raised  by  taxation, 
and  also  a  further  sum  "  equal  to  one  twentieth  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  value 
of  the  real  and  personal  property  in  the  said  city,  liable  to  be  assessed 
therein." 

The  act  says  (sec.  5)  that  these  school  moneys  shall  "  be  applied  exchi. 
sively  to  the  purposes  of  common  schools  in  the  said  city." 

By  section  12,  it  is  declared  to  "  be  the  duty  of  the  Board  of  Education 
to  apportion  all  the  school  moneys,  except  so  much  as  shall  have  been  raised 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  and  organizing  r.ew  schools,,  to  each  of  the 
several  schools  provided  for  by  this  act,  and  the  acts  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding section,  according  to  the  number  of  children  over  four  and  under 
sixteen  years  of  age,  who  shall  have  actually  attended  such  school  without 
charge  the  preceding  year." 

By  section  14,  the  board  is  required  to  "  file  with  the  chamberlain  of 

said  city  and  county,  on  or  before  the  first  Monday  of  April  in  each  year,  a 

copy  of  their  apportionment,  stating  the  amount  thereof  to  be  paid  to  the 

commissioners  of  each  ward,  and  to  the  trustees,,  managers,  or  directors  of 

36 


562  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  several  schools  enumerated  in  the  llth  section  of  this  act."  The  cham- 
berlain may  pay  on  the  drafts  of  the  commissioners  or  of  the  trustees  the 
sums  severally  "  apportioned  "  to  them,  "  but  no  such  drafts  shall  be  paid 
unless  countersigned  by  the  president  and  clerk  for  the  time  being  of  the 
Board  of  Education." 

Section  6  declares  that  "  the  said  Common  Council  shall,  on  application 
of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  at  such  monthly  or  quarterly  periods  subse- 
quent to  the  1st  of  May  in  each  year  as  they  may  determine,  direct  that  a 
sum  or  sums  of  money  equal  in  the  aggregate  to  the  amount  last  received 
by  the  chamberlain  of  said  city  and  county  from  the  common  school  fund, 
together  with  the  sum  so  received  from  the  school  fund,  and  also  one  twen- 
tieth of  one  per  cent.,  as  provided  in  the  preceding  section,  be  deposited  by 
him  in  one  of  the  incorporated  banks  of  the  said  city,"  to  the  credit  of  the 
commissioners  of  the  ward  schools,  and  of  the  schools  and  societies  men- 
tioned in  the  llth  section  of  the  act,  subject  to  the  drafts  of  such  commis- 
sioners, and  of  some  person  duly  authorized  by  such  societies  to  draw  for 
them  ;  "  the  said  drafts  to  be  countersigned  "  by  the  president  and  clerk  of 
this  board,  as  provided  by  section  14. 

Such  are  the  moneys  to  be  apportioned,  and  such  is  the  process  by  which 
the  money  is  to  be  drawn  when  apportioned. 

First,  the  board  apportions  the  moneys ;  next,  files  with  the  chamberlain 
a  copy  of  the  apportionment ;  and  lastly,  applies  to  the  Common  Council, 
and,  on  such  application,  the  Common  Council  directs  the  chamberlain  to 
deposit  those  moneys  in  bank  to  the  credit  of  the  commissioners,  societies, 
and  schools  entitled  to  draw  them ;  but,  when  so  deposited,  they  are  to  be 
drawn  by  authority  of  drafts  made  by  such  commissioners,  and  the  author- 
ized agents  or  officers  of  the  schools  or  societies,  and  countersigned  by  the 
president  and  clerk  of  the  board. 

The  provisions  already  cited  contemplate  not  only  an  apportionment  of 
all  the  "  school  moneys,"  but  the  deposit  of  all  of  them,  and  the  receipt  of 
all  of  them  by  the  commissioners,  societies,  and  schools  enumerated  in  the 
llth  section  of  the  act.  But  there  are  other  provisions  which  limit  and 
restrict  the  operation  of  those  above  cited. 

The  llth  section  provides  that  "  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Soci- 
ety," and  also  other  schools  enumerated  in  that  section,  "  shall  participate 
in  the  apportionment  of  the  school  moneys,  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the 
same  extent  as  herein  provided  in  respect  to  such  schools  as  may  be  organ- 
ized under  this  act,  or  which  shall  have  been  organized  under  the  act  passed 
April  llth,  1842 ;  or  the  amended  act,  passed  April  18th,  1843." 

The  question,  then,  is :  To  what  extent  is  it  herein  provided  that  the 
schools  organized  under  the  three  acte  last  named  may  participate  in  the 
apportionment  of  the  school  moneys  ? 

They  cannot  participate  in  the  school  moneys  to  such  an  extent  that  they 
or  their  officers  can  use  a  dollar  of  such  moneys  to  purchase  a  lot,  erect,  or 
hire  a  school-house. 

All  moneys  needed  for  such  purposes  are  raised  under  a  special  power 
contained  in  section  5 ;  and,  when  raised,  can,  by  section  7,  be  only  drawn 


SPEECH   OF  ME.  BOSWORTH.  563 

by  authority  of  a  u  special  appropriation  by  the  said  Board  of  Education  ; 
and  all  drafts  upon  said  funds  shall  be  made  by  the  president  of  the  board, 
countersigned  by  the  clerk,  and  made  payable  to  the  order  of  the  persons  to 
whom  the  same  shall  be  paid." 

If  the  Public  School  Society  can  participate  iu  these  "  school  moneys  " 
to  an  extent  which  will  enable  it  to  use  any  portion  of  them  to  erect  or  hire 
buildings,  or  purchase  lots,  then  it  can  participate  in  them  to  a  greater 
extent  than  the  ward  schools  can,  and  to  an  extent  which  will  enable  it  to 
apply  them  to  uses  to  which  the  ward  schools  are  prohibited  from  applying 
them. 

But  the  llth  section  says  this  Society  "  shall  participate  in  the  same 
manner  and  to  the  same  extent." 

The  12th  section  further  provides,  that  "  if  the  school  moneys  appor- 
tioned agreeably  to  this  section  shall  exceed  the  necessary  and  legal  expenses 
of  either  of  the  schools  or  societies  provided  for  in  this  act,  the  board  shall 
authorize  the  payment  only  of  such  necessary  and  legal  expenses ;  any  bal- 
ance remaining  in  deposit  shall  be  paid  by  the  Board  of  Education  into  the 
city  treasury." 

The  board,  then,  has  a  duty  to  perform  beyond  the  act  of  apportioning, 
filing  a  copy  of  an  apportionment  made  according  to  the  number  of  schol- 
ars taught,  and  applying  to  the  Common  Council  to  direct  a  deposit  of  the 
moneys  thus  apportioned. 

If,  on  making  such  apportionment,  the  board  ascertains  from  the  report 
of  this  Society  that  the  moneys  thus  apportioned  exceed  the  amount  of  the 
actual  annual  expenses  of  the  Society  in  conducting  the  schools  for  which 
the  Society  is  entitled  to  draw,  the  board  is  expressly  prohibited  from 
authorizing  the  payment  of  only  such  actual  expenses.  "When  I  say  actual 
expenses,  I  assume  none  to  have  been  incurred  except  such  as  will  be 
"  necessary  and  legal."  The  necessary  and  legal  expenses  of  an  honest  and 
intelligent  agent  will  not  exceed  the  actual  expenses  of  his  agency. 

"  The  Board  of  Education  shall  authorize  the  payment  only  of  such 
necessary  and  legal  expenses  ;  "  and  "  the  Board  of  Education  shall  pay  any 
balance  remaining  in  deposit  at  the  end  of  each  year  "  "  into  the  city  treas- 
ury." 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  board,  then,  to  keep  all  of  the  moneys  "  appor- 
tioned," beyond  the  amounts  sufficient  to  defray  "  the  necessary  and  legal 
expenses  "  of  the  several  schools  and  societies  within  its  control,  until  the 
end  of  the  year ;  and,  at  the  end  of  each  year,  to  pay  any  balance  remain- 
ing in  deposit  into  the  city  treasury. 

In  this  very  provision  is  contained  a  clear  prohibition  against  the  Public 
School  Society  using  any  of  the  "  school  moneys  "  to  establish  new  schools. 
It  is  a  clear  answer  to  their  claim,  to  have  all  the  moneys  "  apportioned  "  to 
scholars  according  to  numbers  paid  over  to  them  absolutely.  If  the  Legis- 
lature intended  to  allow  them  to  use  surplus  "  school  moneys  "  to  erect  new 
buildings  and  purchase  new  lots,  why  prohibit  the  board  from  authorizing 
the  payment  to  them  of  all  the  moneys  to  which  they  would  be  entitled  by 
an  "  apportionment "  according  to  the  number  of  scholars  taught  ?  Why 


564:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

declare  that  the  board  shall  authorize  "  the  payment  only  of  such  necessary 
and  legal  expenses  "  ? 

If  the  act  be  construed  to  prohibit  the  Society  from  establishing  any  new 
"  common  schools,"  this  provision  is  intelligible  and  easily  executed.  But 
if  the  power  be  conceded  to  the  Society  to  establish  as  many  new  schools  as 
it  may  deem  expedient,  and  the  right  be  also  conceded  to  it  to  use  surplus 
"  school  moneys,"  to  purchase  new  lots,  erect  new  buildings,  and  organize 
new  schools,  then  this  provision  is  unintelligible,  as  this  board  can  never 
conjecture  what  its  legal  expenses  for  any  current  year  will  be ;  and  may 
assume  to  withhold  moneys  to  which  the  Society  has  an  absolute  right,  and 
full  power  to  expend,  when  received,  as  may  suit  its  pleasure. 

The  argument  in  behalf  of  the  Public  School  Society  proves  too  much. 
If  its  construction  of  its  powers  be  correct,  it  can  establish  as  many  new 
schools  as  it  may  deem  expedient,  and  will  be  entitled  to  participate  in  the 
school  moneys  for  instructing  children  in  such  new  schools.  If  this  be  so, 
then  its  powers  and  rights  are  immeasurably  greater  under  the  act  of  May  7. 
1844,  than  they  were  before  the  act  was  passed.  The  12th  section  of  that 
act  provides  that  "  any  deficiency  to  meet  the  necessary  legal  expenses  of 
either  of  the  said  schools  or  societies  shall  be  supplied  by  the  Common 
Council  of  the  said  city,  in  anticipation  of  the  annual  tax  for  the  support 
of  common  schools,  as  provided  in  section  5  of  this  act.  The  Board  of 
Education  shall,  in  all  cases,  certify  to  the  Common  Council  the  cause  of 
such  deficiency,  and  that  the  same  was  unavoidable  ;  and  unless  such  certifi- 
cate be  made,  the  said  Common  Council  may  refuse  to  raise  the  sum  re- 
quired to  meet  such  deficiency." 

It  is  clearly  the  duty  of  the  Common  Council  to  supply  any  deficiency  to 
meet  the  necessary  legal  expenses  of  the  Society  in  conducting  each  and  all 
of  its  schools  which  are  entitled  to  participate  in  the  apportionment  of  the 
school  moneys.  If,  then,  the  Society  may  establish  an  indefinite  number  of 
new  schools,  by  mortgaging  their  property  to  raise  money  to  erect  new 
buildings,  may  supply  those  new  schools  with  teachers,  books,  and  station- 
ery— if  such  acts  are  legal — if  such  new  schools  may  participate  in  the 
school  moneys,  then  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Common  Council  to  raise  any 
amount  which  may  be  required,  in  addition  to  the  school  moneys  appor- 
tioned to  the  Society,  to  defray  the  necessary  expenses  of  conducting  such 
new  schools. 

On  such  a  construction,  the  Public  School  Society  has  an  unlimited  and 
unregulated  power  and  discretion  to  establish  as  many  schools  as  it  may 
deem  expedient,  and  the  Common  Council  must  raise  the  requisite  means  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  conducting  them.  That  Society,  instead  of  being 
restricted  to  a  right  (so  far  as  relates  to  its  right  to  claim  and  apply  public 
funds)  to  use  only  its  surplus  of  school  moneys  in  erecting  new  buildings, 
after  amply  compensating  its  teachers  (as  it  was  restricted  by  the  act  of 
April  5,  1817),  has  now  the  right  to  ask  for,  and  be  furnished  with,  the 
means  to  defray  the  necessary  and  legal  expenses  of  any  number  of  new 
schools  which  it  may  see  fit  to  establish.  A  construction  which  leads  to 
such  conclusions  is  absurd. 


SPEECH   OF   MR.    BO8WORTH.  565 

The  act  of  May  7,  1844,  abrogated  the  power  of  the  Society  to  establish 
new  schools  for  the  purpose  of  merely  increasing  the  number  of  common 
schools,  and,  for  all  practical  purposes,  to  establish  any  new  school.  That 
point  I  will  consider  presently.  I  state  the  proposition  here  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  observing  that,  on  such  a  construction  of  the  act,  there  is  no 
conflict  in  its  provisions,  and  that  each  and  all  of  them  are  intelligible. 

Under  such  a  construction,  the  board  can  easily  determine  what  sum  to 
authorize  to  be  paid  to  this  Society.  The  Society  can,  if  it  has  kept  its 
accounts  properly,  report  to  the  board  how  much  it  paid,  for  the  year  end- 
ing at  the  date  of  its  last  report,  for  teachers,  books,  stationery,  and  fuel, 
for  the  schools  established  prior  to  May  7,  1844 ;  what  amount  it  paid  for 
rent  of  buildings,  or  for  interest  on  mortgages  of  the  buildings  in  which 
such  schools  were  kept.  The  board  will  authorize  the  payment  of  a  suffi- 
cient amount  of  the  school  moneys  to  defray  the  like  amount  of  expenses 
for  the  current  year.  If,  from  any  "  unavoidable  ''  cause,  they  prove  insuffi- 
cient to-  defray  the  necessary  and  legal  expenses  of  the  current  year,  the 
board  will  give  the  necessary  certificate  to  make  it  compulsory  on  the  Com- 
mon Council  to  supply  the  deficiency.  In  that  way  the  Society  is  certain 
of  receiving  ample  means  to  sustain  and  conduct  efficiently  all  the  schools 
established  when  this  act  was  passed.  If  they  determine  to  establish  more 
schools,  then  it  will  be  because  they  are  determined  to  execute  the  duties 
which  the  officers  elected  under  this  act  were  elected  to  perform.  It  is 
made  the  duty  of  the  officers  elected  under  this  act  to  organize  new  schools 
whenever  and  wherever  they  are  necessary.  Suppose  these  officers  pass  upon 
an  application  for  a  new  school,  and  decide  that  one  is  not  necessary  in  the 
place  designated.  The  officers  of  the  Public  School  Society,  in  their  great- 
er experience  and  sounder  discretion,  determine  it  expedient  to  establish, 
and  do  establish,  one  there.  The  moneys  apportioned  to  the  Society,  after 
paying  its  other  expenses,  are  insufficient  to  defray  any  part  of  the  necessary 
and  legal  expenses  of  this  new  school.  How  can  this  board  certify  that 
such  expenses  were  unavoidable  ?  Unless  this  board  does  so  certify,  the 
Society  has  no  certainty  of  obtaining  money  to  meet  the  deficiency.  And 
yet,  if  its  powers  are  such  as  it  has  urged  here,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Com- 
mon Council  to  supply  that  deficiency. 

The  only  construction  which  can  be  given  to  the  act  which  will  render 
its  provisions  harmonious,  is  this :  The  Public  School  Society  is  deprived 
of  the  power  to  increase  the  number  of  its  schools.  This  board  shall  au- 
thorize the  payment  to  it  of  only  sufficient  moneys  to  defray  the  necessary 
and  legal  expenses  of  "  the  schools  "  which  had  been  established  by  it  on 
the  7th  of  May,  1844  ;  and  if  all  the  moneys  "  apportioned  "  to  it  are  insuf- 
ficient to  defray  those  expenses,  the  deficiencies  shall  be  supplied.  By  that 
rule,  it  will  participate  "  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent "  as 
the  ward  schools.  By  any  other  rule,  it  will  participate  in  a  different  man- 
ner and  to  a  different  extent. 

The  Society  cannot  strengthen  its  claim  by  invoking  that  provision 
which  declares  that  the  moneys  appropriated  shall  "  be  applied  exclusively 
to  the  purposes  of  common  schools." 


566  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

The  erection  of  school-houses,  the  purchase  or  hiring  of  lots,  is  not  a 
"  purpose  "  to  which  the  ward  schools  or  their  officers  can  apply  this  money. 
It  is  not  a  use  to  which  it  can  be  applied  under  the  common  school  law  of 
the  State.  There  is  nothing  in  the  act  to  tolerate  the  position  that  such  a 
class  of  expenditures  is  legitimately  for  common  school  purposes,  when  thc- 
acts  of  that  Society  are  in  question,  and  that  the  same  kind  of  expenditures 
would  not  be  for  common  school  purposes  when  the  acts  of  the  ward  officers 
and  of  this  board  were  in  question. 

Neither  can  that  Society  strengthen  its  claim  by  that  part  of  the  12th 
section  which  provides  that,  "  if  any  school  shall  have  been  '  organized ' 
since  the  last  annual  apportionment,  '  it  shall  be  entitled  to  draw  for  the 
scholars  taught  in  it.'  " 

That  clause  clearly  refers  to  schools  organized  by  the  ward  officers  and 
this  board.  The  3d  section  declares  that  the  schools  organized  under  this 
act  shall  be  designated  "  ward  schools."  The  8th,  9th,  and  10th  sections 
provide  how  these  schools  shall  be  organized.  The  llth  section  provides 
that  the  various  schools  enumerated  in  it  shall  participate  in  the  school 
moneys  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  herein  provided  in 
respect  to  such  schools  as  may  be  organized  under  this  act.  • 

Section  12  provides  for  the  apportionment  of  all  the  school  moneys, 
"  except  so  much  as  shall  have  been  raised  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
and  organizing  new  schools."  Then  comes  the  provision  that,  "  if  any 
school  shall  have  been  organized  since  the  last  apportionment,"  &c. 

Thus  this  clause  incontestably  refers  to  "  any  school  organized  under  this 
act."  The  great  object  for  which  this  act  was  passed  was  to  organize  new 
schools.  The  possibility  of  the  Public  School  Society  organizing  a  new 
school  is  not  alluded  to  throughout  the  act. 

Nothing  can  be  found  to  support  the  claim  of  the  Public  School  Society 
in  the  36th  section  of  the  act,  which  requires  them  to  report  annually  "  the 
whole  number  of  schools  within  their  jurisdiction."  To  make  an  argument 
out  of  that  provision,  it  must  be  assumed  that  this  act  contemplates  that 
the  number  of  their  schools  will  or  may  be  increased.  I  shall  undertake  to 
show  that  the  act  contemplates  that  the  number  of  their  schools  may,  and 
probably  will,  be  diminished;  that  some t subsequent  report  will  show  a 
diminished  number  of  schools  within  their  jurisdiction,  and  that,  too, 
though  they  perform  their  full  and  whole  duty  to  the  public,  and  do  it  well. 

The  New  York  Orphan  Asylum  School,  the  Roman  Catholic  Orphan 
Asylum  School,  the  school  of  the  Mechanics'  Society,  the  Harlem  School, 
the  Yorkville  Public  School,  the  Manhattanville  Free  School,  the  Hamilton 
Free  School,  the  Institution  for  the  Blind,  the  school  of  the  Leake  and 
Watts  Orphan  House,  the  school  connected  with  the  Almshouse,  and  the 
school  of  the  association  for  the*  benefit  of  the  Colored  Orphans,  also  have 
the  right,  as  well  as  "  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,"  to  partici- 
pate in  the  school  moneys  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  the 
ward  schools.  The  trustees  or  managers  of  these  various  schools  and  socie- 
ties are  also  required,  by  section  36,  to  report  annually  and  severally  "  the 
whole  number  of  schools  within  their  jurisdiction."  And  yet,  by  section 


SPEECH   OF   MR.    BOSWORTU.  567 

11,  it  is  only  "  the  school,"  the  single  and  solitary  school  of  each  of  them, 
that  can  participate  in  the  school  moneys.  Either  of  those  societies  can 
make  as  strong  an  argument  on  section  36,  in  favor  of  the  right  of  a  "  new 
school "  of  theirs  to  participate  in  the  school  moneys,  as  the  Public  School 
Society. 

That  Society  cannot  strengthen  its  claim  by  appealing  to  the  concluding 
clause  of  section  11,  which  provides  that  "  titles  to  all  school  property,  real 
or  personal,  hereafter  purchased  from  all  moneys  derived  from  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  school  fund,  or  raised  by  taxation  in  the  city  of  New  York,  shall 
be  vested  in  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  of  the  city  and  county 
of  New  York." 

Before  the  act  of  May  7,  1844,  was  passed,  that  Society  held  a  large 
amount  of  moneys  derived  from  the  "  distribution  of  the  school  fund,"  and 
raised  by  taxation  in  the  city  of  New  York,  which,  by  the  act  of  April  18, 

1843,  that  Society  was  authorized  to  expend  in  purchasing  lots  and  erecting 
buildings.     But  the  latter  act  required  the  title  to  all  school  property  pur- 
chased with  such  moneys  to  be  vested  in  the  city  Corporation. 

Those  moneys  had  not  been  wholly  expended  when  the  act  of  May  7, 

1844,  was  passed.     The  act  of  April  18,  1843,  was  repealed  by  the  act  of 
May  7,  1844. 

Hence,  the  latter  act  required  the  Society,  if  it  used  that  balance  to  pur- 
chase school  property,  to  vest  the  title  to  all  property,  which  they  should 
thereafter  purchase  with  those  moneys,  in  the  Corporation.  The  title  to  all 
they  had  previously  bought  with  it  had  been  already  so  vested,  if  the 
officers  of  that  Society  did  their  duty.  The  Legislature  did  not  intend,  by 
repealing  the  act  of  1843,  to  give  that  surplus  to  the  Society.  That  body 
intended  that,  though  real  or  personal  estate  should  be  purchased  after  the 
repeal  of  the  act  of  1843,  with  that  money,  that  the  title  to  such  real  or  per- 
sonal estate  should  be  vested  in  the  Corporation. 

This  view  answers  the  whole  argument  made  in  behalf  of  the  Public 
School  Society,  so  far  as  it  was  based  on  the  terms  and  provisions  of  the  act 
of  1844. 

The  50th  section  of  this  act  repeals  the  acts  of  April  11,  1842,  April  18, 
1843,  and  all  other  acts  specially  applicable  to  public  or  common  schools  in 
this  city  and  county,  so  far  as  the  same  are  inconsistent  with  the  provisions 
of  this  act. 

The  act  of  1842  was  unlike  the  act  of  1844.  The  13th  section  provided 
that  "  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  "  "  shall  be  subject  to  the 
general  jurisdiction  of  the  said  commissioners  of  the  respective  wards  in 
which  any  of  the  said  schools  now  are  or  hereafter  may  be  located."  The 
act  of  1843  had  the  same  provision.  This  clearly  contemplated  the  estab- 
lishment of  new  schools  by  the  Society.  There  is  no  such  provision  in  the 
act  of  1844. 

The  15th  section  of  the  act  of  1842  made  it  the  duty  of  the  board  to 
apportion  the  school  moneys  among  all  the  schools  in  proportion  to  the 
number  taught ;  and  section  16  made  it  the  duty  of  the  ward  commission- 
ers, when  they  received  this  money,  to  apply  it  at  once  to  the  use  of  these 


568  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

schools  according  to  the  apportionment.  The  act  of  1843  had  the  same 
provisions. 

By  the  act  of  1844,  the  money  which  goes  to  this  Society  is  not  paid  to 
the  ward  commissioners,  but  is  so  far  placed  under  the  control  of  this  board, 
that  the  board  is  prohibited  from  authorizing  the  payment  of  only  enough 
of  the  moneys  apportioned,  to  defray  the  necessary  and  legal  expenses  of 
the  Society  in  conducting  the  schools  entitled  to  participate  in  these 
moneys. 

Why  could  not  that  Society,  after  it  had  received  an  apportionment 
under  the  act  of  1843,  use  those  moneys  to  establish  new  schools  ?  The 
reasons  are  these:  the  llth  section  of  that  act  repealed  all  acts  "and  all 
provisions  therein  providing  for,  or  directing,  or  concerning  the  disbursing 
or  appropriation  of  the  funds  created  or  applicable  to  common  school  edu- 
cation in  the  city  and  county  of  New  York,"  so  far  as  the  same  were  incon- 
sistent with  the  provisions  of  that  act. 

That  act  made  two  funds :  one,  to  organize  new  schools,  which  was 
placed  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  ward  officers  ;  the  other,  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  schools  fully  organized.  Hence,  although  the  Society  had 
more  money  apportioned  to  it,  and  received  more  money,  than  was  required 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  its  established  schools,  it  could  not  use  the  surplus 
to  establish  new  schools.  Section  9  of  that  act,  like  section  5  of  the  act  of 
1844,  directed  that  the  school  moneys  thus  apportioned  should  be  applied 
exclusively  to  the  purposes  "  of  common  schools  in  said  city." 

The  general  act  in  relation  to  the  common  schools  of  the  State,  which, 
by  the  act  of  1842.  was  extended  to  this  city,  did  not  provide  for  using  such 
moneys  to  purchase  lots,  or  hire  or  erect  school-houses,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
prohibited  such  use  of  them.  It  was,  then,  inconsistent  with  the  provisions 
of  the  act  of  1842  for  the  Public  School  Society  to  use  those  moneys  for  any 
such  purpose.  In  1843,  the  Legislature  authorized  them  to  use  the  school 
moneys  which  they  received  for  "  any  of  the  purposes  of  common  school 
instruction,  which  they  were  authorized  by  law  to  do,"  before  the  passage 
of  the  act  of  April  11,  1842.  This  amendment  gave  authority  to  do  that 
which  the  act  of  1842  did  not  allow  to  be  done. 

There  is  no  such  authority  contained  in  the  act  of  1844.  The  latter  act 
only  gives  the  right  to  "  participate  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same 
extent "  as  the  ward  schools.  The  extent  to  which  the  ward  schools  can 
participate,  is  such  as  will  defray  the  expense  of  schools  fully  organized  and 
established.  Neither  the  ward  officers  nor  this  board  can  employ  these 
moneys  to  establish  new  schools. 

The  Public  School  Society,  in  their  annual  report  for  1845,  declared  that 
they  understood  such  to  be  the  fair  meaning  and  force  of  the  act  of  1844. 
At  page  4  of  that  report,  the  Society  expressed  its  own  deliberate  judgment 
of  its  powers  under  the  act  of  May  7,  1844,  in  these  words  : 

By  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  April,  1844  (meaning  May  7,  1844,  as 
that  is  the  date  of  the  passage  of  this  act),  it  is  understood  the  board  are 
prohibited  from  the  further  erection  of  buildings :  and  it  is  even  doubted 
•whether  they  are  authorized  to  pay  rent  on  school  premises,  or  interest'  on 


SPEECH   OF   MB.    B08WORTH.  569 

the  large  debt,  which,  in  the  absence  of  an  adequate  tax,  they  were  induced 
to  incur  by  mortgaging  several  of  the  school-buildings,  from  time  to  time, 
during  a  series  of  years  past,  in  order  to  meet,  as  far  as  practicable,  the 
pressing  wants  of  a  rapidly-increasing  population. 

The  Society  now  claim  not  only  that  such  opinion  was  erroneous,  but 
that  they  have  the  power,  under  that  act,  to  establish  as  many  schools  and 
erect  as  many  buildings  as  they  please ;  that  such  schools  will  be  entitled  to 
participate  in  the  "  school  moneys,"  and  that  such  moneys  may  be  applied 
to  defray  the  expense  of  erecting  such  new  buildings.  The  view  of  the  law 
which  the  Society  expressed  in  their  annual  report  for  1845,  was  undoubt- 
edly correct  ;  but  that  view  the  Society  now  repudiate. 

The  last  and  main  ground  on  which  the  Public  School  Society  rests  its 
claims,  is  the  power  given  by  the  act  incorporating  it.  Its  learned  advocate 
contended  that  this  Society  "  had  a  right  by  law — the  law  of  its  creation — 
to  build  as  many  school-houses  and  open  as  many  schools  as  it  pleased ; " 
that  this  right  was  indestructible,  and  that  the  Legislature  could  not  abro- 
gate it. 

To  the  first  proposition,  in  the  broad  terms  in  which  it  is  expressed,  I 
cannot  subscribe. 

The  Society,  in  its  origin,  was  an  eleemosynary  institution — it  was  a 
charity  school.  The  objects  of  its  bounty  were  precisely  defined.  The  act 
of  incorporation  (passed  April  9,  1805)  recites  "  that  De  Witt  Clinton,  and 
others,  have  associated  themselves  for  the  laudable  purpose  of  establishing  a 
free  school  in  the  city  of  New  York,  for  the  education  of  the  children  of 
persons  in  indigent  circumstances,  and  who  do  not  belong  to,  or  are  not  pro- 
vided for  by,  any  religious  society." 

The  2d  section  of  that  act  gave  power  to  the  trustees,  for  the  time  being, 
to  establish  two  or  more  free  schools,  when  a  majority  of  the  members  of 
the  Corporation,  at  a  general  meeting,  by  a  majority  of  all  of  them,  "  shall 
judge  it  expedient,  for  the  more  fully  extending  the  benefits  of  education 
to  poor  children,  agreeably  to  the  benevolent  design  of  the  said  associa- 
tion." 

The  act  of  April  1,  1808,  extended  "  the  powers  "  of  the  Society  "  to  all 
children  who  are  the  proper  objects  of  a  gratuitous  education,"  and  changed 
its  name  to  that  of  "  The  Free  School  Society  of  New  York." 

This  was  the  whole  extent  of  its  powers  down  to  January  28,  1826.  I 
deny  that  the  Society  had  the  right  to  establish  more  schools  than  could  be 
employed  to  teach  children  who  were  "  the  proper  objects  of  a  gratuitous 
education."  Its  powers,  conferred  by  the  law  of  its  creation,  had  this 
extent,,  and  no  more. 

Conceding  these  powers  to  be  irrepealable,  and  the  argument  in  behalf 
of  the  Society  establishes  an  abstract  right,  which,  practically,  is  a  mere 
abstraction,  and  nothing  else.  It  can  have  no  occasion  to  increase  the  num- 
ber of  its  schools  to  instruct  children  of  this  description.  A  tithe  of  its 
established  schools  will  accommodate  all  the  indigent  children  who  are  the 
proper  objects  of  a  gratuitous  education.  If  by  that  phrase  is  meant  such 
children  as  cannot  acquire  a  common  school  education  without  the  exercise 


570  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

of  the  bounty  of  the  benevolent  members  of  this  Society,  then  it  may  be 
answered  that  this  city  contains  now  no  such  children.  If  there  are  not 
schools  enough  to  accommodate  all  children,  whether  their  parents  are  rich 
or  poor,  or  do  or  do  not  belong  to  any  religious  society,  then  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  ward  officers,  and  of  this  board,  to  supply  the  deficiency.  We  have 
no  pauper  scholars  in  this  city.  None  need  go  a-begging  for  admission  to  a 
common  school.  All  are  provided  for.  The  power  of  the  Society  to  pro- 
vide schools  for  pauper  children  has  been  reduced  to  a  skeleton  abstraction,' 
by  the  intelligence,  liberality,  and  humanity  of  our  citizens.  They  have 
provided  a  system  under  which  all  can  be  educated  on  common  terms,  with 
common  rights,  and  without  any  one  having  the  power  to  point  to  any 
other  as  a  beneficiary.  Each  can  feel  the  consciousness  of  a  common  inde- 
pendence, of  equality  of  privileges  and  rights. 

In  1826,  an  act  was  passed  by  which  this  Society  was  made  the  agent  or 
instrument  of  the  public  in  disseminating  common  school  education.  That 
act  made  it  its  duty  to  "  provide  for  the  education  of  all  children  in  the 
city  not  otherwise  provided  for,  to  the  extent  of  its  means."  By  that  act, 
the  same  agency  was  entrusted  to  that  Society  which,  by  the  act  of  May  7, 
1844,  is  entrusted  to  the  officers  elected  under  the  latter,  but  with  this  strik- 
ing difference :  the  latter  officers  are  not  limited  in  the  amount  of  duty  by 
"  the  extent  of  their  means."  They  are  required  to  supply  all  needed  ac- 
commodations, and  draw  on  their  constituents  for  the  means  to  defray  the 
expense.  It  is  as  much  within  the  power  of  the  Legislature  to  repeal  the 
act  of  1826,  as  the  act  of  1844.  The  latter  act  has  repealed  the  former. 
The  officers  elected  under  the  act  of  1844  are  charged  with  doing  the  whole 
duty  which  the  act  of  1826  charged  that  Society  to  perform,  so  far  as  its 
means  might  extend. 

Tha  act  of  January  20,  1829,  gave  power  to  that  Society,  on  complying 
with  certain  formalities,  and  on  the  resolution  of  a  majority  of  the  whole 
number  of  trustees  at  a  regular  meeting,  confirmed  by  a  vote  of  any  subse- 
quent regular  meeting,  declaring  it  "  necessary  and  proper "  so  to  do,  to 
mortgage  any  of  its  property  "  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  into  effect  the 
objects  of  the  said  Society,  as  the  same  are  set  forth  and  expressed  in  any 
of  the  acts  of  the  Legislature  relating  thereto." 

So  far  as  they  are  authorized  to  mortgage,  to  carry  into  effect  the  objects 
expressed  in  the  act  of  1826,  the  power  is  clearly  repealable,  and  has  been 
repealed.  The  Society  has  no  power  to  mortgage  their  property,  to  run  a 
race  of  competition  with  a  public  body  which  is  charged  with  the  duty  of 
providing  for  the  entire  common  school  education  in  the  city.  Although 
the  Society  may  have  the  abstract  right  to  mortgage,  to  raise  means  to  erect 
buildings  and  open  new  schools  to  instruct  poor  children,  who  are  the 
proper  objects  of  a  gratuitous  education,  we  must  do  the  Legislature  the 
justice  to  suppose  they  could  not  have  contemplated  that  the  Society  would 
resolve  it  to  be  "  necessary  and  proper  "  so  to  do,  after  ample  means  had 
been  provided  for  the  education  of  all  children  in  the  city. 

The  50th  section  of  the  act  of  1844  repeals  all  laws  inconsistent  with  its 
own  provisions,  especially  relating  to  the  public  or  common  schools.  It 


SPEECH    OF   ME.    BOSWOKTH.  571 

repeals  the  act  of  1826,  which  made  that  Society  the  agent  of  the  public  to 
educate  all  children,  and  created  a  class  of  officers  to  perform  that  sacred 
duty,  and  no  other. 

It  repealed  the  power  of  the  Society  to  mortgage  their  property  for  any 
such  purpose.  It  repealed  their  power  to  establish  "  common  schools," 
properly  so  called'. 

It  repealed,  as  the  act  of  1842  in  effect  did,  the  law  of  February  27, 
1807,  which  gave  the  Society  $1,000  annually  out  of  the  excise  duties. 

It  repealed  the  act  of  March  30,  1811,  which  gave  the  Society  annually 
an  additional  $500  out  of  the  excise  duties,  "  to  promote  the  benevolent 
objects  of  the  said  corporation."  The  act  of  1844  makes  the  taxation  which 
it  authorizes  a  substitute  for,  and  declares  it  to  be  the  extent  of,  all  assess- 
ments for  common  school  education. 

It  repeals  all  laws  authorizing  the  Public  School  Society  to  receive  any 
more  of  the  school  moneys  than  may  be  required  to  defray  the  necessary 
and  legal  expenses  of  the  schools  in  existence  when  that  act  was  passed,  and 
prohibits  this  board  from  authorizing  the  payment  to  it  of  more  than  such 
expenses.  . 

All  such  provisions  are  clearly  inconsistent  with  the  act  of  May  7,  1844. 

Under  this  construction  of  the  act,  the  schools  of  this  Society  may,  and 
probably  will,  decrease  in  number.  So  far  as  they  are  established  in  leased 
buildings,  they  will  terminate  with  the  expiration  of  the  leases.  When  they 
are  terminated,  if  a  new  school  is  needed,  the  ward  officers  and  this  board 
must  establish  one.  In  that  event,  the  Society  will  have  occasion  to  report 
a  decreased  number  of  schools  "  within  their  jurisdiction."  They  may  not 
resolve  it  to  be  necessary  and  proper  to  mortgage  their  property  to  supply 
its  place,  when  they  consider  that  the  people  have  elected  officers,  made  it 
their  duty  to  supply  the  desired  accommodations,  and  given  them  power  to 
command  the  means  to  defray  the  necessary  expense. 

These  considerations  show,  as  I  think,  conclusively,  that  the  Society  has 
no  power  to  establish  new  "  common  schools,"  properly  so  called,  nor  any 
right  to  mortgage  its  property  for  any  such  purpose.  Its  original  power  to 
establish  free  schools  for  the  education  of  poor  children  is  at  best  but  a  mere 
abstract  right,  without  there  being  practically  any  such  objects  to  call  for 
its  exercise.  Its  present  schools  will  more  than  accommodate  all  of  that 
description  which  in  legal  contemplation  can  exist,  while  there  is  a  body  of 
officers  existing  under  an  act  which  imposes  the  duty  and  furnishes  the 
means  of  providing  for  the  education  of  all  children  in  the  city. 

It  is  not,  perhaps,  unnatural  that  the  Society  should  regret  that  its  pres- 
ent powers  will  confine  its  new  operations  to  the  benevolent  and  charitable 
designs  of  its  founders.  A  laudable  ambition  may  have  disposed  its  mem- 
bers not  only  to  desire  the  education  of  the  indigent,  but  also  of  the  chil- 
dren of  those  parents  who  may  feel  competent  to  construct  a  system  adapt- 
ed to  their  wants,  and  which  the  public  may  so  fully  approve,  that  they  will 
feel  both  pride  and  pleasure  in  sustaining  it. 

They  certainly  cannot  regret  the  substitution  of  a  new  agency  for  man- 
aging public  instruction,  unless  they  are  conscious  that  they  can  perform  the 


572  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

same  high  duty  with  more  economy,  and  more  in  conformity  with  the  pub- 
lic wants.  The  passage  of  the  act  of  1844  is  no  reflection  upon  the  intelli- 
gence, patriotism,  or  fidelity  of  their  officers.  The  public  sense  of  the  value 
of  their  services  is  evinced  by  the  provision,  which  supplies  ample  means  to 
continue  their  established  schools  with  success  and  efficiency. 

It  is  noj  unnatural  that  the  people  should  desire  the  election  by  them- 
selves of  officers  who  have  the  power  of  subjecting  them  to  taxation,  and 
the  expenditure  of  their  money  for  public  purposes.  It  would  seem  all  fit 
and  proper  that  it  should  be  so.  Public  attention  is  evidently  sufficiently 
observing  of  the  action  of  the  school  officers  to  indicate  that,  if  they  fail  to 
meet  public  expectation,  successors  will  be  elected  to  fill  their  places,  who 
will  bring  to  the  discharge  of  their  duties  increased  intelligence  and  effi- 
ciency. 

The  possession  of  power  by  the  Public  School  Society,  equal  to  that  of 
the  ward  officers,  to  organize  new  schools,  can  only  be  desired  for  the  patri- 
otic purpose  of  proving  the  Society  to  be  a  better  public  agent  than  the 
officers  elected  under  the  act  of  1844.  Two  agents  equally  good,  when 
either  one  can  do  the  whole  duty,  would  seem  to  be  unnecessary.  Unless 
the  Public  School  Society  can  serve  the  public  better  than  their  officers,  the 
exercise  of  the  same  powers  concurrently  by  both  would  not  promise  any 
practical  utility.  As  the  law  now  is,  I  am  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Society  has  not  the  power  which  it  claims,  and  which,  for  the  purpose  of 
removing  doubts,  it  generously  invites  this  board  to  unite  with  it  in  an 
application  to  the  Legislature  to  grant  to  it.  That  is  a  matter  which,  I 
think,  properly  belongs  to  the  people,  by  whom  the  members  of  this  board 
were  elected.  The  application,  when  made,  should  be  made  by  them,  and 
not  by  their  officers,  who  were  elected  to  execute  the  law  as  it  is. 

The  board  cannot  properly  devote  itself  officially  to  any  thing  else  than 
a  full  and  efficient  discharge  of  the  trust  confided  to  it,  and  to  an  impartial 
and  firm  execution  of  the  law  which  defines  its  powers  and  prescribes  the 
rule  of  its  action.  I  think  that  the  Board  of  Education  is  expressly  prohib- 
ited by  that  law  from  authorizing  the  payment  to  the  Public  School  Society 
of  any  greater  amount  of  the  school  moneys  than  shall  be  sufficient  to 
defray  the  necessary  and  legal  expenses  of  "  the  schools  "  established  and 
within  its  jurisdiction  at  the  time  that  act  was  passed. " 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Bosworth's  remarks,  the  question  was 
taken  on  the  adoption  of  Mr.  Mason's  amendment,  and  it  was 
decided  in  the  affirmative. 

When  the  resolution  was  reported  to  the  trustees  of  the  Soci- 
ety, the  subject  was  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee,  with 
directions  to  memorialize  the  Legislature  for  a  declaratory  act, 
defining  the  powers  of  the  Society.  This  course  was  according- 
ly taken,  and  on  the  4th  of  March,  1848,  the  following  bill  was 
passed,  and  became  a  law  : 


DEATH   OF   LINDLEY   MUKBAY.  573 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate  and  Assembly,  do 
enact  an  follows  : 

SEC.  1.  Any  schools  which  have  been  established  by  the  Public  School 
Society  of  the  city  of  New  York,  since  the  passage  of  the  act  entitled  "  An 
Act  more  Effectually  to  Provide  for  Common  School  Education  in  the  City 
of  New  York,"  passed  May  7,  1844,  may  be  continued  and  supported,  and 
may  be  allowed  to  participate  in  the  public  money  apportioned  to  said  Soci- 
ety, in  the  same  manner  as  if  they  had  been  established  before  the  passage 
of  said  act ;  but  the  said  Public  School  Society  shall  not  establish  any  new 
school  without  the  consent  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

SEC.  2.  The  said  Public  School  Society  have  power  to  purchase,  erect,  or 
hire  other  buildings  in  place  of  those  now  occupied  by  their  schools,  when- 
ever it  shall  become  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  said  schools  now  existing. 

SEC.  3.   This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately. 

This  definition  of  the  powers  of  the  Society  set  the  question 
at  rest,  and  the  trustees  saw  that  they  had  reached  the  limits  of 
their  sphere  of  labor,  and  that  thenceforth  their  energies  were  to 
be  employed  in  imparting  the  highest  efficiency  to  the  schools 
then  under  their  care. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  board  was  held  on  the  llth  of 
January,  1847,  at  which  time  GEORGE  T,  TKIMBLE  was  elected 
President,  which  office  he  held  up  to  the  day  on  which  the  Soci- 
ety terminated  its  existence. 

LINDLEY  MURRAY,  the  late  President,  was,  at  the  time,  on  a 
visit  to  the  island  of  Madeira,  whither  he  had  sailed  in  the  pur- 
suit of  health.  But  the  long  life  of  usefulness  which  he  had 
spent  was  drawing  to  its  close,  and,  on  his  return  voyage,  he  was 
called  to  sleep  in  peace,  in  the  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality. 

In  May,  1849,  A.  P.  HALSEY,  the  Treasurer,  tendered  his 
resignation,  and  JOSHUA  S.  UNDERBILL  was  elected  as  his  suc- 
cessor. 

It  being  deemed  expedient  to  close  the  primary  school  in 
Oak  street,  and  dispose  of  the  property,  an  opportunity  was  pre- 
sented of  selling  it  at  the  price  of  $8,000,  which  the  Society 
accepted,  and  it  was  transferred  to  its  new  owners. 

The  demands  made  upon  the  treasury  became  so  much  great- 
er than  its  resources,  that  the  trustees  found  themselves  obliged 
to  appeal  to  the  Board  of  Education  for  special  appropriations  to 
meet  deficiencies.  These  deficiencies  were  usually  provided  for, 
in  whole  or  in  part,  until  1850,  when  an  application  was  made 
for  $50,140.10,  the  deficit  existing  at  that  time.  The  Board  of 


574  THE   PUBLIC  SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Education  granted  $35,000,  leaving  $15,000  unprovided  for,  as 
liable  to  objection  under  the  provisions  of  the  law  relative  to 
expenditures  for  property,  the  title  of  which  had  not  been  vested 
in  the  city.  In  1851,  the  application  was  urged  anew,  and 
referred  to  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Education, 
who  submitted  a  report  adverse  to  the  appropriation.  When 
the  result  was  communicated  to  the  trustees  of  the  Society,  a 
resolution  was  immediately  presented,  in  the  following  form  : 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Public 
School  Society,  it  is  expedient  to  repeat  a  tender  of  the  transfer  of  the  prop- 
erty held  by  the  Society  to  the  Common  Council  of  New  York,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  sanction  of  the  final  clause  of  the  act  of  January  28,  1826, 
relating  thereto. 

The  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table,  and  the  committee  hav- 
ing charge  of  the  matter  were  directed  to  visit  Albany,  to  take 
such  steps  as  might  be  found  necessary  to  protect  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  Society,  a  bill  being  then  under  consideration 
relative  to  the  school  systems  of  the  city.  The  committee  dis- 
charged the  duty  assigned  them,  and  reported  that  a  section  had 
been  introduced  into  the  bill,  which  had  become  a  law,  which 
contained  the  following  proviso  : 

But  nothing  in  this  act  shall  take  away  from  the  Public  School  Society 
any  right  which  they  have  heretofore  enjoyed  ;  and  the  Board  of  Education 
are  authorized  to  provide  the  Public  School  Society  with  all  necessary 
moneys  to  make  all  proper  repairs,  alterations,  and  improvements  in  the 
various  school-premises  occupied  by  them. 

The  year  1852  brought,  at  its  commencement,  a  formal  com- 
munication from  the  Board  of  Education  relative  to  an  event 
which  had  already  been  freely  discussed  as  impending,  and 
likely  to  be  consummated  at  a  not  distant  period — the  union  of 
the  two  systems,  and  the  harmonizing  of  the  whole  scheme  of 
common  schools  in  the  city  under  one  Central  Board.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  trustees,  January  26th,  a  communication  was  laid 
before  them,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  the  Board  of  Education 
had  appointed  a  committee  to  confer  with  a  committee  on  behalf 
of  the  Society  relative  to  a  plan  of  union.  Messrs.  George  T. 
Trimble,  Peter  Cooper,  and  Joseph  B.  Collins  were  named  as 
the  Committee  of  Conference,  to  which  Messrs.  Charles  E.  Pier- 
son  and  James  F.  Depeyster  were  subsequently  added. 


SALE   OF   SCHOOL    IN   DUANE   STREET.  575 

In  May,  the  board  decided  to  borrow  $40,000  on  bond  and 
mortgage  of  their  property,  that  amount  being  necessary  to  meet 
the  expenses  of  the  schools,  and  the  Treasurer  and  Finance  Com- 
mittee were  directed  to  take  the  usual  course  for  obtaining  that 
amount. 

In  November,  the  trustees  resolved  to  sell  the  primary  school 
in  Twenty-fifth  street,  between  Madison  and  Fourth  avenues ; 
and  in  January,  1853,  information  being  given  that  Duane  street 
would  be  widened  by  the  addition  of  twenty-five  feet  from  the 
north  side  of  the  street,  and  that  the  property  known  as  No.  10 
could  be  sold  for  a  considerable  sum,  Messrs.  Linus  W.  Stevens, 
William  II.  Neilson,  James  F.  Depeyster,  and  George  T.  Trim- 
ble were  appointed  to  report  on  the  expediency  of  the  sale. 
This  measure  became  more  necessary  from  the  fact  that  the 
building  would  be  reduced  to  so  small  a  size  as  to  be  practically 
valueless,  and  also  that  a  large  ward  school,  under  the  care  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  had  been  erected  in  the  vicinity,  at  the 
corner  of  North  Moore  and  Varick  streets.  The  committee  were 
directed  to  take  only  preliminary  steps  toward  the  sale  of  the- 
property,  so  that  the  decision  of  the  Legislature  upon  the  bill  for 
the  consolidation  of  the  two  systems  should  be  known.  In  the 
event  of  the  failure  of  the  bill,  the  property  should  be  sold. 
The  bill  failed  at  the  regular  session,  and  the  property  was  sold 
to  Thomas  Hope,  for  $39,900.  The  proceeds  were  to  be  appro- 
priated to  the  payment  of  the  floating  debt  of  the  Society.  In 
accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  sale,  the  school  was  closed  on 
the  30th  of  June,  and  the  premises  which  had  so  long  been  occu- 
pied for  the  education  of  youth  in  the  paths  of  knowledge,  vir- 
tue, and  religion  (the  building  was  long  occupied  for  a  Sunday 
school),  was  diverted  to  very  different  purposes. 


576  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

UNION  OF  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY  AND  THE  BOARD  OF 
EDUCATION.— 1853. 

Corporate  and  Popular  Boards  of  School  Officers— Resources — Importance  of  a  Uni- 
form System — Proceedings  of  the  Board  of  Education — Committee  of  Conference 
Appointed — Basis  of  Union  Adopted — Proposed  School  Bill — Proceedings  of  the 
Society — Legislative  Compromises — Extra  Session — Bill  Passed — Commissioners 
and  Trustees  Appointed  by  the  Society — Transfer  of  Property  to  the  Corporation 
— Report  of  the  Committee — Address  of  Peter  Cooper — Meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Education — Reception  of  the  Members  appointed  by  the  Society — Resolutions 
of  Hon.  Erastus  C.  Benedict,  President  of  the  Board — Remarks  of  William  D. 
Murphy,  Esq. 

THE  influence  of  the  popular  sentiment,  combined  with  the 
embarrassments  growing  out  of  the  dissimilarities  of  the  system 
of  the  Public  School  Society  and  that  established  by  the  law  of 
1842,  became  more  apparent  every  year.  How  far  the  educa- 
tional scheme  of  a  great  metropolis  is  likely  to  be  affected,  in  its 
partisan  relations,  where  the  school  officers  are  chosen  at  a  gen- 
eral election,  longer  experience  in  the  city  of  New  York  will 
probably  demonstrate.  But  the  Board  of  Education  havmg 
been  in  existence  about  ten  years,  and  being  composed  of  mem- 
bers chosen  by  the  popular  suffrage,  it  was  calculated  to  attract 
the  sympathies  of  the  majority  of  the  population.  The  Board 
of  Education  exercised  a  control  over  the  common  school  mon- 
eys, which  were,  in  the  early  years  of  the  board,  carefully 
guarded.  The  revenue  of  the  Public  School  Society  was  found 
to  be  insufficient  for  its  expenditures,  and  a  more  frequent  and 
urgent  resort  was  had  to  obtaining  moneys  either  by  the  sale  of 
property,  or  on  bond  and  mortgage.  The  applications  made  on 
several  occasions  to  the  Board  of  Education  for  the  amount  of 
certain  deficiencies,  were  always  warmly  contested  in  that  body, 
and,  on  several  occasions,  were  granted  only  in  part,  and  even 
in  opposition  to  the  recommendations  of  the  Finance  Committee, 
who  reported  adversely  on  the  question  of  the  appropriations. 


KIVALBY   BETWEEN  THE   SCHOOLS.  577 

The  rights-  and  privileges  of  the  Society  had  been  clearly  de- 
fined, as  was  supposed,  by  the  amendments  of  1843  and  1844 ; 
but,  notwithstanding  the  special  provisions  of  "  the  declaratory 
act,"  much  importance  was  attached  to  the  issue  raised,  that  the 
Society  had  no  right  to  open  new  schools  and  erect  new  build- 
ings— the  expansive  power  of  the  school  administration  being 
deemed  to  lie  only  in  the  Central  Board,  which  had  the  power 
to  grant  or  refuse  the  application  of  the  boards  of  school  officers 
of  the  several  wards  of  the  city. 

The  ample  means  placed  by  law  at  the  disposal  of  the  board 
were  partially  expended  in  the  erection  of  substantial  school- 
houses,  the  first  of  which  were  somewhat  similar  to  those  of  the 
Society,  with  the  difference  that  the  basement-story,  instead  of 
being  sunk  four  or  five  feet  below  the  level  of  the  street,  was 
built  above  ground,  thus  giving  improved  light  and  ventilation. 
A  competition,  however,  soon  arose  between  the  wards  in  regard 
to  the  size,  character,  and  appointments  of  the  school  edifices, 
until  the  whole  system  of  large  and  noble  buildings  became  dis- 
cussed both  as  an  economical  and  educational  necessity  and  ad- 
vantage. The  contrast  thus  drawn  between  the  imposing  struc- 
tures of  the  ward  schools  and  those  of  the  Society  was  more 
marked  every  year.  The  transfer  of  pupils  from  the  old  to  the 
new  schools  was  constant,  and  yet  the  Society  was  steadily 
increasing  the  number  of  its  pupils  from  the  thousands  of  resi- 
dents who  were  annually  swelling  the  mighty  tide  of  population 
at  a  rate  scarcely  known  in  the  history  of  the  world.  These 
and  other  causes  had  at  last  evidently  fixed  the  limits  of  the 
sphere  of  usefulness  in  which  the  Society  should  labor.  Its 
long-urged  purpose  of  establishing  daily  normal  schools  of  a 
high  and  commanding  character,  and  a  high  school  or  academy 
for  collegiate  education,  were  placed  altogether  beyond  its  grasp. 
In  ten  years,  the  schools  of  the  new  system  had  already  outnum- 
bered those  of  the  Society.  A  noble  institution  had  been  found- 
ed, and  a  building  erected,  at  a  cost  of  about  $50,000,  for  the 
"  Free  Academy,"  and  the  financial  power,  very  far  exceeding 
in  amount  the  fondest  hopes  of  the  Society,  had  been  exercised 
in  the  rapid  development  and  execution  of  plans  which  they  had 
cherished  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

An  objection  had  long  been  urged  against  the  Society.     By 
its  charter,  it  was  an  "  association  "  of  voluntary  members.     The 


578  THE  PDBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

trustees  and  Executive,  elected  by  the  body  itself,  were  responsible 
to  the  Society,  and  the  elections  were  therefore  only  calculated 
to  make  the  governing  power  perpetuate  itself.  The  popular 
sympathies  in  favor  of  an  unrestricted  system, 'as  opposed  to  a 
"  close  corporation,"  were  easily  excited,  and  the  advocates  of 
change,  innovation,  or  of  denominational  pretensions,  were  loud 
and  persistent  in  their  condemnation  of  this  feature  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Society.  On  a  number  of  occasions,  from  the 
time  of  the  controversy  with  the  Baptists,  in  1822,  down  to  the 
successful  contest  maintained  against  it,  from  1840  to  1842,  tho 
climax  which  gave  the  highest  force  to  argument,  statistics,  and 
appeals,  was  the  fact  that  the  Society  was  a  "  close  corporation." 
Neither  the  labors,  the  discipline,  the  system,  nor  the  character 
of  the  Society  could  be  impeached,  except  upon  sectarian  appeals 
for  a  portion  of  the  school  fund,  or  by  men  who  were  willing  to 
make  it  subserve  a  temporary  purpose  for  political  exaltation 
and  preferment.  The  character  of  its  officers  and  members,  their 
positions  in  business  and  social  circles,  their  integrity  and  con- 
scientiousness, their  prudence  and  economy,  exercised  even  to 
the  disadvantage  of  the  schools  from  necessity,  were  beyond 
reproach  or  attack.  Never,  probably,  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  has  an  institution  of  such  extent,  and  authorized  to  ex- 
pend so  much  public  money  annually,  been  conducted  with  such 
scrupulous  care  in  regard  to  its  expenditures  ;  and  none  has  ever 
•surpassed  it  in  the  results  of  its  labors  with  the  same  amount  of 
means. 

The  most  liberal  and  enlightened  friends  of  education  in  the 
city  could  not  remain  insensible  to  the  fact,  that  the  prejudices 
which  had  been  aroused  could  not  soon  be  overcome,  and  that, 
however  perfect  a  corporate  system  of  public  instruction  might 
be  made,  were  its  resources  sufficient,  the  day  had  passed  for  a 
full  development  of  the  scheme  of  the  Public  School  Society. 
It  became  apparent  that  the  interests  of  public  education  in  the 
city  demanded  a  uniform  system,  under  the  care  of  one  Central 
Board,  which  should  combine,  if  possible,  a  conservative  charac- 
ter with  that  of  the  popular  prestige.  The  decision  of  this 
proposition  left  no  alternative — the  Public  School  Society  must 
become  a  part  of  the  new  system,  and  surrender  its  independent 
trust.  How  far  these  considerations  may  have  induced  members 
of  the  Board  of  Education  to  restrict  the  revenue  of  the  Society 


PEOP08AL  OF    UNION.  579 

in  order  to  expedite  the  consummation,  is  a  fair  ground  of  con- 
jecture, and  is  left  for  the  judgment  of  the  reader. 

A  resolution  was  offered  by  Wm.  Hibbard,  M.D.,  one  of  the 
commissioners  for  the  Seventeenth  Ward,  in  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, on  the  21st  of  January,  1852,  and  submitted  to  the  Soci- 
ety at  an  adjourned  meeting  held  on  the  26th  of  the  same  month, 
in  the  following  communication  : 

To  GEORGE  T.  THIMBLE,  President  of  the  Public  School  Society  : 

SIR  :  At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Education,  held  on  Wednesday  even- 
ing last,  the  following  resolution  was  adopted,  viz. : 

Ifesolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  members  of  this  board  be  appointed 
to  confer  with  a  committee  of  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  for 
the  purpose  of  effecting  a  union  of  the  two  systems. 

Whereupon  William  Hibbard,  of  the  Seventeenth  Ward,  Samuel  A. 
Crapo,  of  the  Sixteenth  Ward,  and  Edward  L.  Beadle,  of  the  Fifteenth 
Ward,  were  appointed  as  said  committee. 

Will  you,  sir,  be  pleased  to  lay  this  subject  before  the  body  over  whom 
you  preside,  and  signify  to  them  the  hope,  on  our  part,  that  a  similar  com- 
mittee will  be  appointed  on  their  part,  and  advise  us  of  the  result  at  your 
earliest  convenience. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

WILLIAM  HIBBARD,  Chairman. 

Saturday,  January  24,  1852. 

After  a  long  discussion  upon  this  important  proposition, 
George  T.  Trimble,  Peter  Cooper,  and  Joseph  B.  Collins  were 
appointed  as  the  committee  on  behalf  of  the  Society.  On  the 
9th  of  April,  Dr.  Charles  E.  Pierson  and  James  F.  Depeyster 
were  added  to  the  number. 

The  joint  committees  thus  appointed  held  numerous  sessions, 
and  at  length  submitted  several  propositions  on  behalf  of  both 
parties,  and,  on  the  1st  of  October,  they  were  presented  to  the 
Board  of  Trustees.  A  special  meeting  for  their  consideration 
was  called  for  the  15th  of  the  same  month,  at  which  time  they 
were  read,  as  follows  : 

The  Public  School  Society  to  transfer  to  the  city  all  the  real  and  per- 
sonal estate  now  held  by  said  Society,  subject  to  all  the  debts,  liens,  and 
encumbrances  thereon,  the  payment  of  which  shall  be  assumed  by  the  city ; 
the  property  so  conveyed  to  be  forever  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  public 
education.  ^ 

And  said  Society  also  to  surrender  and  discontinue  its  organization  and 
existence. 


580  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Previous  to  the  dissolution  of  said  Society,  it  may  select  and  appoint 
fifteen  of  its  trustees  to  be  commissioners  at  large  of  common  schools,  and 
members  of  the  Board  of  Education,  who  shall  serve  as  such  during  the 
continuance  in  office  of  the  present  members  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

And  thereafter  there  shall  be,  in  addition  to  the  present  number  of  com- 
missioners, one  member  of  the  Board  of  Education  from  each  ward,  who 
shall  be  appointed  by  the  school  officers  of  each  ward. 

The  said  Society  to  appoint,  previous  to  its  dissolution,  for  each  of  the 
wards  in  which  one  or  more  schools  of  the  said  Society  are  now  established, 
three  of  its  members,  to  be  trustees  of  common  schools  for  the  wards,  who 
shall  be  so  classed  that  one  shall  serve  until  January  1st,  1855,  one  until 
January  1st,  1856,  and  one  until  January  1st,  1857,  who  shall  possess  the 
same  powers  and  rights  with,  and  be  liable  to  the  same  duties  as,  the  pres- 
ent ward  school  trustees. 

Vacancies  among  the  trustees  so  appointed  to  be  filled  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  vacancies  among  the  ward  trustees  are  now  filled. 

And,  after  the  1st  of  January,  185-,  there  shall  be  eight  ward  trustees  to 
serve  four  years,  two  of  whom  shall  be  elected  each  year. 

The  foregoing  propositions  to  be  presented  to  both  boards.  If  it  passes 
them,  then  both  shall  unite  in  an  application  to  the  Legislature  for  the  pas- 
sage of  a  law  consummating  the  union  upon  the  basis  of  this  programme. 

A  long  and  earnest  debate  arose  upon  this  report,  after  which 
the  following  resolution  was  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Conference  just  submitted 
be  adopted,  as  a  general  basis  for  legislative  action,  by  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  the  Public  School  Society  ;  Provided,  that  the  trustees  to  be  chosen 
under  the  proposed  plan  shall  not  be  required  to  reside  in  the  wards  for 
which  they  are  appointed  to  serve  ;  and  provided,  further,  that  the  Commit- 
tee of  Conference  of  this  Society  shall  unite  with  a  committee  of  the  Board 
of  Education  in  drafting  a  law  to  carry  into  effect  such  report,  and  for  such 
other  modifications  of  existing  laws  in  relation  to  schools  in  this  city  as 
may  be  deemed  advisable  ;  such  proposed  law  to  be  submitted  first  for  the 
approval  of  the  Society  (at  a  meeting  to  be  called  for  the  purpose)  and  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  and  then  for  adoption  by  the  Legislature. 

The  ayes  and  nays  were  called,  upon  taking  the  question, 
and  the  gentlemen  voting  are  recorded  as  follows : 

Ayes — Messrs.  G.  T.  Trimble,  Peter  Cooper,  J.  B.  Collins, 
II.  II.  Barrow,  F.  W.  Downer,  J.  F.  Depeyster,  John  Daven- 
port, Benjamin  Ellis,  W.  Mandeville,  A.  Merwin,  W.  H.  Neil- 
son,  R.  Gk  Perkins,  M.D.,  0.  E.  Pierson,  M.D.,  Israel  Russell, 
H.  M.  Schieffelin,  S.  W.  Seton,  L.  W.  Stevens,  I.  W.  Underhill, 
W.  Underhill,  J.  B.  Varnum,  L.  B.  Ward— 21. 

Nays— I.  S.  Underhill,  J.  T.  Adams,  W.  P.  Cooledge,  J. 


MANIFESTO   OF   THE   SOCIETY.  581 

B.  Brinsmade,  J.  R.  Hurd,  J.  W.  C.  Leveridge,  W.  R.  Ver- 

milye — 7. 

The  committee  of  the  Board  of  Education  submitted  their 
report  to  that  body,  and,  on  the  10th  of  November,  a  committee, 
consisting  of  William  D.  Murphy,  E.  L.  Beadle,  Charles  D. 
Field,  Charles  H.  Smith,  and  J.  E.  Gary,  were  appointed  to 
prepare  the  draft  of  a  bill  to  be  presented  to  the  Legislature. 
This  committee  reported  on  the  8th  of  December,  and  the  report 
was  ordered  to  be  printed.  The  trustees  considered  the  same 
report  at  their  meeting  on  the  17th  of  the  same  month,  and, 
with  such  amendments  as  appeared  proper,  was  approved,  and 
ordered  to  be  returned  to  the  Board  of  Education  as  accepted. 
The  Board  of  Education  submitted  a  copy  as  amended  at  a  regu- 
lar meeting  of  that  body,  and.  with  two  slight  alterations,  it  was 
directed  to  be  returned,  with  the  approbation  of  the  trustees. 

These  suggestions  were  happily  met  by  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion, and  on  the  14th  of  January,  1853,  the  trustees  received 
official  information  of  the  action  of  the  board.  There  remained 
now  no  point  of  difference  between  the  two  bodies,  and  the 
measure  was  recommended  for  adoption  by  the  Society.  A  spe- 
cial meeting  was  called,  to  be  held  on  the  19th,  at  the  Trustees'' 
Hall,  at  which  time  Peter  Cooper  was  called  to  the  chair. 

The  bill,  as  adopted  by  both  boards,  was  read,  and,  after  a 
full  discussion,  the  following  preamble  and  resolution  were 
adopted : 

Whereas,  The  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  the  year  1805, 
granted  an  act  for  incorporating  an  institution  denominated  "  The  Free- 
School  Society,"  for  the  purpose  of  founding  schools  for  educating  a  class 
of  children  not  otherwise  provided  for,  which  was  sustained  mainly  by  the 
voluntary  contributions  of  their  fellow-citizens ;  and 

Whereas,  The  said  schools  having  been,  for  many  years,  conducted  in  a 
manner  satisfactory  to  all  parties  interested  therein,  on  the  solicitations  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  said  schools,  the  wealthy  and  other  citizens  of  this 
city  petitioned  for  a  tax  to  be  levied  on  the  property  of  its  citizens,  to  be 
devoted  to  sustaining  said  schools,  to  be  expended  through  the  agency  of 
said  trustees,  the  name  thereof  having  been  also  changed  to  that  of  "  The 
Public  School  Society,"  at  the  same  time ;  said  Society  were  required  to 
provide  the  means  of  education  for  all  children,  as  far  as  their  means  per- 
mitted, and  which  they  continued  to  do  for  a  series  of  years  with  energy, 
economy,  and  usefulness ;  and 

Whereas,  The  Legislature  of  the  State  did,  in  the  year  1842,  establish 


582  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

another  system  of  common  school  education,  modelled  after  that  established 
for  the  State  at  large ;  and 

Whereas,  By  the  terms  of  said  act,  and  the  various  amendments  thereto, 
it  was  required  that  the  Public  School  Society  should  thereafter  draw  its 
funds  for  the  support  of  its  schools,  through  the  agency  of  the  trustees,  de- 
nominated "  The  Board  of  Education,"  created  by  the  act  aforesaid  ;  and 

Whereas,  In  consequence  of  adverse  construction  being  put  upon  the 
terms  of  said  act,  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  in  order  to 
avoid  a  clashing  of  jurisdiction,  did  surrender  their  independent  right  to 
establish  new  schools ;  and 

Whereas,  The  said  trustees  did,  in  the  year  1851,  procure  from  the  Legis- 
lature an  amendment  to  the  school  act,  which,  in  the  judgment  so  expressed 
by  members  of  the  said  Board  of  Education,  would  enable  the  said  trustees 
to  obtain  all  the  necessary  funds  for  carrying  on  and  improving  the  schools 
then  under  their  charge  ;  and 

Whereas,  The  said  Board  of  Education  have  refused  to  furnish  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  with  the  necessary  funds  when  solicited  to  do.  so  ;  and 

Whereas,  The  Board  of  Education  did,  by  resolution,  invite  the  trustees 
of  the  Public  School  Society  to  confer  in  relation  to  a  proposition  for  the 
union  of  the  two  systems  of  education,  which  invitation  was  met  by  corre- 
sponding action  on  the  part  of  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  ; 
and 

Wliereas,  Pursuant  to  such  proposition  and  the  corresponding  conference 
and  action  of  both  bodies,  viz.,  the  "  Board  of  Education  "  and  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  a  form  of  union  has  been  agreed 
upon,  as  set  forth  in  the  proposed  act  accompanying  this  paper ;  and 

Whereas,  Notwithstanding  the  Public  School  Society  have,  during  a 
period  of  nearly  half  a  century,  conducted,  with  eminent  success,  energy, 
and  economy,  a  great  educational  institution,  in  which  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  children  have  received  instruction,  yet  yielding  to  the  necessity  of 
the  case  as  above  stated,  and  not  from  a  conviction  of  their  best  judgment, 
and  also  hoping  that  a  weighty  sense  of  its  importance  will  lead  to  the 
management  of  our  common  schools  being  committed  to  the  hands  of  wor- 
thy citizens  who  will  consult  the  public  weal  exclusively  ;  therefore 

Resolved,  By  the  Public  School  Society,  now  duly  convened  pursuant  to 
several  days'  notice  in  five  of  the  public  newspapers  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  that  our  Board  of  Trustees  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  authorized  to 
take  all  necessary  measures  for  procuring  the  enactment  of  the  act  herein 
referred  to,  with  such  alterations  and  amendments  as  may  seem  to  them  wise 
and  proper  in  this  matter,  and  hereby  confirming  whatsoever  our  said  Board 
of  Trustees  have  done  and  may  do  in  the  premises  as  fully  -as  if  done  by 
ourselves. 

The  projects  of  union  having  thus  been  concurred  in  by  both 
bodies,  the  several  committees  took  the  necessary  steps  for  the 
enactment  of  the  bill  by  the  Legislature.  On  the  lYth  of  Feb- 


THE   SCHOOL   BILL.  583 

ruaiy,  Messrs.  Peter  Cooper,  John  Ely,  William  Mandeville,  II. 
M.  Schieffelin,  and  S.  W.  Seton,  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
visit  Albany,  and  take  such  measures  as  might  be  deemed  proper 
to  have  the  interests  of  the  Society  fully  represented  and  recog- 
nized. 

The  bill  became  the  subject  of  considerable  controversy,  and 
the  conflicting  opinion's  and  views  had  a  fair  field  of  encounter 
on  so  important  an  issue  as  the  surrender  of  the  charter  of  a 
great  public  institution,  which  had  done  so  much  for  the  city  and 
the  nation  at  large.  Compromises  and  concessions  were,  how- 
ever, made  by  all  parties,  in  order  to  consummate  the  plan  of 
union.  Its  failure  would  have  resulted  in  a  loss  of  strength  on 
the  part  of  the  Society  from  the  fact  of  such  steps  having  been 
taken,  and  a  virtual  surrender  of  its  independence  in  all  that 
pertains  to  the  dignity  and  immunities  of  an  establishment  of 
high  character  would  have  been  almost  inevitable.  It  would, 
moreover,  have  placed  the  Board  of  Education  in  a  position  of 
delicacy  and  responsibility  which  would  have  been  irksome  to 
every  man  of  fine  feeling,  while  it  would  have  given  the  antago- 
nists of  the  Society  a  position  of  power  to  embarrass  it  which 
would  have  been  full  of  unpleasant  reminiscences.  Notwith- 
standing all  the  influence  brought  to  bear  upon  the  measure,  the 
differences  were  not  reconciled  at  a  sufficiently  early  day,  and 
the  Legislature  adjourned  without  the  final  vote,  the  bill  lying 
on  the  docket  so  closely  in  order  that  one  or  two  days  more 
would  have  disposed  of  it  in  the  regular  course  of  business. 

An  extra  session  of  the  Legislature  having  been  convened, 
the  bill  was  called  up  at  an  early  day,  and  passed  June  4th,  and 
became  a  law.  The  first  six  sections  are  as  follows: 

AN  ACT 
RELATIVE   TO   COMMON  SCHOOLS   IN  THE   CITY  OP  NEW  YORK. 

The  People  of  the  State  of  New  York,  represented  in  Senate  and  Assembly,  do 

enact  as  follows : 

SEC.  1.  The  Public  School  Society  of  the  city  of  New  Tork  shall,  on  or 
before  the  first  day  of  September,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-three,  convey 
and  transfer,  according  to  this  act,  by  deed  to  be  approved  by  the  Counsel 
to  the  Corporation  of  said  city,  all  their  corporate  property  to  the  Mayor, 
Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  of  the  city  of  New  York,  subject  to  all  the 
liens  and  encumbrances  thereon,  and  the  debts  of  said  Society ;  and  there- 
upon the  said  property  shall  belong  to  the  said  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Com- 


584  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

monalty  in  the  same  manner  as  the  school  property  now  used  and  occupied 
by  the  ward  schools  belongs  to  the  said  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Common- 
alty ;  and  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  shall  be  ward  schools, 
subject  to  the  same  control,  and  enjoy  the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  if 
originally  organized  as  ward  schools ;  but  such  portions  of  the  property 
aforesaid  as  have  been  granted  to  the  Public  School  Society,  subject  to  the 
trust  that  the  same  shall  be  davoted  to  the  purposes  of  common  schools, 
shall  be  held  subject  to  such  trust ;  and  the  premises  now  known  as  Trus- 
tees' Hall,  situated  at  the  corner  of  Grand  and  Elm  streets,  shall  be  used 
and  occupied  by  the  Board  of  Education  as  long  as  they  may  think  advis- 
able, for  the  meetings  and  business  thereof,  and  for  such  educational  pur- 
poses as  said  board  may  direct ;  and  the  residue  of  the  property  aforesaid 
shall  be  conveyed,  for  the  purposes  of  common  schools,  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  property  purchased  by  the  authority  of  the  Board  of  Education,  for 
the  purposes  aforesaid. 

SEC.  2.  The  Public  School  Society  shall,  at  the  time  of  such  conveyance, 
make  a  detailed  statement  of  all  their  property,  real  and  personal,  and  of  all 
their  debts  of  every  description  existing  at  the  time  of  such  conveyance, 
which  shall  be  certified  as  a  full,  just,  and  true  statement  of  all  such  prop- 
erty and  debts,  by  their  president,  treasurer,  and  secretary,  and  shall  deliver 
one  copy  thereof,  so  certified,  to  the  Comptroller  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  the  other  copy,  so  certified,  to  the  clerk  of  the  city  and  county  of  New 
York,  for  the  use  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  the  city  and  county  of 
New  York ;  and  the  said  Board  of  Supervisors  shall  thereupon  proceed  to 
audit  and  determine  the  amount  of  all  the  debts  of  the  said  Society,  and 
shall  cause  the  same  to  be  certified  and  filed  with  the  said  Comptroller. 

SEC.  3.  Upon  the  amount  of  the  debts  of  the  said  Society  being  so  certi- 
fied and  filed,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  it  shall  be  their  duty,  to  raise  by  loan  a  sum 
not  exceeding  the  amount  of  the  debt  so  certified  and  filed,  by  the  creation 
of  a  public  fund  or  stock,  to  be  called  "  The  Public  Education  Stock  of  the 
City  of  New  York  of  the  Year  One  Thousand  Eight  Hundred  and  Fifty- 
Three,"  which  shall  bear  an  interest  of  five  per  cent,  per  annum,  and  which 
shall  be  redeemable  at  a  period  of  time  not  more  than  twenty  years  from 
the  passage  of  this  act.  The  said  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  shall 
determine  of  what  number  of  shares  the  said  stock  shall  consist ;  and  the 
said  stock  shall  be  disposed  of  by  public  competition,  under  the  direction 
of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  of  the  city  of  New  York.  The 
moneys  raised  by  virtue  of  this  act  shall  be  applied  for  the  purpose  of  pay- 
ing and  discharging  all  the  said  debts ;  any  deficiency,  by  reason  of  interest 
accruing  on  the  said  debts,  after  the  same  are  so  certified  and  filed,  shall  be 
paid  by  the  said  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  out  of  the  city  treas- 
ury ;  and  any  excess,  by  reason  of  the  said  stock  being  disposed  of  at  a  pre- 
mium, shall  be  held  as  a  part  of  the  sinking  fund  hereinafter  provided. 

SEC.  4.  The  Board  of  Supervisors  shall,  yearly  and  every  year,  until  the 
said  stock  shall  be  wholly  redeemed  and  paid  off,  order  and  cause  to  be 
raised  by  tax  on  the  estate,  real  and  personal,  of  the  freeholders  and  inhab- 


THE   SCHOOL   BILL.  585 

itants  of  and  situated  within  the  said  city  and  county,  and  to  be  collected 
according  to  law,  a  sum  of  money  sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  said 
stock  as  the  same  falls  due,  and  to  pay  and  discharge  the  principal  by  the 
time  the  same  shall  be  payable.  All  of  which  moneys  so  to  be  raised  shall 
be  under  the  management  and  control  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking 
Fund  of  the  city  of  New  York ;  and  all  such  moneys  so  to  be  raised  are 
hereby  inviolably  pledged  to  pay  the  interest  and  redeem  the  principal  of 
the  said  stock. 

SEC.  5.  The  Public  School  Society  may,  immediately  after  so  conveying 
all  their  corporate  property,  appoint  fifteen  from  the  then  trustees  of  said 
Society  to  be  commissioners  of  common  schools  for  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  members  of  the  Board  of  Education,  designating  the  ward  for  which 
each  person  is  appointed,  and  not  more  than  one  for  any  one  ward,  who 
shall  hold  their  offices  till  the  first  day  of  January,  one  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  fifty-five ;  and  the  said  Public  School  Society  may  also,  at  the 
same  time,  appoint  from  among  their  own  trustees  three  trustees  of  common 
schools  for  each  ward  of  said  city  in  which  one  or  more  of  the  schools  of 
said  Society  are  now  established,  designating  the  ward  for  which  each  per- 
son is  appointed  ;  and  the  said  trustees  so  appointed  shall  be  so  designated 
in  the  certificate  of  appointment  that  one  shall  serve  until  January  first, 
eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-five,  one  till  January  first,  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty-six,  and  one  until  January  first,  eighteen  hundred  and  fifty-seven.  The 
said  appointments  shall  be  made  by  a  certificate  signed  by  the  officers  of 
said  Society,  and  filed  with  the  clerk  of  the  Board  of  Education ;  and  the 
said  commissioners  and  trustees  so  appointed  shall  have  the  same  rights  and 
powers,  and  be  subject  to  the  same  liabilities  and  duties,  as  other  commis- 
sioners and  trustees  of  common  schools  in  said  city,  except  that  they  need 
not  reside  in  the  wards  for  which  they  are  appointed.  Any  vacancy  occur- 
ring in  the  office  of  any  such  commissioner  or  trustee,  shall  be  filled  in  the 
same  manner  as  vacancies  in  school  offices  are  now  filled. 

SEC.  6.  As  soon  as  the  said  Public  School  Society  shall  have  conveyed 
all  their  corporate  property,  and  made  and  filed  the  statements,  and  made 
and  filed  appointments  of  commissioners  and  trustees,  provided  for  in  the 
previous  sections  of  this  act,  the  corporate  powers  and  existence  of  the  said 
Public  School  Society  shall  cease,  and  their  schools  be  merged  in  the  system 
of  public  instruction  provided  by  the  act  entitled  "  An  Act  to  Amend,  Con- 
solidate, and  Reduce  to  One  Act  the  Various  Acts  Relative  to  the  Common 
Schools  of  the  City  of  New  York,"  passed  July  third,  eighteen  hundred  and 
fifty-one,  so  as  to  be  and  remain,  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  an 
integral  portion  thereof,  and  then  and  thereby  the  said  Society  shall  be  dis- 
solved, and  then  and  from  thenceforth  the  common  schools  in  the  city  of 
New  York  shall  be  numbered  consecutively  by  the  Board  of  Education. 

On  the  passage  of  the  bill,  a  special  meeting  of  the  Society 
was  called,  at  which  a  resolution  was  adopted  extending  an  invi- 
tation to  the  Board  of  Education  to  hold  its  meetings  in  the 


586  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Trustees'  Hall,  and  another  resolution,  "  that  the  board  surren- 
der their  schools  to  the  Board  of  Education,  and  convey  their 
property  to  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  of  the  city 
of  New  York,  on  the  1st  day  of  August  next,  agreeably  with 
the  act  of  June  4,  1853." 

A  committee  of  five  trustees  was  appointed  to  make  the  pre- 
liminary arrangements  necessary  to  carry  the  law  into  effect,  and 
Messrs.  J.  W.  C.  Leveridge,  L.  W.  Stevens,  Joseph  Curtis,  "W. 
P.  Cooledge,  and  John  Davenport,  were  selected  for  that  duty. 

At  a  meeting  held  on  the  1st  of  July,  the  Board  of  Trustees 
proceeded  to  nominate  and  elect  the  fifteen  commissioners  re- 
quired by  the  law,  and  the  following  gentlemen  were  declared 
to  be  chosen :  C.  E.  Pierson,  M.D.,  J.  W.  C.  Leveridge,  John 
T.  Adams,  Israel  Russell,  Thomas  B.  Stillman,  Joseph  Curtis, 
II.  H.  Barrow,  Joseph  B.  Collins,  L.  W.  Stevens,  J.  F.  Depey- 
ster,  B.  R.  Winthrop,  Peter  Cooper,  John  Davenport,  William 
H.  Neilson,  William  P.  Cooledge. 

The  following  gentlemen  were  chosen  as  trustees  : 

First  Ward.— George  E.  Cock,  Pelatiah  Perit. 

Fourth  Ward.— Robert  R.  Crosby,  Justus  S.  Redfield. 

Fifth  Ward. — Ebenezer  Platt,  Timothy  Hedges,  Joseph  W. 
Kellogg. 

Sixth  Ward. — Willett  Seaman,  James  Marsh,  Roe  Lockwood. 

Seventh  Ward. — James  B.  Brinsmade,  Joseph  R.  Skidinore, 
John  Gray. 

Eighth  Ward. — Orlando  D.  McClain,  Wyllis  Blackstone, 
Joseph  Potter. 

Ninth  Ward. — William  Mandeville,  Charles  C.  Leigh,  Wash- 
ington R.  Vermilye. 

Tenth  Ward. — Thompson  Price. 

Eleventh  Ward. — Nehemiah  Miller,  Abner  Mills,  S.  P.  Pat- 
terson. 

Twelfth  Ward. — Ebenezer  H.  Brown,  Daniel  F.  Tiemann, 
Thomas  Richmond. 

Thirteenth  Ward. — Richard  Reed,  Benjamin  B.  Atterbury, 
Samuel  W.  Seton. 

Fourteenth  Ward. — John  Ely,  Lewis  C.  Hallock,  Jacob 
Harsen. 

Fifteenth  Ward. — Eli  Goodwin,  Joseph  B.  Varnum,  Caleb 
Swan. 


REPORT   OF   THE   COMMITTEE   OF   TRANSFER.  587 

Sixteenth  Ward.— John  W.  Howe,  B.  C.  Wandell,  L.  A. 
Rosenmiiller. 

Seventeenth  Ward. — J.  D.  B.  Stillman,  Isaac  Ward. 

Eighteenth  Ward. — Augustin  Averill,  Roger  G.  Perkins, 
James  Stokes. 

Twenty-font  Ward. — William  P.  Lee,  Henry  M.  Schieflelin, 
F.  W.  Downer. 

Twenty-second  Ward. — Lebbeus  B.  Ward,  J.  C.  Hepburn, 
M.  H.  Mott. 

On  the  22d  of  July,  at  a  special  meeting  called  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Transfer,  a  verbal  report  was  made,  and  the  action  of 
the  committee  was  approved.  It  was  also 

Besohed,  That  the  several  sections  of  the  Public  School  Society  invite 
the  ward  officers  of  their  district  to  meet  with  them  previous  to  the  1st  day 
of  August,  with  the  view  of  placing  the  schools  in  their  hands,  during  the 
vacation,  for  the  purpose  of  repairs,  cleaning,  &c. 

On  the  adoption  of  this  resolution,  the  Board  of  Trustees 
adjourned,  sine  die. 

The  Society  then  held  a  meeting  for  the  transaction  of  some 
formal  business,  among  which  was  the  reading  of  the  deed  of 
conveyance  of  the  property  to  the  city.  Complimentary  resolu- 
tions,, returning  thanks  to  the  President,  GEORGE  T.  TRIMBLE, 
and  the  Secretary,  JOSEPH  B.  COLLINS,  were  passed,  and  the  So- 
ciety adjourned,  to  meet  on  the  following  Friday. 

On  the  day  appointed,  being  the  29th  of  July,  the  Society 
held  a  meeting,  at  which  the  Committee  of  Transfer  submitted 
their  final  report,  as  follows  : 
To  the  New  York  Public  School  Society  : 

The  committee  appointed  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for  termi- 
nating the  "  existence  of  the  Public  School  Society,"  in  conformity  with  the 
act  of  June  4th.  1853,  RESPECTFULLY  REPOBT  : 

That  they  have  completed  the  service  assigned,  in  all  respects,  and  now 
propose  to  lay  before  the  Society  a  statement  of  the  manner  in  which  it  has 
been  done,  and  the  results  which  have  been  severally  attained. 

It  may  not  be  deemed  out  of  place  for  them  to  allude  to  the  fact,  that 
they  have  acted  in  all  that  pertains  hereto  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  not 
from  choice.  They  have  fully  felt  the  ungracious  nature  of  the  task  allotted 
to  them,  but  their  best  services  have  been  held  hitherto  subject  to  the  be- 
hest of  the  Public  School  Society  in  its  days  of  noble  usefulness,  and  hence 
it  was  not  for  them  to  shrink,  when,  in  a  grave  posture  of  its  affairs,  it  has 
become  necessary  to  bring  its  concerns  to  a  close,  and  expunge  its  name 
from  among  active  and  benevolent  public  institutions. 


588  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Since  it  must  be  so,  to  fully  carry  out  the  law  which  merges  it  in  the 
Board  of  Education  has  been  their  constant  care,  and  they  trust  that  it  will 
be  found  that  nothing  to  this  end  has  been  left  unaccomplished. 

In  order  that  the  schools  should  be  fully  supplied  with  all  necessary  arti- 
cles of  use  before  their  surrender,  especially  since,  in  the  change  at  hand, 
and  the  possible  confusion  which  may  result  at  first  from  it,  they  may  be  for 
a  time  unprovided  with  indispensable  supplies,  the  committee,  at  an  early 
moment  after  their  appointment,  caused  the  following  notice  to  be  sent  to 
the  teachers  generally,  viz. : 

Any  authorized  supplies  for  your  school  tha^may  be  required  prior  to 
the  vacation  in  August  next,  will  be  delivered,  if  previously  drawn  for,  dur- 
ing the  first  week  in  July,  say  from  the  1st  to  the  7th.  No  further  supplies 
will  be  furnished  by  the  Public  School  Society,  except  at  the  time  now 
specified. 

To  obtain  the  supplies  needed,  your  pass-book,  with  all  the  due  bills 
which  you  may  have  on  hand,  must  be  sent  to  the  depository  on  or  before 
June  27th. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  an  early  day  was  fixed  in  this  notice  for  deliv- 
ering the  supplies  to  be  drawn  for.  This  was  done  in  order  that  they  might 
be  easily  placed  in  the  schools  before  the  iiine  assigned  for  making  a  com- 
plete inventory  of  the  property. 

While  the  foregoing  measure  was  in  progress,  the  committee  caused 
blank  forms  of  inventory  to  be  prepared,  divided  into  three  classes  :  first,  a 
list  of  supplies  in  all  their  variety — books,  slates,  paper,  pens,  maps,  &c. ; 
second,  a  list  of  books  in  the  several  libraries ;  and  third,  a  blank  sheet, 
upon  which  to  describe  such  philosophical  apparatus,  minerals,  curiosities, 
&c.,  as  might  be  found  in  a  portion  of  the  schools. 

To  the  first,  a  properly-drawn  certificate  was  attached,  which  the  princi- 
pal of  every  school  was  directed  to  sign  ;  and  to  the  second  a  similar  attes- 
tation of  the  correctness  of  the  return  was  added,  for  the  signature  of  the 
first  assistant  or  librarian  of  the  boys'  department  of  the  public  schools ; 
but  to  the  third,  as  it  was  expected  to  embrace  such  matters  only  as  were 
considered  the  special  property  of  the  school  in  which  they  might  be  found, 
the  Society  having  no  claim  upon  them  as  not  having  originally  provided 
them,  no  certificate  was  attached. 

The  calls  for  supplies  were  promptly  made,  and  from  every  school,  in 
greater  or  less  quantity,  with  scarcely  an  exception.  The  delivery  of  these 
begun  early  in  July,  and  it  was  completed  before  the  15th  instant.  So  gen- 
eral had  been  the  call,  that  goods  to  the  value  of  about  $2,750  were  distrib- 
uted on  this  single  occasion.  In  this  stage  of  the  matter,  and  consistent 
with  the  plan  originally  laid  down,  the  following  notice  was  printed  for  cir- 
culation, viz. : 

Yon  are  hereby  required  to  furnish  a  detailed  statement,  by  filling  the 
blanks  in  the  accompanying  list  of  articles,  of  all  the  personal  property  or 
supplies  in  the  school  under  your  charge,  adding  thereto  any  other  items 
that  you  may  find  on  the  premises,  the  names  of  which  are  omitted  in  said 
blanks. 

To  enable  you  to  do  this  effectually,  you  will  require  the  pupils  to  return 


BEPORT   OF  THE   COMMITTEE   OF    TRANSFER. 

all  books  and  other  supplies  that  may  be  in  their  possession,  including 
library-books,  on  or  before  the  15th  of  July,  after  which  date  no  books  or 
supplies  are  to  be  taken  from  the  school. 

You  will  furnish  the  agent  at  the  depository  with  four  fair  copies  of  said 
detailed  statement  by  Wednesday,  20th  of  July,  attested  by  your  signature. 

This  notice,  together  with  the  blank  forms  of  inventory  of  the  personal 
property,  was  distributed  by  the  agent  in  person,  who  accompanied  them 
with  such  verbal  explanation  as  would  enable  the  parties  concerned  to  re- 
turn the  papers  in  suitable  condition  for  use  on  or  before  July  20th.  Beside 
the  agent,  one  of  the  committee  visited  the  schools  generally,  that  an  assur- 
ance might  be  felt  that  all  would  be  correctly  and  seasonably  done. 

Pending  the  arrangement  of  these  matters,  a  sub-committee  waited  upon 
the  treasurer,  and  received  from  him  the  various  deeds,  leases,  &c.,  in  his 
possession,  and  placed  them  in  the  hands  of  the  counsel  of  the  Society,  to 
make  by  their  aid  the  necessary  deed  of  transfer  and  assignment  of  the 
leases,  to  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Commonalty  of  the  city,  as  the  law  for 
the  merging  aforesaid  requires. 

So  carefully  had  every  step  been  taken,  that,  when  the  committee  met,  as 
it  did  on  the  20th  ultimo,  they  found  every  paper  complete,  and  all  in  a  sat- 
isfactory form.  That  these  were  receivable  from  one  hundred  and  ten  prin- 
cipal teachers  and  twenty  librarians,  the  exceeding  promptness  with  which 
the  returns  were  made  is  both  remarkable  and  commendable. 

The  following  list  comprises  all  the  papers  submitted  to  the  committee 
on  the  occasion  referred  to  : 

Inventories  from  boys',  girls',  and  primary  departments  of  Public  Schools 
Nos.  1  to  18,  and  Nos.  1  and  2,  colored. 

Inventories  of  libraries  in  boys'  departments 

Inventories  from  Primary  Schools  Nos.  1  to  55,  and  Nos.  3,  4,  and  6, 
colored. 

Inventories  from  male,  female,  and  colored  normal  schools. 

Inventory  of  supplies,  &c.,  at  the  depository. 

Inventory  of  property  at  the  workshop. 

List  of  articles  delivered  from  Public  School  No.  10,  by  order  of  the 
board,  to  Ward  Schools  Nos.  14  and  29. 

List  of  stoves,  &c.,  from  Public  School  No.  10,  on  storage  with  J.  L. 
Mott. 

These  papers  the  committee  had  ordered  to  be  prepared  in  quadrupli- 
cate, and,  being  so  received,  they  were  assorted,  making  -four  similar  vol- 
umes, which  were  directed  to  be  suitably  bound  in  time  for  the  meeting  of 
the  board,  called  for  the  22d  instant.  For  two  of  these  four  volumes  the  law 
had  already  provided  an  owner ;  a  third,  it  was  resolved,  should  be  present- 
ed to  the  Board  of  Education,  and  a  fourth  to  the  Society,  for  such  disposi- 
tion as  it  might  see  fit  to  make  of  it. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  committee,  a  deed  of  transfer  was  presented, 
with  an  assignment  of  the  leases  aforesaid,  also,  which  were  carefully  com- 
pared with  a  correct  list  of  the  property,  and  then,  with  some  revisions, 
were  ordered  to  be  engrossed. 


590  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

'  The  following  exhibits  the  property,  the  fee-simple  of  which  is  in  the 
Public  School  Society,  the  same  now  conveyed  in  the  deed  aforesaid  : 

Public  Schools  Nos.  3,  4,  5,  7,  8,  9,  11,  12,  13,  14,  15, 16, 18,  and,  colored, 
Nos.  1  and  2. 

Public  School  No.  2,  on  three  lots,-  one  held  in  trust. 
Primary  Schools  Nos.  3  and  44,  5  and  20,  10  and  29,  14  and  40,  25  and 
26,  27  and  28,  35  and  55,  38  and  89,  41  and  51,  42  and  43,  45  and  46. 
Carpenter's  shop,  94  Crosby  street,  and  Trustees'  Hall. 
The  above  furnishing  accommodations  for  sixty-nine  schools. 
The  following  shows  the  property  held  by  lease,  the  same  being  expressly 
assigned  to  the  authority  before  named  jn  the  lease  aforesaid  : 

Primary  Schools  Nos.  2  and  13,  19  and  37,  33  and  34,  58  and  54. 
The  same  furnishing  premises  for  eight  schools. 

In  addition  to  the  property  owned  or  leased  by  the  Public  School  Soci- 
ety, the  following  premises  are  hired  from  year  to  year,  at  the  sums  annexed 
below,  all  being  used  for  primary  school  purposes : 

Primary  School  No.  1,  Orchard  street,    .  .  .      $200 

"  "    4,  Chrystie  street,         .  .  200 

"  "    6,  Suffolk  street,      .  V          .        130 

"  "    7,  Sixth  street, ...  200 

"  "    8,  King  street,    '     .  .  .200 

"  "     9,  corner  Amos  and  Bleecker  streets,    200 

"  "     11,  Pearl  street,         •  ,.  .  200 

"  "12,  corner  Broome  and  Ridge  streets,    200 

"  "    15,  Stanton  street,  .  .  .150 

u  "     18,  Cannon  street,       »  •'.  200 

"  "    21,  Twentieth  street,         ".  .        175 

"  "    23,  Avenue  C  and  Fourth  street,  200 

"  "    24,  cor.  Bleecker  and  Downing  streets,  200 

"  "     30,  Centre  street,       '" .*•        .  300 

"  "     36,  Forty-third  street,        .  .        200 

"  "    48,  Houston  street,       .  .  150 

"  "49  and  50,  Eleventh  street,  .        300 

"          colored,  4  and  6,  Second  street,  .  •  350 

"  "      3,  Fifteenth  street,  rent  paid  to  1856. 

The  same  providing  for  twenty-one  schools. 

The  title  to  the  ground  on  which  the  following  schools  stand,  is  already 
in  the  city : 

Public  Schools  Noa.  1,  6,  17;  Primary  Schools  Nos.  81,  82  (three 
rooms),  and  52  ;  affording  accommodations  for  twelve  schools. 

The  whole  number  of  schools  under  the  charge  of  the  Public  School 
Society  is  therefore  as  follows,  viz. : 

In  houses  belonging  to  the  Society,  held  in  fee,    .  .  .69 

"  "  "  the  ground  held  by  lease,  8 

"  owned  by  the  city,  12 

In  houses  rented  for  the  purpose,  .  .  .  .  .21 

Total,    .  »  .  .-         110* 

*  For  the  location  of  these  schools,  see  pages  594,  696. 


REPORT   OF  THE   COMMITTEE   OF   TRANSFER.  591 

The  schools  generally  having  prepared  a  fifth  copy  of  the  inventory  of 
personal  property,  one  of  the  committee,  with  the  agent,  -was  detailed  to 
visit  the  several  schools,  and  insert  it  in  the  visitors'  book.  They  were  also 
directed  to  insert  in  the  book  of  the  public  or  upper  schools,  copies  of  the 
record  of  the  March  examinations,  and  the  reports  of  the  committee  on 
stoves  and  fuel  lately  printed,  and  in  the  book  of  the  primary  schools  the 
record  of  the  June  examination,  with  the  printed  reports  just  named.  These 
papers,  being  secured  in  the  books,  will  furnish,  in  permanent  form,  impor- 
tant statistics  to  our  successors,  show  the  care  and  accuracy  with  which  our 
affairs,  or  a  part  of  them,  have  been  managed,  and  exhibit  also  at  a  glance, 
to  their  several  future  supervisors,  the  grade  and  standing  of  our  various 
schools  and  departments,  giving,  as  they  do,  honor,  qualified  praise,  or  cen- 
sure, where  they  have  proved  to  be  due. 

The  committee,  viewing  it  as  a  matter  of  considerable  importance,  have 
attempted  a  valuation  of  the  property  now  about  to  be  surrendered  by  the 
Public  School  Society  to  the  city,  and  with  the  following  result : 

Value  of  real  estate,         .  V         ' .  .''.'.      $495,300.00 

Value  of  personal  property,  .          ,., ,,(    ,,.<,,    •.. ••  109,520.46 

$604,820.46 
There  are  mortgages  upon  the  real  estate,  with 

accruing  interest,  as  follows  : 

One  due  Chambers  street  Bank  for  Savings,      .     $75,000 
"        Bowery  Savings  Bank,      •;•*        .  35,000 

"        New  York  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Co.,        40,000 
"        on  lot  in  Forty-seventh  street  (Public 

School  No.  18)  at  time  of  purchase,     .       800 

— —    150,800.00 

Leaving  the  value  of  property  unencumbered,  .        §454,020.46 

Add  to  which  the  balance  of  the  treasurer's  account,  401.39 


Making  the  value  of  the  property  transferred  to  the  city,  $454,421.85 

For  the  information  of  those  who  are  desirous  of  knowing  the  various 
items  of  which  this  aggregate  is  made,  a  schedule  of  the  property,  with  the 
valuation  in  detail,  is  appended  to  this  report. 

The  committee  is  informed  that  all  the  floating  debt  of  the  Society  has 
been  paid,  inclusive  of  rents,  to  August  1st,  1853.  That  section  of  the  law 
which  provides  for  a  certificate  of  the  amount  of  this  debt  to  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  is.  therefore  inoperative. 

The  striking  fact  that  the  Public  School  Society  is  about  to  close  its 
existence,  and  transfer  so  large  an  amount  of  unencumbered  estate  to  the 
city  of  New  York,  excites  in  the  minds  of  the  committee  an  honest  exulta- 
tion, as  it  must  in  those  of  all  the  well-wishers  of  the  Society ;  because  upon 
grave  occasions,  and  in  public  bodies,  those  who  should  have  been  and  who 
might  have  been  better  informed,  have  declared  it  an  insolvent  and  rotten 
concern,  which  was  seeking  to  conceal  its  real  condition  by  urging  a  union 


592  TI1E   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

with  a  healthy  and  living  institution.  This  calumny,  at  least,  is  now  for- 
ever silenced.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  added,  that,  in  its  disburse- 
ments of  public  money  to  the  amount  of  millions  of  dollars,  the  first 
instance  is  yet  to  be  shown  where  it  has  diverted  a  single  dollar  from  its 
legitimate  channel  of  service.  The  committee  would  even  go  so  far  as  to 
add,  that  few  institutions,  here  or  elsewhere,  of  like  or  shorter  duration,  can 
exhibit  a  similar  fact.  In  view  of  this  statement  alone,  who  shall  say  that 
the  Public  School  Society  has  not  acquired  fame  enough  ? 

In  referring  to  the  payment  of  the  floating  debt,  the  committee  feel  that 
the  Society  is  under  many  obligations  to  some  in  the  community  who  have 
been  its  creditors,  for  their  very  great  forbearance  during  its  pecuniary  em- 
barrassments. Though  it  has  done  the  best  it  could  under  the  circum- 
stances, as  it  trusts  they  have  believed,  yet  such  has  been  its  keen  sense  of 
the  justice  and  pressing  nature  of  their  claims,  and  such  its  desire  to  meet 
them,  that  a  less  considerate  course  on  their  part  would  have  rendered  its 
position  at  times  intolerable.  To  cancel  all  its  obligations  to  its  creditors 
itself,  has  been  its  principal  wish,  the  gratification  of  which  has,  it  seems, 
not  been  denied  to  it. 

Among  the  many  subjects  of  inquiry  which  presented  themselves  to  the 
committee,  that  relative  to  the  probable  number  of  children  which  has 
received  instruction  in  its  schools  since  the  Society's  organization  in  1805, 
has  claimed  and  received  a  good  deal  of  attention,  and  the  committee  finds 
little  ground  of  doubt  that  the  whole  number  is  six  hundred  thousand.  To 
have  educated  this  great  number  of  youth,  is  to  have  been  the  dispenser  of 
incalculable  good  to  the  community  at  large ;  a  fact  which,  while  it  is  a 
source  of  sincere  congratulation  to  the  active  participants  in  the  labor,  may 
console  them  for  the  sacrifices  of  time  and  effort  which  they  have  made  in 
the  discharge  of  their  constant  and  arduous  duties.  Moreover,  since  the 
opening  of  the  normal  schools,  more  than  one  thousand  two  hundred  teach- 
ers have  been  educated  and  fitted  for  service,  a  large  proportion  of  whom 
are  now  actively  discharging  the  responsible  duties  of  their  vocation  in  the 
schools  of  this  city,  securing,  by  this  means,  to  a  period  still  remote,  the 
blessings  of  judicious  education  to  the  children  of  this  commercial  metropo- 
lis. Not  a  few  of  the  whole  number  are  also  diffusing  the  moral  lessons  and 
intelligence,  acquired  in  our  schools,  among  the  children  of  the  neighboring 
cities  and  towns,  or  in  the  more  distant  parts  of  the  Union,  who  have  found 
it,  we  trust,  no  mean  passport  to  the  confidence  and  good  offices  of  their 
new  supervisors  that  they  have  graduated  in  the  schools  of  the  Public 
School  Society. 

It  may  be  interesting,  as  a  matter  of  history,  to  state,  that  the  personal 
and  real  property  of  the  Public  School  Society  has  been  twice  already  ten- 
dered to  the  city  authorities.  The  offer  was  made  to  satisfy  a  popular  objec- 
tion ;  it  having  been  argued  that  so  much  public  property  should  not  be 
controlled  by  a  corporation,  because  it  might,  sooner  or  later,  become  cor- 
rupt, and  squander  it  in  the  advancement  .of  private  objects,  or  in  the  fur- 
therance of  ends  not  contemplated  by  the  law.  It  is,  perhaps,  honorable  to 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  TRANSFER.         593 

both  parties,  that  the  tender  was  as  often  rejected,  and  the  Society  asked  to 
hold  steadily  on  its  course. 

On  this  day,  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  have  closed  for  the 
summer  vacation ;  when  they  open  again,  their  Alma  Mater  will  have  ceased 
to  be.  New  auspices,  new  school  officers  to  a  large  extent,  and  a  new  sys- 
tem of  government  and  responsibility,  will  have  supervened  the  ancient 
order  of  things.  All  the  public  schools  of  the  city  will  then  own  one  com- 
mon head.  The  active,  and,  we  trust,  generous  rivalry  of  systems  which 
has  grown  up  of  later  times,  will  no  longer  continue.  Rivalry,  if  any  there 
be,  must  be  felt  among  members  of  the  same  household,  or,  at  least,  between 
one  municipal  division  of  the  city  and  another,  or  between  individual 
schools.  What  is  to  be  the  result  of  the  change,  it  is  not  for  us  to  say— 
whether  for  the  better  in  relation  to  the  common  good,  or  for  the  worse. 
If  we  fear  the.  latter,  the  sequel  may  disappoint  us ;  if  we  were  confident  of 
the  former,  we  could  lay  down  our  corporate  trust  with  cheerfulness,  and 
with  an  abiding  hope  in  the  future.  The  result  is  with  the  almighty  Dis- 
poser of  events. 

The  books  containing  an  inventory  of  our  personal  property,  with  a  cer- 
tificate of  the  correctness  of  the  return,  to  be  signed  by  the  officers  of  the 
jSociety.  together  with  the  deed  of  transfer,  assignment  of  leases,  &c.,  are 
presented  herewith,  and,  when  properly  signed  and  legally  executed,  may 
be  delivered  to  the  recipients  named  in  the  law,  who,  the  committee  are , 
informed,  are  in  attendance  for  the  purpose.  This  done,  the  Society  may 
proceed  to  confirm  the  nomination  of  its  commissioners  and  trustees,  and 
thereupon  its  existence  will  cease. 

As  a  conclusion  to  their  labors,  the  committee  offer  the  following  resolu- 
tion : 

Resolved,  That  the  books  of  minutes  of  the  Society,  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  of  the  Executive  Committee,  and  of-  other  standing  committees, 
together  with  all  the  reports,  documents,  and  treasurer's  vouchers,  and  a 
copy  of  the  inventory  of  personal  property,  &c.,  be  deposited  with  the  New 
York  Historical  Society. 

(Signed)  L.  W.  STEVENS,  Chairman. 

JOSEPH  CURTIS, 
WILLIAM:  P.  COOLEDGB, 
JOHN  DAVENPOBT, 
J.  W.  C.  LEVEBIDGE. 

NEW  YOEK,  July  29,  1863. 

38 


THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


ESTIMATED  VALUE  OF  EEAL  ESTATE  AND  PEESONAL  PEOPEKTY  BELONGING 
TO  THE  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY,  JULY,  1853. 


• 

3 

§ 

• 

o 
CO 

• 

o 

H 

1 

£ 

• 

ri 

B 

H 

No.  or  LOTS. 

GROUND. 

HOUSE. 

FUBNITrKE. 

SUPPLIES. 

J 

•< 

H 
S 

Pub.  Schools. 
No.    1  

William  st. 
Henry  Bt. 

Hudson  Bt. 
Rivingtonst  
Mottst  

City  

3 
3 

65x130 
75x100 
20x65 
3 

$12,000 
10,000 

14,000 
4,000 
8,000 

$2,800 
3,000 

3,400 
2,000 

2,200 
3,000 
2,200 
2,800 
800 
2.600 
3,000 
3,000 
3,000 
3,600 
3,000 
3,000 
3,600 
1.800 
2,000 
2%500 
2,500 

400 
800 
600 
403 

600 

300 

400 
400 

400 
400 

400 

400 

600 

400 
300 
300 
800 
300 
260 

100 

400 
600 
800 

400 
1,000 

800 

800 
400 

900 
800 

$71,160 

$1,200  00 
1,250  CO 

1,480  00 
1,015  00 

1,075  00 
1,000  00 
880  00 
1,040  00 
600  00 
1.105  OC 
1,310  00 
1,115  00 
1,190  00 
1,285  00 
1,300  00 
1,085  CO 
1,240  00 
500  00 
500  00 
3,460  00 

$16,000  00 
22,250  00 

38,880  00 
19,016  00 

21,275  00 
4,000  00 

1M.IIMI   l«| 

27,840  00 
7,800  00 
26,705  00 
27.310  00 
26,115  00 
26,190  00 
29,885  00 
27,300  00 
16.085  00 
2S,840  00 
11,30100 
13,500  00 
45,960  00 
8,600  00 

540  00 
£,905  00 
7,130  00 
545  00 

6,805  00 

440  00 
540  00 
575  00 

670  00 
9,475  00 

540  00 
545  00 

6,830  00 

555  00 
625  00 
495  00 
6.870  00 
430  00 
376  00 

315  00 
5(0  00 

9,1:0  oo 

9,125  00 

580  00 
7,600  00 

6,870  00 

9,875  00 
550  00 

12,165  00 
8,885  00 

2  

2  In  Socle-  \ 
ety&linf 
Rutgers    ( 
Church.  ; 
P.  8.  Soc... 

:  ( 

City  

$8,000 

20,000 
12,000 
10,000 

3  

4  

5.... 

6  

Randall's  Island. 
Chrystie  st  

7  

P.  8.  Soc... 
«i 

<> 

City  
P.  S.  Soc.... 

3 

3 
4 

3 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
2 
50x98 
2 
1 

12,000 
12,000 
2,500 
12,000 
12,000 
11,000 
11,000 
11,000 
11,000 

8,000 
12,000 
4,000 
10,000 
11,000 
11,000 
11,000 
14,000 
12,000 
12.000 
16,000 
3,000 
6,000 
20,000 
2,000 

8  

9  
11  

82dst  

12  
13  

17th  st  

14  
15  
16  
17  
18  
Colored,  1.... 
"       2.... 
Trustees'  Hall 
•  Workshop... 
Primary 
Schools, 
So.    1  

Houston  st  
27th  st  
5th  et  
13th  st  
47th  st  
Mulberry  st  
Laurcns  Bt  

6,000 
6,000 
5,000 
20,000 
4,000 

Crosby  st  

140  00 
305  00 
230  00 
145  00 

205  00 

140  00 
140  00 
176  00 

170  00 
275  00 

140  00 
145  00 

230  00 

155  00 
226  00 
195  00 
270  00 
130  00 
125  00 

215  CO 

18000 
22000 
825  00 

180  00 
560  00 

270  00 

275  00 
160  00 

266  00 
286  00 

«'       2&  13.. 
"      3&44.. 
"      <  

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1 
1 

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2,500 

4,800 
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«'      6  
»      7  

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•"    27&2S... 
"    30  

P.  8.  Soc... 

1 

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1 

3,600 
3,000 

4,800 
6,000 

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1 

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3,000 

6,000 
4,800 

West  18th  Bt.... 

1214,600 

$282,000 

$29,995  00 

$575,145  00 

SPEECH  OF  PETER  COOPER. 


595 


ESTIMATED  VALUE  OF  REAL  ESTATE  AND  PERSONAL  PROPERTY  (Continued.) 


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40x50 

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$3,000 

$600 

$250  00 

$6,350  00 

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2 

4,000 

5,000 

800 

250  00 

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300 

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P.  8.  Soc.... 

I 

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4,800 

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No.    3  

West  1  5th  st  

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........ 



200 

125  00 

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205  26 
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205  26 
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401  39 

Total... 

*220,50o!  8274.800 

$75.264 

«34.256  461  4605.221  85 

The  report  was  adopted,  and,  the  President  having  an- 
nounced in  a  few  words  that  the  Society  had  closed  its  official 
career,  and  had  executed  its  last  official  trust,  nothing  now  re- 
mained but  to  exchange  their  last  salutations  as  trustees  and 
members  of  the  Society. 

PETER  COOPER  then  rose,  and  addressed  the  Society  as  fol- 
lows : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  With  your  indulgence,  I  -will  venture 
a  few  remarks  that  I  have  penned,  on  an  occasion  that  commands  our  deep- 
est consideration.  We  are  now,  Mr.  President,  about  to  resign  our  steward- 
ship over  an  institution  that  has  exerted  an  influence  over  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  the  young  of  our  city,  who  are  now,  in  their  turn,  spreading  that 
influence  far  and  wide  over  our  common  country.  Let  us,  then,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, each  one  of  us,  try  in  all  sincerity  to  adopt  the  language  of  the  poet, 
where  he  says, 

"  'Tis  greatly  wise  to  talk  with  our  past  hours, 
And  ask  them  what  report  they  bore  to  heaven  ; 
And  how  they  might  have  borne  more  welcome  news  ;  " 

where  the  responsibilities  of  our  stewardship  will  be  found  impressed  indel- 
ibly on  every  heart,  causing  us  to  rejoice  in  every  triumph  of  virtue,  and 
to  sorrow  over  all  the  errors  we  have  made.  How  important,  then,  it  is  to 
listen  to  the  knell  of  the  departed  hours — yes  !  as  if  an  angel  spoke.  They 
call  upon  us  to  gather  wisdom  by  reflection  on  the  experience  of  the  past, 
and  to  apply  that  wisdom  to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  that  are  now 
before  us.  The  stewardship  that  we  are  now  about  to  resign  is  not  a  re- 


596  THE   PDBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

prieve  from  the  responsibility  of  the  future.  On  the  contrary,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, that  stewardship  should  have  prepared  us  better  to  perform  those 
duties  that  are  now  about  to  devolve  upon  us.  These  duties  are  of  unmeas- 
ured importance,  not  only  to  the  children  of  this  community,  but  to  the 
cause  of  suffering  humanity  throughout  the  world.  When  we  cast  our 
minds  over  the  struggling  nations  of  the  earth,  and  look  on  the  fierce  en- 
counter now  waging  between  the  friends  of  freedom  and  progress,  and  those 
despots  who  are  now  striving  by  every  means  in  their  power  to  uproot  and 
destroy  the  very  foundations  of  liberal  government;  when  I  see,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, those  monarchs  of  Europe  hanging  their  armies,  like  an  incubus,  about 
their  peoples'  necks,  eating  out  their  substance,  degrading  their  morals,  and 
making  them  their  ignorant  slaves,  to  perpetuate  the  pride  and  selfishness 
of  their  oppressors ;  when  I  think,  Mr.  President,  of  the  bare  possibility 
that  tyranny  may  again  triumph  over  the  continent  of  Europe  ;  when  I  look 
at  the  history  of  the  past,  and  judge  of  what  is  possible  for  the  future ; 
when  I  recollect  those  frightful  monuments  of  former  grandeur  and  lost 
greatness — monuments  now  standing  as  beacons  in  the  pathway  of  nations, 
warning  us  of  danger,  and  telling  us,  with  silent  eloquence,  beware,  lest  a 
worse  thing  come  upon  us ;  "when  I  reflect  on  the  exalted  privileges  that 
now  elevate  us  among  the  nations  of  the  earth — privileges  that  other  nations 
are  sighing  and  suffering  in  vain  to  obtain  ;  when  I  look  on  all  this,  I  ask 
myself,  Can  it  ~be  that  these  dear-bought,  inalienable  rights — the  rights  to 
worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  our  own  consciences,  and  to  form 
and  carry  on  a  government  of  our  own  choice — I  ask  myself,  Can  it  be  that 
rights  and  privileges  like  these  can  ever  be  given  up  and  lost  ? 

I  tremble  for  the  answer,  when  I  see  the  combined  influences  of  pride,  of 
selfishness,  of  bigotry,  and  superstition,  all  uniting  to  undermine  the  virtues 
and  misdirect  the  energy  and  intelligence  of  our  people.  Our  mission,  Mr. 
President,  has  been,  and  will  continue  to  be,  one  of  no  ordinary  responsibil- 
ity and  importance.  It  is  one  that  claims  from  us  our  united  and  continued 
effort  to  spread  far  and  wide  the  science  of  just,  necessary,  and  useful  knowl- 
edge, until  all  shall  know,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest,  those  things  that 
make  for  their  peace.  And  now,  Mr.  President,  as  we  are  about  to  enter  on 
a  new  and  most  important  field  of  labor,  under  different  circumstances,  and 
with  new  associates,  who,  I  trust,  we  shall  find  as  truly  and  earnestly  de- 
voted to  the  great  cause  of  human  improvement  as  we  are  or  ever  have  been 
— and  although  they  may  have  adopted  different  means  to  attain  the  same 
end,  it  will  be  our  duty  £o  be  slow  to  find  fault  or  condemn  what  may  at 
first  appear  less  desirable  than  the  customary  rules  and  practices  that  have 
prevailed  within  our  own  Society.  It  will  better  become  us  to  look  to  those 
motes  that  may  by  possibility  float  unperceived  in  our  own  eyes,  that  we 
may  more  clearly  perceive  those  difficulties  that  will  encumber  our  own 
path,  and  that  of  our  associates,  with  whom,  I  trust,  we  shall  ever  act  with 
a  pure  desire  to  carry  forward  a  system  of  public  and  general  education 
that,  I  hope,  will  maintain  the  confidence  of  the  community,  and  prove  a 
blessing  to  the  world. 


REMARKS   OF  WM.    D.    MURPHY.  597 

The  Board  of  Education  was  at  the  same  time  holding  a  .spe- 
cial session  in  another  part  of  the  building,  called  for  the  pur- 
pose of  effecting  the  union  ;  and  on  motion  of  Dr.  J.  "Weldon 
Fell,  commissioner  for  the  Eighth  "Ward,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  inform  the  new  members  that  the  Board  of  Education 
was  ready  to  receive  the  commissioners  nominated  by  the  Soci- 
ety. The  President,  Hon.  ERASTUS  C.  BENEDICT,  appointed  Dr. 
Fell,  Hon.  James  W.  Beekman,  and  Charles  Vulte  as  the  com- 
mittee, in  whose  company  the  new  members  soon  entered  the 
hall. 

As  they  entered  the  room,  the  board  rose,  and  the  President 
offered  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  : 

Whereas,  On  the  joint  application  of  this  board  and  the  Public  School 
Society,  the  said  Society  was  authorized  by  law  to  convey  their  property  to 
the  city  Corporation,  and  to  transfer  their  schools  to  the  care  of  this  board, 
and,  after  appointing  certain  of  their  own  trustees  to  remain  as  school 
officers  of  the  wards,  including  fifteen  to  be  members  of  this  board,  to  dis- 
solve their  corporate  existence ;  and 

WJiereas,  Said  Society  has  completed  said  arrangements,  and  has  ceased 
to  exist  as  a  separate  institution ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  Public  School  Society  is  entitled  to  the  lasting  grati- 
tude of  the  people  of  this  city,  and  of  the  friends  of  education  generally, 
for  their  unremitted  and  successful  efforts,  continued  through  nearly  half  a 
century,  in  disseminating  the  blessings  of  education  and  virtue  among  thou- 
sands who  otherwise  would  have  been  allowed  to  grow  up  in  ignorance  and 
vice. 

Resolved^  That  we  cordially  welcome  to  their  seats  in  this  board,  Thomas 
B.  Stillman,  Linus  W.  Stevens,  Peter  Cooper,  William  H.  Neilson,  John  T. 
Adams,  Israel  Russell,  Joseph  B.  Collins,  John  Davenport,  James  F.  Depey- 
ster,  Benjamin  R.  Winthrop,  Charles  E.  Pierson,  M.D.,  William  P.  Cooledge, 
Henry  H.  Barrow,  Joseph  Curtis,  and  John  W.  C.  Leveridge,  who  have  been 
so  selected  as  members  thereof,  and  that  we  rejoice  in  the  confident  hope 
that  the  cause  of  public  education  will  be  strengthened  by  the  union  now 
completed,  and  will  receive  at  their  hands  the  same  faithful,  intelligent,  and 
disinterested  service  which  it  has  hitherto  received  from  their  enlightened 
philanthropy  and  patriotism. 

WILLIAM  D.  MURPHY,  Esq.,  commissioner  from  the  Seventh 
"Ward,  seconded  the  resolutions  of  Mr.  Benedict,  and  said  : 

MK.  PRESIDENT  :  The  present  is  an  occasion  upon  which  I  cannot  re- 
strain an  expression  of  the  feelings  which  press  upon  me  for  utterance.  The 
cause  of  education,  in  view  of  its  influence  upon  the  moral  and  social  wel- 
fare of  man,  is  the  greatest  of  all  those  enterprises  which  can  claim  or  receive 


598  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

our  attention.  It  decides  whether  man  shall  be  a  savage  or  a  civilized  being, 
and  gives  rise  to  the  distinctions  between  savage  and  civilized  society.  The 
years  are  comparatively  but  few  since  we  had  in  our  State,  and,  indeed,  in 
our  country,  no  system  of  public  education.  The  Society  which,  by  law, 
has  now  expired,  and  a  portion  of  whose  members  are  now  coming  into  this 
board,  was  the  pioneer  in  evolving  and  building  up  the  great  system  of 
popular  education  in  our  city,  iu  the  State  of  New  York,  and  in  the  Union. 
The  members  of  that  Society  have  nobly  won  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the 
people  of  the  State,  and  particularly  of  this  city,  for  their  faithful,  untir- 
ing, and  persevering  labors  in  the  enlightenment  and  training  of  so  many 
of  the  people  of  our  land.  Many  of  those  faithful  men  have  gone  through 
a  life  of  honor  and  usefulness,  and,  after  a  life  of  labor,  have  gone  home  to 
the  reward  of  righteousness.  The  gentlemen  who  have  constituted  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  have  been  more  like  fathers  than  trustees,  for  they  have 
cherished  the  schools  under  their  charge,  and  the  great  interest*  of  public 
education  with  an  affectionate  care. 

Mr.  President,  we  often  hear  of  institutes,  colleges,  and  universities 
which  boast  of  their  alumni,  their  graduates,  and  their  labors.  We  hear  of 
institutions  which  boast  of  the  senators,  the  governors,  and  the  honorable 
men  who  have  been  indebted  to  them  as  their  Alma  Mater.  But  here  we 
have  an  institution  which  boasts,  not  of  its  tens  or  its  hundreds,  but  may 
proudly  boast  of  the  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  who  have 
enjoyed  the  blessings  of  education  under  its  fostering  care — thousands  who 
adorn  society,  and  labor  honorably  all  over  the  country.  The  Public  School 
Society  has  done  much  toward  moulding  the  State  of  New  York,  and  it  has 
moulded  and  improved  and  elevated  the  educational  system  of  the  whole 
Union.  It  has  enlightened  thousands  of  minds,  cheered  thousands  of 
hearts,  and  quickened  the  fires  of  patriotism  now  burning  in  every  State 
of  the  Union.  Even  in  the  West  Indies,  this  Society  aided  to  kindle  the 
fires  of  liberty  before  the  act  of  emancipation  which  made  freemen  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  slaves.  Where  are  the  men  who  have  done  these 
things  ?  Many  of  them  are  not  here.  But  their  successors  are  here.  You 
cannot  find  a  philanthropic  institution  in  the  city  of  New  York  where  the 
members  of  the  Public  School  Society  do  not  perform  a  large  share  of  the 
duty.  Now,  sir,  we  are  told  of  the  age  of  chivalry,  when  men  hazarded 
their  all,  and  achieved  heroic  deeds  in  behalf  of  their  wives,  their  children, 
or  their  fellow-men.  But  if  those  men  were  entitled  to  praise,  what  shall 
we  say  of  the  men  who,  for  half  a  century,  moulded  the  impressible  minds 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  children,  leading  them  to  usefulness  and  honor, 
and  added  a  bright  lustre  to  the  beauty  and  glory  of  our  free  institutions  ? 
They  have  discharged  their  duties  without  faltering,  swerving,  or  defalca- 
tion. There  is  no  one  of  them  who 

"  Weighed  his  virtue  in  the  well-poised  scale, 
And  took  the  yellow  bribe." 

I  confess,  sir,  language  fails  me  to  bear  a  fitting  testimony  to  the  services 
of  these  laborious  and  faithful  men.  I  know  not  how  to  find  words  to  ex- 
press the  honor  due  to  them. 


THE  UNION  COMPLETED.  599 

Mr.  President,  I  very  cordially  approve  all  that  is  said  in  the  resolutions. 
I  venerate  those  men,  whose  hearts  were  warm,  whose  doctrines  were  pure, 
and  whose  lives  have  demonstrated,  and  now  demonstrate,  that  their  hearts, 
their  labor,  and  their  time  were  consecrated  to  the  high  and  sacred  cause 
of  public  education. 

Mr.  Murphy  was  warmly  responded  to  by  the  members  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  who  expressed  their  sympathy  with  the 
speaker  by  a  spontaneous  applause,  and  the  new  members  were 
formally  qualified  for  their  office. 

Thus  terminated,  forty-eight  years  after  its  inception,  the 
career  of  the  Public  School  Society,  leaving  its  progress  and  its 
labors  intimately  associated  with  the  advancement  of  all  the 
great  institutions  of  learning  and  of  benevolence  which,  were 
contemporaneous  with  its  own  existence,  not  less  than  of  the  city 
of  which  it  was  an  ornament,  and  upon  which  it  conferred  bene- 
fits as  great  as  they  were  invaluable  and  enduring. 


600  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 

The  Lancasterian  System — Social  Problems — Elevation  of  the  Masses — Educational 
Systems — Progress  and  Development — The  Public  School  Society — Visitation  and 
Division  of  Labor — Economy — Teachers  and  Salaries — Monitors — Depository — 
Workshop — Rewards  and  Libraries — Evening  Schools — Vagrancy,  Agent,  and 
Visitors — How  Shall  the  Poor  be  Reached  ? — Compulsory  Measures — The  Social 
Problems  Unsolved— The  Free  and  Pay  Systems — Pay  System  Abandoned — Lot- 
teries— Corporal  Punishment — Moral  Power  of  the  Teacher — Extract  from  the 
Manual — Music  Introduced,  but  Discontinued — Moral  and  Religious  Instruction — 
Sectarianism — The  Position  of  the  Society — Sunday  Schools  and  their  Influence — 
Religious  and  Moral  Education  Essential  to  the  Welfare  of  Society — Concluding 
Observations. 

THE  system  of  instruction  adopted  by  the  Society  at  its  ori- 
gin, was  that  which  had  been  introduced  to  the  notice  of  the 
British  public  by  Joseph  Lancaster,  and  which  became  known 
by  his  name,  although,  as  a  characteristic  style,  it  was  also 
called  the  Monitorial  System  of  Instruction.  The  Lancasterian 
method  was  the  basis,  but  was  modified  and  improved  materially 
in  the  schools  of  the  Society.  It  was  based  upon  two  fundamen- 
tal propositions — emulation  and  economy.  It  aimed  to  excite 
the  mental  and  moral  activities,  by  the  distinction  it  bestowed 
upon  the  more  industrious  'and  advanced  pupils,  by  their  ap- 
pointment as  monitors  ;  while  the  economy  of  this  kind  of  ser- 
vice was  obvious,  where  a  moderate  cost  was  an  essential  element 
in  the  prosperity  of  a  school,  especially  for  the  poor.  There  is 
a  class  of  duties  not  very  high,  nor  requiring  a  great  degree  of 
literary  attainment,  which  may  be  performed  by  the  higher 
grade  of  pupils,  which,  while  the  exercise  of  instruction  becomes 
a  decided  benefit  to  themselves  in  many  respects,  renders  unne- 
cessary the  employment  of  adult .  and  experienced  teachers. 
Children  learn  easily  from  one  another ;  and  the  alphabet,  sim- 
ple spelling,  the  primary  rules  of  arithmetic,  and  other  lessons 
are  quickly  taught  and  as  well  learned  by  the  children  as  though 


DEVELOPMENT   BY    SUBSTITUTION.  601 

they  were  pointed  out  by  the  finger  of  the  philosopher.  The 
dignity  of  the  office  of  monitor,  filled  by  rotation,  in  the  several 
duties  of  the  school-room,  was  an  incentive  to  those  old  enough, 
while  it  seemed  to  invest  the  monitors  with  that  degree  of  au- 
thority which  made  the  discipline  of  a  class  of  ten  or  twelve 
pupils  as  easy  to  them  as  to  an  adult  teacher. 

To  the  ignorant,  any  progress  whatever  in  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  is  valuable,  and  hence  the  teachings  of  advanced 
pupils  were  of  as  much  consequence  to  the  learners  as  though 
they  were  under  more  competent  control.  Although  it  was  an 
economical  system,  it  did  not  cheapen  knowledge,  in  an  obnoxious 
sense ;  it  merely  gave,  in  its  least  expensive  presentation,  and 
through  the  hands  of  equals,  those  first  draughts  from  the  foun- 
tains of  knowledge  which  otherwise  had  been  denied  to  the 
masses  of  the  lowly. 

Although  the  questions  of  the  social  and  moral  elevation  of 
the  masses  have  engaged  the  attention  of  the  most  profound 
thinkers  of  the  civilized  world  during  the  present  century,  it  is  a 
no  less  conspicuous  fact  that  the  condition  of  millions  seems  to 
serve  as  a  barrier  to  their  advancement.  Notwithstanding  all 
the  expenditures  made  in  this  direction  for  asylums,  schools,  and 
gymnasiums,  the  underlying  mass  of  the  community  suffers  from 
intellectual  'darkness  and  moral  death. 

There  is  a  tendency  in  many  institutions,  after  having  passed 
through  their  early  stage,  and  endowments  increase,  to  enter 
upon  a  transition  period,  which  carries  them  beyond  the  sphere 
for  which  they  were  originally  designed.  The  ragged  school 
becomes  a  school  for  children  well  clothed,  and  of  the  middle 
class.  The  rooms  in  which  the  poor  learned  their  alphabets, 
become  filled  with  the  children  of  parents  who  desire  them  to 
read  history,  grammar,  and  algebra,  if  not  higher  branches. 
The  teacher  who  first  gathered  his  group  of  unwashed  and  reck- 
less urchins,  gives  place  to  the  tutor  who  has  his  maps,  his  atlas- 
es, and  his  lexicons.  This  advance  is  not  simply  progress  ;  it  is 
substitution.  One  class  of  pupils  is  replaced  by  another,  and  a 
new  order  of  charities  is  required  for  the  benefit  of  the  humbler 
classes.  This  transition  has  taken  place,  to  a  large  extent,  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  The  schools  of  the  Society,  which  were 
founded  for  the  instruction  of  those  "  poor  children  who  did  not 
belong  to,  or  were  not  provided  for  by,  any  religious  society," 


602  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

and  were  consequently  not  provided  for  by  any  parochial  school, 
after  the  lapse  of  about  twenty  years,  became  so  numerous  and 
respectable  as  to  excite  the  attention  of  the  public  at  large,  as 
institutions  for  general  instruction.  It  became  an  object  of  ear- 
nest care  with  the  Society  to  elevate  the  character  of  the  schools 
in  all  their  aspects.  They  were  known  as  schools  for  "  poor 
c-hildreii,"  and  many  parents  did  not  desire  to  send  their  chil- 
dren to  schools  which  were  distinctively  for  that  class.  To  re- 
move these  disadvantages,  the  system  was  developed  by  a  long 
and  careful  process.  Additional  endowments  weie  secured,  ex- 
perienced teachers  took  the  place  of  many  of  the  monitors,  more 
costly  apparatus  was  purchased,  the  grade  of  instruction  was 
advanced,  and  the  schools  were  offered  to  the  public  as  institu- 
tions where  the  children  of  all  classes  might  meet  on  common 
ground,  and  engage  in  the  strife  for  honor  and  reward. 

But  social  laws  cannot  always  be  overborne,  even  by  the  most 
enlightened  and  philanthropic  adaptations.  In  proportion  as  the 
comfortably-clad  and  cleanly  and  polished  pupil  makes  his  ap- 
pearance, the  opposite  class  shrink  from  the  contact.  Social 
affinities  are  too  strong,  and  social  distinctions  are  too  marked. 
Contrasts  are  too  plainly  seen.  Although  theories  of  popular 
commingling  may  be  very  pretty  exercises  for  the  sycophant  or 
the  demagogue,  facts  and  truths  of  a  stern  and  impressive  sig- 
nificance often  laugh  them  to  scorn,  and  the  self-consciousness  of 
the  poor,  the  abject,  and  the  desponding,  lead  them  to  avoid 
associations  where  the  silent  but  not  less  powerful  invidiousness 
of  social  contrasts  is  so  clearly  displayed. 

The  progress  of  substitution,  of  which  mention  has  been 
made,  has  taken  place  to  a  large 'extent  in  the  school  system  of 
New  York.  Instead  of  confining  itself  to  the  instruction  of  the 
children  of  the  poor,  the  advances  made  raised  them,  in  a  meas- 
ure, above  the  level  of  thousands  who  are  too  unfortunate  and 
too  dependent,  while  the  means  which  would  support  several 
schools  of  lower  grades  were  expended  upon  a  single  school. 
The  necessity  of  securing  a  system  by  which  children  of  all 
classes  might  meet  on  common  ground,  rendered  it  inevitable 
that  the  schools  should  be  advanced  to  such  a  rank  as  very  soon 
removed  them  beyond  the  level  of  thousands.  The  private  pay 
schools  became  fewer  in  number  in  proportion  to  the  population, 
and  the  number  of  uneducated  children  of  the  poor  kept  stead- 


DEVELOPMENT.  603 

ily  increasing  with  the  population.  The  statistics  which  were 
viewed  with  so  much  interest  and  anxiety  in  1825,  when  about 
ten  thousand  children  were  estimated  to  be  without  instruction, 
lost  none  of  their  significance  in  1835,  when  it  was  reported  that 
there  were  twenty  thousand  untaught  wanderers  to  be  found  in 
the  streets.  Yet  this  mass  grew,  in  the  next  decade,  to  thirty 
thousand,  and,  in  1855,  the  estimates  reported  to  the  Board  of 
Education  made  the  number  of  vagrant  and  uneducated  children 
reach  the  appalling  figure  of  sixty  thousand,  in  a  resident  popu- 
lation of  lesslhan  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 

"While  this  vast  increase  was  going  on  with  the  steady  accre- 
tion of  thousands  annually  added  to  the  ranks  of  the  children 
of  the  school  age,  the  system  rolled  up  the  amount  of  its  expen- 
ditures from  the  sum  of  $125,000,  distributed  by  the  Society,  to 
the  $300,000  apportioned  under  the  care  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation ;  and  even  this  liberal  fund  was  increased  so  rapidly,  that 
the  last-named  census  of  children  who  were  non-attendants  at 
schools  was  contemporaneous  with  an  outlay  of  over  eight  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  for  the  schools  under  the  care  of  the  Board 
of  Education.  The  modest  and  yet  substantial  houses  of  the 
Public  School  Society  were  superseded  by  imposing  edifices 
erected  at  great  cost,  as  well  for  the  buildings  as  for  their  ap- 
pointments. The  grade  of  instruction  had  been  so  far  advanced, 
that,  in  place  of  the  elementary  training  of  early  years,  the 
course  comprised  music,  French,  algebra,  history,  and  other 
studies,  in  the  grammar  schools,  with  a  collegiate  course  in  the 
Free  Academy,  and  schools  for  girls,  in  which  select  branches 
are  taught  which  had  hitherto  been  reserved  for  the  higher  class 
of  institutes  for  young  ladies.  The  system  had  been  developed 
into  a  noble  educational  scheme,  but  it  had  changed  its  channel, 
and  the  stream  flowed  over  a  new  bed,  while  it  left  a  rapidly 
augmenting  number  of  the  poor  stranded  on  the  further  shore, 
or  drifting  down  to  be  lost  in  the  eddies  of  ignorance  and  vice. 

As  the  outgrowth  of  circumstances  which  could  not  fail  to 
arrest  the  attention  of  the  civilian  and  the  reformer,  a  new  order 
of  schools  grew  up,  inspired  by  the  same  motives  and  covering 
substantially  the  same  ground  as  that  so  nobly  occupied  by  the 
founder  of  the  Lancasterian  system.  They  added,  however,  a 
more  liberal  supply  of  material  aid,  together  with  an  industrial 
organization  and  scheme,  which  proved  of  eminent  advantage. 


604  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

"  Industrial  Schools  "  have  become  the  nursery  where  benevolent 
women  of  the  first  rank  in  society,  as  well  as  men  of  philanthro- 
py, fortune,  and  learning,  delight  to  devote  much  of  their  time 
in  rescuing  the  poor  and  uneducated  children  from  their  almost 
hopeless  condition.  Fifty  years  of  development  had  resulted  in 
a  more  imperative  demand  for  a  simpler  and  better-adapted  sys- 
tem, of  education  for  the  children  of  the  extreme  poor.  The 
original  work  of  the  Society  was  similar  to  that  of  the  Industrial 
Schools  of  the  present  decade. 

In  the  month  of  May,  1817,  the  treasurer  of  the  Society 
acknowledged  the  receipt  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  from 
the  executor  of  Mrs.  Mary  McCrea,  to  be  expended  for  the  cloth- 
ing of  the  children.  The  schools,  during  their  early  operation, 
often  suffered  in  attendance  from  the  fact  that  the  children  were 
not  able  to  find  garments  suitable  for  the  season,  and  donations 
of  clothing,  shoes,  hats,  &c.,  were  received  by  the  trustees,  for 
distribution  among  the  pupils.  The  ladies  who  assisted  in  the 
care  of  the  girls,  taught  sewing  and  needlework,  and  much  labor 
of  a  useful  kind  was  performed  by  the  pupils  in  repairing  the 
clothing  sent  as  donations,  or  making  up  the  goods  contributed 
for  the  purpose.  In  1823,  a  regulation  was  adopted  assigning 
three  afternoons  in  the  week  to  sewing  exercises. 

ADMINISTRATION. 

The  system  early  adopted  by  the  trustees,  and  continued 
with  a  fidelity  and  diligence  which  were  remarkable,  called  for  a 
constant  supervision  of  the  schools  in  all  the  departments  of  in- 
struction, discipline,  and  economy.  When  the  number  of  schools 
had  become  sufficiently  numerous,  the  committees  on  schools 
were  changed  in  their  organization,  and  the  trustees  were  divided 
into  "  sections,"  who  had  the  special  care  of  their  respective 
schools  during  the  year  for  which  they  were  appointed.  The 
records  attest  the  uniform  fidelity  with  which  this  duty  was  per- 
formed. The  visits  of  the  trustees  to  their  several  charges  were 
made  at  all  hours,  and  without  any  notice  whatever  to  the  teach- 
ers. The  industry  with  which  this  part  of  the  labor  was  per- 
formed may  be  estimated  from  the  fact  that,  during  the  year 
ending  May  1,  1840,  the  trustees  made  11,844  visits  to  their 
schools,  and,  during  the  following  year,  no  less  than  14,112  visits 


ECONOMY.  605 

were  recorded  on  the  books.  The  controlling  principle  in  the 
minds  of  these  faithful  officers,  next  to  a  sense  of  their  duty  as 
"  men  who  must  give  an  account,"  was  a  consciousness  that  they 
were  invested  with  a  grave  and  momentous  trust,  which  made 
them  responsible  to  their  fellow-citizens  for  the  performance  of 
an  honorable  stewardship.  The  men  who  composed  the  Society, 
with  few,  if  any,  exceptions,  were  not  those  who  would  abandon 
their  post  of  duty  for  trifling  considerations,  or  yield  passively  to 
the  storms  of  prejudice  or  of  opposition  which,  might  be  raised 
around  them  for  the  overthrow  of  their  institution.  With  a  high 
appreciation  of  the  position  they  held  as  the  founders  of  a  sys- 
tem of  popular  instruction  designed  for  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
youth,  of  a  great  metropolis,  their  endeavor  was,  with  a  single 
purpose,  to  extend,  advance,  and  ennoble  it  with  each  passing 
year,  in  the  hope  that  it  would  be  rendered  more  massive  and 
more  enduring  by  successive  labors,  until  it  should  rest  upon  a 
basis  as  broad  as  humanity  -and  as  lasting  as  time. 

ECONOMY. 

A  characteristic  feature  of  the  administration  of  the  Society 
was  the  strict  economy  practised  in  all  the  expenditures,  whether 
for  teachers,  buildings,  fuel,  or  supplies.  There  is  an  economy 
which  is  often  a  misnomer,  and  a  blind  and  pernicious  system  of 
penurious  calculation  may  often  be  productive  of  more  evil  than 
a  too  liberal  outlay.  The  law  universally  applied  to  all  the  dis- 
bursements of  the  institution  was  that  of  a  jealous  caution  over 
the  expenditures.  The  question  invariably  asked  was,  how  to 
secure  the  greatest  result  from  a  given  amount  of  means,  and 
how  the  benefits  should  be  the  most  equally  and  widely  distrib- 
uted. Limited  in  resources,  and  with  a  pressure  of  demand  from 
every  part  of  the  city  for  the  opportunities  and  facilities  of  ob- 
taining instruction,  the  closest  calculation  was  necessary  ;  and, 
fortunately  for  the  public  interests,  the  school  moneys  were  des- 
tined to  pass  through  the  hands  of  men  who  felt  that  they  were 
under  a  high  obligation  to  use  them  with  as  much  prudence  as 
they  would  their  own.  No  ambitious  pretensions  in  order  to 
gain  popular  clamor  in  their  favor,  were  needed ;  no  contracts 
to  be  given  to  favorites  who  could  exert  a  political  influence ;  no 
relatives  or  friends  who  could  submit  estimates  which  were  to 


606  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

benefit  the  officers  who  superintended  the  work,  ever  seemed  to 
offer  inducements  to  the  trustees  to  overstep  the  prudence  of 
men  who  knew  how  to  conduct  their  own  affairs — many  of 
whom,  while  they  were  enriching  the  city  with  their  labors  in 
the  department  of  public  instruction,  were  also  quietly  building 
their  own  fortunes  by  the  very  virtues  and  habits  which  enabled 
them  to  mould  and  develop  the  system  which  they  adorned. 

TEACHERS. 
\ 

In  reviewing  the  history  of  the  Society,  the  policy  pursued 

toward  its  teachers  may  be  condemned  by  many  who  do  not  suf- 
ficiently reflect  upon  its  position  and  its  resources.  The  grade, 
also,  of  the  schools  may,  perhaps,  be  overlooked.  Yet  it  will  be 
seen  that,  when  the  resources  permitted,  the  trustees  were  not 
insensible  to  the  claims  which  competent  teachers  had  upon  their 
consideration.  The  qualifications  of  teachers,  and  their  duties, 
are  inevitably  to  be  regarded,  and  a  teacher  of  minor  qualifica- 
tions cannot  reasonably  expect  the  same  compensation  as  one 
who  finds  all  his  scholarship  and  talent  called  into  requisition  for 
the  training  of  advanced  pupils.  A  salary  of  $600  or  $800,  and 
rent,  advanced  to  $800  or  $900,  or  $1,000,  was  not  by  any  means 
a  contemptible  sum,  compared  even  with  the  larger  salaries  of 
the  principals  of  Boston  and  New  York  schools  at  the  present 
time.  The  amount  ordered  to  be  guaranteed  to  "  a  teacher  from 
England  completely  competent  to  teach  on  the  Lancasterian 
plan,"  was  $800,  his  expenses  to  this  country  to  be  paid  by  the 
Society.  Shepherd  Johnson,  a  former  monitor,  was  appointed 
teacher  of  No.  3,  at  its  opening  in  1818,  at  a  salary  of  $500, 
which  was  increased,  during  the  same  year,  to  $800.  In  1820 
and  1821,  the  teachers  of  the  schools  made  application  for  an 
advance  of  their  rate  of  compensation,  which  was  denied  ;  but, 
"  in  order  to  equalize  the  same,  the  salary  of  Shepherd  Johnson 
was  raised  to  $900."  In  1822,  Charles  Picton,  the  English 
teacher  who  was  duly  accredited  by  the  Society  in  England,  and 
who  had,  by  several  years  of  faithful  service,  earned  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  the  Society  and  the  public,  had  an  allowance 
of  $950.  A  committee  on  the  question  of  salaries  reported  a 
scheme,  at  the  same  time,  based  upon  the  attendance,  so  that  the 
compensation  should  be  partly  dependent  upon  the  industry  and 


TEACHEE8.  607 

efficiency  of  the  teachers  themselves.  The  plan  proposed  that 
$2  per  scholar  should  be  paid  for  two  hundred  scholars  or  less  ; 
over  two  hundred  and  under  six  hundred,  $1.50  in  addition ;  over 
six  hundred,  $1  in  addition.  By  this  scale,  a  school  of  three 
hundred  pupils  would  give  the  teacher  a  compensation  of  $550  ; 
five  hundred  pupils,  $850,  &c.  The  schools  were  thus  rated : 

No.  1,  500  pupils,  .  .         '  „  .      $850  salary. 

"    2,  400      «  .  .....  700      " 

"     3,  600      "  . 1,000      " 

1,000      " 


"     4,  600 


The  salary  of  Eunice  Dean,  one  of  the  female  teachers,  was 
raised  from  $250  to  $300  per  annum. 

In  1827,  the  by-laws  were  altered  so  as  to  limit  the  salaries  to 
the  following  rates : 


Male  teachers,  per  annum,            .  •." 

"    monitors  general,  per  annum,  .          •  .            .             200 

"     assistants,                     "  .                    ; !  v     100 

Female  teachers,                   "  .          j,           ..           350 

"        monitors  general,     "  .            .            .      100 

"         assistants,                 "           '  .,,           .            .               50 

The  office  of  assistant  teacher  had  been  abolished  in  1817. 
The  system  was  very  materially  changed  and  improved  under 
the  important  law  of  1832.  Assistant  teachers  were  to  be  ap- 
pointed, and  two  sections  were  adopted  as  a  part  of  the  new  code 
of  by-laws,  fixing  the  rates  of  salaries  as  follows  : 

The  salary  of  the  principal  teacher  in  the  boys'  schools  shall  not  exceed 
$1,000 ;  that  of  the  assistant  teacher  shall  not  exceed  $600 ;  that  of  the 
monitor  general  shall  not  exceed  $200  ;  that  of  the  assistant  monitor  gen- 
eral shall  not  exceed  $100. 

The  salary  of  the  mistress  in  the  female  school  shall  not  exceed  $400 ; 
that  of  the  assistant  shall  not  exceed  $250 ;  that  of  the  monitors  general 
shall  not  exceed  $100 ;  that  of  the  assistant  monitors  general  shall  not 
exceed  $50. 

The  maximum  for  the  assistant  teachers  was  adopted  at  $500, 
but,  in  1835,  the  teachers  applied  for  an  increase  to  $600,  and  it 
was  made  discretionary  with  the  Executive  Committee  to  in- 
crease the  salary  of  assistants  to  that  sum  in  cases  where  they 
deemed  it  was  deserved. 


608  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

In  1836,  the  following  tariff  was  adopted  : 

Principal  teachers,  male  department,  not  to  exceed     .    $1,000 

Assistants,       .            .            .            ...  700 

Passed  monitor,     .......  400 

First           "                .            .            .            .            .  200 

Second       "       .    .          -.            .            .                        .  100 

Teachers  in  the  female  departments  not  to  exceed  .  450 

Assistants,              .            .    •        .            ..           .            .  800 

First  monitor,             .         .  ,            .            .            .  '"  125 

Second    "             .        .    .           .       •'   .           .           .  100 

Teachers  of  primary  departments  not  to  exceed      .  275 
Assistants,             .           .        ^^           .           .           .160 

First  monitor,             .            .            .            .            .  100 

Second    "             ...           .           .           .            .  75 

Teachers  of  primary  schools  not  to  exceed  .            .  200 

and  $2.50  for  each  child  over  sixty,  but  the  additional 

number  so  allowed  for  not  to  exceed  thirty. 

First  monitors  of  primary  schools  not  to  exceed           .  100 

In  1842,  the  Board  of  Education  was  established,  and  the 
trustees  of  the  ward  schools  were  enabled  to  pay  salaries  much 
larger  than  those  paid  by  the  Society.  This  not  only  induced  a 
spirit  of  competition  and  jealousy  between  the  wards  themselves, 
but  between  the  teachers  employed  by  the  Society  and  those  in 
the  ward  schools.  It  also  tended  materially  to  injure  the  public 
schools  by  the  frequent  withdrawal  of  long-experienced  teachers 
from  the  service  of  the  Society,  attracted  by  the  increased 
emoluments  offered  by  the  ward  officers.  This  evil  became  so 
prominent,  that,  in  1851,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  report 
upon  the  whole  subject,  and  Messrs.  G.  T.  Trimble,  A.  P.  Hal- 
sey,  C.  E.  Pierson,  L.  W.  Stevens,  B.  Ellis,  "W.  K.  Yermilye, 
"W.  II.  Neilson,  J.  B.  Collins,  and  John  Davenport,  were  en- 
trusted with  the  consideration  of  all  questions  relating  to  the 
salaries  of  teachers.  The  committee  reported  a  scale  substan- 
tially the  same,  but  providing  that,  after  two  years  of  acceptable 
service,  the  assistant  male  teachers  should  receive  $750  per  an- 
num. The  other  recommendations  of  the  report  were  of  the 
same  character,  making  a  period  of  faithful  service  of  two  or 
three  years  the  basis  of  an  increase  of  compensation.  This  scale 
of  salaries  was  continued  during  the  existence  of  the  Society. 


U F L    W.   5  ETON 


MONITOKS.  609 

MONITORS. 

The  success  of  the  Lancastrian  system  being  dependent,  in  a 
very  great  degree,  upon  the  ability  and  character  of  the  several 
monitors,  who  formed  an  indispensable  part  of  the  scheme,  atten- 
tion was  early  given  to  th'e  training  and  preparation  of  the  most 
promising  of  the  pupils,  in  order  to  prepare  them  for  the  special 
work  of  teaching  according  to  the  most  approved  methods  of  the 
plan  of  mutual  instruction.  While  there  was  but  one  school  in 
existence,  the  number  of  monitors  was  too  small  to  warrant  any 
specified  classification  for  that  purpose.  But  when  the  number 
was  increased,  and  a  considerable  body  of  monitors  was  em- 
ployed in  the  schools,  arrangements  were  made  for  their  instruc- 
tion. Monitors  had  been  indentured  as  "  apprentices  "  to  the 
Society,  in  all  practicable  cases,  and  were  expected  to  remain 
until  they  were  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  then  to  receive  a 
certificate  of  qualification  which  should  secure  them  positions  in 
any  city  in  the  Union. 

The  trustees  of  the  Society  believed  that  they  were  introduc- 
ing to  the  people  of  the  United  States  a  system  of  great  value, 
specially  adapted  to  the  necessities  of  the  underlying  masses  of 
society.  Whatever,  therefore,  could  increase  its  efficiency  and 
multiply  its  powers,  was  adopted  as  fast  as  circumstances  or 
means  allowed. 

The  course  adopted  for  the  training  of  monitors  is  treated  of 
in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  high  school  and  normal  school,  and 
only  a  brief  summary  will  here  be  given  of  the  general  regula- 
tions adopted  for  their  employment  and  supervision. 

The  house  in  which  the  school  was  originally  established  liar- 
ing  become  unfit  for  longer  use,  a  commodious  building  was  erect- 
ed on  Tryon  Row,  at  the  east  side  of  the  Park,  since  changed  by 
the  extension  of  Centre  street.  The  school  was  opened  for  the 
reception  of  scholars  on  the  12th  of  December,  1809,  soon  after 
which  William  McAlpin  and  Shepherd  Johnson,  who  subse- 
quently distinguished  himself  as  the  first  teacher  of  No.  3,  and 
more  recently  as  a  teacher  of  the  New  York  High  School,  were 
indentured  to  the  Society.  This  usage  waa  continued  in  every 
practicable  case. 

In  1818,  a  Committee  on  Monitors  re-ported  a  form  of  inden- 
ture, which  would  probably  have  been  adopted  by  the-  Society, 
30 


610  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

but  a  question  arising  as  to  the  power  of  the  board  to  hold 
apprentices,  the  subject  was  recommitted,  with  power  to  memo- 
rialize the  Legislature  to  grant  the  requisite  authority.  The 
monitors  general  had  been  boarded  and  clothed  by  the  Society, 
being,  at  the  time  of  their  apprenticeship,  inmates  of  the  family 
of  the  teacher  of  the  school  in  which  they  were  employed. 
Daring  the  year  1819,  a  committee  upon  retrenchment  recom- 
mended that  the  monitors  be  allowed  a  compensation  of  $100 
a  year,  and  reside  with  their  parents — a  recommendation  which 
was  adopted  by  the  board.  Some  objection  arose  against  the 
change,  and  it  was  waived ;  but,  in  1820,  a  resolution  was 
adopted  reducing  the  allowance  to  the  teachers  for  the  board  of 
the  monitors  general  to  $2.50  per  week.  The  expenses  of  each 
of  these  lads  amounting  to  about  $200  per  annum,  it  was  deemed 
a  measure  of  economy  to  reduce  the  cost  of  such  assistance,  and, 
in  1821,  resolutions  were  adopted  reducing  the  salary  to  $100 
during  the  time  of  their  service,  and  that  steps  be  taken  to  secure 
positions  for  them  as  teachers  of  Lancasterian  schools,  the  Secre- 
tary being  directed  to  advertise  in  one  newspaper  in  New  York 
City,  and  one  in  Albany,  that  three  such  teachers  were  prepared 
to  enter  upon  their  duties.  The  School  Committees  were  di- 
rected to  expend  fifty  cents  per  week  in  securing  the  services  of 
proper  monitors. 

In  1826,  Jotham  Wilson,  the  monitor  general  of  No.  5, 
applied  for  an  increase  of  $100  to  his  salary.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  consider  the  general  subject  of  salaries  of  moni- 
tors, who  reported  in  favor  of  allowing  $50  for  the  first  year, 
and  an  annual  addition  of  $50,  until  it  should  reach  a  maximum 
of  $200  for  males  ;  and  $25  a  year,  with  the  annual  addition  of 
$25,  until  the  maximum  of  $100  for  female  monitors  should  be 
reached.  The  Executive  Committee  were  charged  with  discre- 
tionary exercise  of  power  in  the  case. 

•  The  Society  had,  however,  been  making  material  .advances 
both  in  its  own  organization,  its  resources,  and  its  system.  Its 
schools  were  larger,  and  eight  capacious  buildings  were  the 
evidences  of  its  labors  and  its  prosperity.  In  order  to  keep  pace 
with  these  advantages,  it  was  necessary  to  adopt  a  more  enlarged 
and  liberal  policy  with  the  monitors  general,  who  had  become 
of  prime  importance  to  the  system.  This  was  very  fully  per- 
ceived by  the  Executive  Committee,  who  applied,  in  May,  1827, 


THE   DEPOSITORY.  Cll 

for  authority  to  appoint  two  monitors  general  in  each  school  at 
a  maximum  of  $300  for  males,  and  $200  for  females,  to  which 
proposition  the  Board  of  Trustees  gave  an  unanimous  consent. 
In  October  of  the  same  year,  the  by-haws  were  amended  so  as 
to  limit  the  maximum  to  $200  for  males,  and  $100  for  females. 

The  grades  of  salaries  paid  subsequently  to  this  time  have 
been  already  presented  in  the  preceding  sections. 

An  increase  of  salaries  of  teachers  and  monitors  naturally 
followed  the  improvements  made  in  the  schools  and  the  system 
of  instruction.  The  experience  and  improvement  of  the  moni- 
tors particularly,  as  they  continued  at  their  posts  and  became 
more  mature  in  age,  all  presented  additional  incentives  to  the 
trustees  to  retain  them  in  their  own  schools,  and  thus  appro- 
priate the  scholarship  and  experience  acquired  by  the  young 
teachers  to  the  institution  in  which  they  had  been  trained.  The 
advantages  of  this  system  were  exhibited  in  many  instances  in 
which  monitors  subsequently  attained  high  rank  as  teachers, 
some  of  whom  have  held,  or  now  hold,  honorable  positions  as 
professional  and  business  men.  The  discipline  submitted  to  by 
the  pupil  was  developed  in  the  proficiency  of  the  monitor,  whose 
habits  and  principles  thus  formed,  became  the  basis  of  exalted 
and  enduring  character. 

THE  DEPOSITORY. 

| 

One  of  the  measures  adopted  by  the  board,  having  in  view 
the  scrupulous  and  careful  appropriation  of  the  resources  of  the 
Society,  was  that  of  establishing  a  depository  for  'the  systematic 
supply  of  the  schools  with  the  text-books,  stationery,  and  appa- 
ratus which  they  severally  required.  A  system  of  supplies  had 
been  for  many  years  in  use,  under  the  direction  of  the  Supply 
Committee,  but,  in  1832,  at  the  time  of  the  remodelling  of  the 
school  system,  by-laws  were  adopted  for  the  regular  distribution 
of  the  supplies  to  the  schools.  The  depository  was  kept  at 
Public  School  No.  5,  in  Mott  street,  the  purchases  being  made 
by  the  Supply  Committee,  and  distributed  on  the  proper  war- 
rant by  the  agent.  The  depository  was  removed  to  the  "  Trus- 
tees' Hall "  on  the  completion  .of  that  building,  and  the  same 
system  was  adopted  on  a  much  enlarged  scale  by  the  Board  of 
Education  after  the  union  of  the  two  systems. 


612  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

THE  WORKSHOP. 

In  1837,  the  number  of  schools  fcad  increased  to  seventeen, 
including  two  schools  for  colored  children,  beside  a  large  num- 
ber of  primary  schools,  many  of  which  occupied  hired  premises. 
The  amount  of  work  and  materials  annually  required  to  keep 
these  buildings  in  repair,  and  to  supply  them  with  appropriate 
apparatus,  was  very  considerable,  and  suggested,  as  a  measure 
of  economy  not  less  than  convenience,  the  employment  of  a 
master  workman,  who  should  be  known  as  the  Superintendent 
of  Repairs,  and  who  should  keep  a  shop  for  the  special  work 
of  the  schools.  The  measure  was  recommended  by  Samuel  F. 
Mott,  Treasurer,  who  introduced  a  resolution  at  a  meeting  of 
the  board,  February  3,  1837,  referring  the  matter  to  the  Prop- 
erty Committee.  A  report  approving  the  plan  was  submitted 
at  the  August  meeting  following,  and  the  committee  were 
authorized  to  have  a  workshop  erected  on  the  rear  of  the  school 
lot  in  Thompson  street,  and  the  Executive  Committee  was  em- 
powered to  employ  a  competent  foreman,  who  should  be  nomi- 
nated by  the  Property  Committee.  AMNON  McYEr  was  chosen 
to  fill  the  position  thus  created,  and  the  excellence  of  the  ap- 
pointment has  been  fully  proved  by  the  faithful  service  of  thirty 
years,  during  which  an  extraordinary  amount  of  work  has  been 
done  under  his  direction.  Mr.  McYey  is  the  architect  of  the 
Hall  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  of  many  of  the  largest 
and  most  substantially  built  school-houses  in  the  city. 

REWARDS,  LIBRARIES,  ETC. 

The  influence  of  proper  incentives  upon  the  minds  of  the 
scholars  was  early  recognized  by  the  teachers  and  trustees  of 
the  Society,  and  systems  of  reward  were  adopted  calculated  to 
stimulate  the  pupils  to  diligence  and  punctuality.  Tickets,  to 
be  distributed  to  the  deserving,  and  returned  when  forfeited  by 
misdemeanor,  were  furnished  to  the  teachers,  who  kept  records 
of  the  merits  and  demerits,  and  at  the  end  of  the  week  the 
account  was  balanced,  and  the  credit  carried  to  the  quarterly 
account  of  the  pupil.  At  the  end  of  the  quarter,  premiums 
were  distributed  to  those  who  were  entitled  to  receive  them. 
These  premiums  consisted  of  books,  knives,  thimbles,  scissors, 


EVENING   SCHOOLS.  613 

balls,  tops,  marbles,  or  other  articles  suitable  to  the  tastes  or 
wants  of  the  children.  Difficulties  attended  the  system,  how- 
ever, and  it  was  partially  Dispensed  with  and  removed,  and  sub- 
sequently modified  into  a  system  of  credits  which  entitled  the 
pupils  to  receive  premium  certificates,  which  were  redeemed  at 
certain  periods  by  books  proportioned  to  the  number  and  merit 
of  the  certificates. 

It  was  deemed  to  be  of  great  importance  to  the  schools  to 
provide  the  children  with  a  suitable  class  of  books  for  reading 
at  home,  not  only  for  the  general  effect  which  such  books  would 
have  upon  the  children  and  the  families  they  represented,  but 
as  a  higher  and  more  estimable  reward  for  good  character  as 
pupils.  As  early  as  1818,  a  committee  on  the  state  of  the 
schools  submitted  a  report,  recommending,  among  others,  the 
following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  purchase  and  otherwise  pro- 
cure suitable  books  of  voyages,  travels,  history,  &c.,  to  the  amount  of  fifty 
dollars  for  each  school,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  libraries  for  the  use  of 
the  scholars.  That  the  committee  prepare  rules  for  the  regulation  of  the 
libraries,  and  that  such  boys  as  may  be  selected  by  the  master  and  approved 
by  the  School  Committee  on  account  of  their  progress  in  learning  and  good 
behavior,  shall  be  admitted  as  members  of  the  library,  shall  form  a  "  CLASS 
OP  MERIT,"  and  wear  a  badge.  The  number  of  this  class  in  each  school 
shall  not  exceed  fifty.  All  catechisms,  or  other  books  on  religion  that  con- 
tain sectarian  principles,  shall  be  excluded  from  the  libraries,  but  such  other 
religious  books  as  may  be  approved  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  shall  be  ad- 
mitted. 

Nathan  Comstock,  Benjamin  Marshall,  and  John  R.  Murray 
were  appointed  a  Committee  on  Libraries,  and  they  proceeded 
promptly  with  the  discharge  of  their  duties.  Each  school  was 
provided  with  a  library,  and  the  several  public  schools  subse- 
quently established  by  the  Society  were  provided  with  libraries 
as  a  necessary  part  of  their  apparatus.. 

Measures  were  adopted,  in  1837,  to  establish  a  teachers' 
library,  but,  from  the  absence  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
teachers,  it  never  became  sufficiently  extended  or  valuable  to 
take  rank  as  an  auxiliary  in  the  system. 

EVENING  SCHOOLS. 

One  of  the  agencies  which  were  devised  for  the  purpose  of 
reaching  the  large  class  of  children  and  youth  who  are  debarred 


614  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

from  the  opportunities  of  instruction  in  the  day  schools,  was  that 
of  evening  schools.  The  first  mention  of  these  schools,  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Society,  appeara  in  the  records  for  the 
year  1823,  at  which  time  a  resolution  was  adopted,  permitting 
the  teachers  to  hold  evening  schools  in  their  respective  build- 
ings, on  condition  of  furnishing  their  own  fuel  and  lights,  and 
that  they  should  repair  whatever  injuries  might  occur  to  the 
buildings  or  furniture,  and  with  the  proviso  that  the  insurance 
would  not  thereby  be  rendered  invalid.  But  this  plan  contem- 
plated a  compensation  for  instruction,  which  was  a  perquisite  to 
the  teacher.  The  evening  school  system  is  intended  to  benefit 
the  industrial,  and  not  the  vagrant  classes,  although  many  have 
attended  the  evening  schools  who  should  have  been  members  of 
day  schools.  An  evening  school  for  colored  pupils  had  been 
established  many  years  before  by  the  Manumission  Society. 

In  1832,  an  association  of  gentlemen,  composed  of  W.  D. 
Coit,  J.  H.  Taylor,  and  others,  applied  for  the  use  of  School  No. 
10,  in  Duane  street,  for  a  free  evening  school.  Shortly  after- 
ward, Floyd  Smith  and  others  applied  for  permission  to  use 
School  No.  3  for  similar  purposes.  Messrs.  Joseph  Brewstcr, 
John  H.  Smith,  Charles  Durfec,  and  others  applied  for  No.  5, 
and  J.  H.  Taylor  for  a  room  in  No.  8,  for  gratuitous  instruction 
in  the  evening.  These  applications  were  granted,  subject  to  the 
supervision  of  the  several  "  sections  "  having  the  charge  of  those 
schools. 

At  the  close  of  1832,  a  committee  on  a  reorganization  of  the 
system  reported  a  chapter  to  be  incorporated  in  the  new  by-laws, 
providing  for  the  establishment  of  evening  schools.  The  plan 
was  adopted  in  January,  1833,  as  a  part  of  the  new  system,  and 
a  resolution  was  passed  relative  to  teachers  and  monitors,  as  fol- 
lows: 

Resolved,  That,  in  future  engagements  with  the  male  teachers,  assistants, 
and  monitors,  it  be  made  a  condition  that  their  time  and  services,  if  required 
by  the  Executive  Committee,  in  attending  the  evening  schools,  shall  be  given 
without  additional  pay. 

The  schools  thus  made  a  part  of  the  scheme  of  instruction 
were  opened  in  October,  1833,  and  continued  until  March  of  the 
following  year.  The  number  of  pupils  who  attended  the  four 
schools  was  1,245.  The  annual  report  states  that,  although  they 
occasioned  some  inconvenience,  and  were  more  expensive  than  the 


VAQEANCY — VISITOR   AND   AGENT.  615 

day  schools,  the  good  effects  were  such  as  to  give  promise  of  per- 
manent utility.  The  result  of  the  labors  of  the  year  following 
was  less  encouraging,  and,  after  an  experiment  of  three  or  four 
years,  they  were  abandoned.  The  Board  of  Education  subse- 
quently adopted  the  system,  under  the  care  of  an  active  commit- 
tee, and  the  result  was  neither  doubtful  nor  insignificant.  The 
failure  of  the  attempt  made  by  the  Society  was  in  consequence 
of  the  unwillingness  of  the  teachers  to  work  five  months  in  the 
year,  and  sacrifice  their  evening  repose,  without  extra  compensa- 
tion ;  although  the  terms  of  agreement  with  the  teachers  and 
monitors  required  them  to  perform  these  duties. 

VAGRANCY.— VISITOR  AND   AGENT, 
j    • 

Reference  has  been  already  made  to  the  original  object  of  the 
Free-School  Society,  which  was,  to  provide  instruction  for  the 
children  of  the  poor,  who  either  had  no  connection  with  any  re- 
ligious persuasion,  or  disregarded  it  where  it  existed.  The  ten- 
dency among  the  members  of  this  portion  of  the  community  is 
to  recklessness,  vice,  and  indolence.  Vagrancy,  beggary,  and 
unlawful  means  of  procuring  a  barely  animal  subsistence,  form 
the  summit  of  the  low  plane  of  their  mental  or  moral  sphere. 
To  raise  them  from  this  condition  is  a  work  of  humanity,  as  well 
as  of  Christianity,  and  the  means  by  which  it  can  be  effected  are 
ever  worthy  of  consideration  and  experiment. 

Observation  and  inquiry  exhibited  the  fact  that  thousands  of 
children  of  the  school  age  were  vagrants,  untaught  and  uncared- 
for  by  their  parents,  who  exhibited  no  concern  for  the  attendance 
of  their  offspring,  and  neglected  to  send  them  to  school.  To  sup- 
ply this  want  in  part,  and  to  exert  a  direct  and  leading  influence 
upon  this  class  of  the  population,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to 
employ  a  gentleman  who  should  fill  the  post  of  "  visitor."  Act- 
ing in  this  capacity,  his  duties  were,  to  visit  the  children  and 
parents  at  their  homes,  and  use  all  the  influence  which  could  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  them  to  secure  their  attendance  and  ad- 
vancement. He  was  also  to  visit  the  families  whose  children 
were  allowed  to  become  vagrants,  and  induce  the  parents  to  send 
them  to  school.  To  this  position,  in  the  month  of  May,  1827, 
Mr.  SAMUEL  WADDINGTON  SETON  was  appointed,  who  continued 
in  the  discharge  of  the  same,  or  other  responsible  duties,  during 


616  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  existence  of  the  Society,  and  was  afterward  appointed,  by 
the  Board  of  Education,  Assistant  Superintendent  of  Common 
Schools.  No  more  fitting  selection  could  have  been  made,  the 
temperament,  sympathies,  and  habits  of  the  gentleman  chosen 
being  eminently  calculated  to  make  him  useful  in  that  sphere. 
How  well  his  duties  were  discharged,  and  with  what  lasting 
power  over  thousands  who  personally  knew  him,  no  written 
records  will  ever  fully  testify  ;  but  they  are  inscribed  in  imper- 
ishable influences  which  have  made  bright  and  honorable  many 
a  son  and  daughter  of  destitution,  who,  but  for  him,  would  have 
trodden  a  dangerous  and  darkened  path  to  the  grave. 

In  1833,  the  office  of  "  visitor  "  was  abolished,  and  the  duties 
of  Mr.  Seton  were  defined  by  a  new  title,  in  which  capacity  he 
had  a  general  business  supervision  as  "  agent,"  being  chiefly  the 
receipt  and  distribution  of  supplies.  Mr.  Seton  was  elected  a 
trustee  in  the  year  1823,  and  was  called  to  fill  the  post  assigned 
him,  in  consequence  of  his  zeal,  intelligence,  and  peculiar  fitness 
for  the  work.  He  continued  to  hold  his  office  as  trustee  during 
the  existence  of  the  Society.  , 

The  efforts  made  to  counteract  the  evils  of  vagrancy  and  tru- 
ancy, proved  however,  at  that  time,  as  they  have  since,  in  a 
large  degree  abortive.  These  evils  are  not  to  be  eradicated  in  a 
community  like  that  of  New  York,  even  if  the  work  be  possible, 
by  any  other  than  the  boldest  and  most  persistent  as  well  as  far- 
reaching  means.  In  the  twenty-fourth  annual  report  (for  1829) 
it  is  remarked  that 

The  committee  of  the  Common  Council,  from  the  result  ol  the  census  of 
the  schools,  and  the  estimated  population  of  the  city,  draw  the  appalling 
inference  that  there  are  20,000  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen 
who  attend  no  school  whatever ;  and  if  one  third  be  deducted  from  this 
number  as  having  probably  left  school  previous  to  the  age  of  fifteen,  and 
3,000  more  for  any  possible  error  in  the  data  on  -which  the  calculation  is 
founded,  we  have  still  the  enormous  number  of  10,000  who  are  growing  up 
in  entire  ignorance. 

The  twenty-seventh  annual  report  (1832),  making  a  reference 
to  the  fact  that  a  committee  had  been  sent  to  Boston  to  visit  the 
schools  of  that  city,  alludes  to  vagrant  children  in  the  following 
language : 

Truantship  in  that  city  is  deemed  a  criminal  offence  in  children,  and 


VAGRANCY — VISITOR  AND  AGENT.  617 

those  who  cannot  be  reclaimed  are  taken  from  their  parents  by  the  police, 
and  placed  in  an  institution  called  the  "  School  of  Reformation,"  corre- 
sponding, in  many  respects,  with  our  House  of  Refuge :  from  which  they 
are  bound  out  by  the  competent  authority,  without  again  returning  to  their 
parents.  As  a  necessary  consequence,  the  percentage  of  absentees,  or  the 
difference  between  the  number  of  children  on  register  and  the  actual  attend- 
ance, is  less  in  the  Boston  public  schools  than  those  of  New  York.  This 
subject  has,  during  the  past  as  in  former  years,  received  the  attention  of  the 
trustees,  and  will  probably  be  brought  before  the  next  board,  in  connection 
with  the  general  subject  ojf  non-attendance  at  any  school,  which  exists  to 
such  an  alarming  extent  in  this  city.  Efforts  have  been  made  by  the  pres- 
ent board  to  obtain,  in  some  way,  the  active  cooperation  of  the  city  govern- 
ment in  applying  a  remedy  to  this  extensive  evil.  Every  political  compact 
supposes  a  surrender  of  some  individual  rights  for  the  general  good.  In  a 
Government  like  ours,  "  founded  on  the  principle  that  the  only  true  sov- 
ereignty is  the  will  of  the  people,"  universal  education  is  acknowledged  by 
all  to  be,  not  only  of  the  first  importance,  but  necessary  to  the  permanency 
of  our  free  institutions.  If,  then,  persons  are  found  so  reckless  of  the  best 
interests  of  their  children,  and  so  indifferent  to  the  public  good,  as  to  with- 
hold from  them  that  instruction  without  which  they  cannot  beneficially  dis- 
charge those  civil  and  political  duties  which  devolve  on  them  in  after-life,  it 
becomes  a  serious  and  important  question  whether  so  much  of  the  natural 
right  of  controlling  their  children  may  not  be  alienated  as  is  necessary  to 
qualify  them  for  usefulness,  and  render  them  safe  and  consistent  members  of 
the  political  body.  The  expediency  of  such  a  measure  would  be  confined 
pretty  much — perhaps  entirely — to  large  seaport  towns,  and,  in  its  practical 
operation,  would  be  found  to  affect  but  few  native  citizens. 

The  Executive  Committee  held  the  questions  of  vagrancy  re- 
form under  discussion  during  the  year  1831,  and,  in  November, 
a  proposition  was  submitted  from  that  committee,  to  the  effect 
that  application  be  made  to  the  Corporation,  and  also  to  benevo- 
lent societies,  that,  in  dispensing  charities  to  the  poor,  it  be  made 
a  condition  of  such  relief  that  their  children  be  sent  to  school. 
The  proposition  was  referred  back  to  the  committee,  with  power. 
A  memorial  was  accordingly  addressed  to  the  Common  Council, 
inviting  the  attention  of  that  body  to  the  condition  of  the  va- 
grant children,  and  praying  for  the  passage  of  some  regulations 
which  might  abate  the  evil.  The  Common  Council  took  the 
subject  into  consideration,  and  passed  the  following  resolutions  : 

Resolved,  That  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  and  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Almshouse  be  requested  to  make  it  known  to  parents  and 
all  persons,  whether  emigrants  or  otherwise,  having  children  in  charge  capa- 
ble of  receiving  instruction,  and  being  between  the  ages  of  five  and  twelve 


618  THE    PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

years,  that,  unless  said  parents  and  persons  do  or  shall  send  such  children  to 
some  public  or  other  daily  school,  for  such  time  in  each  year  as  the  trustees 
of  the  Public  School  Society  may  from  time  to  time  designate,  that  all  such 
persons  must  consider  themselves  without  the  pale  of  public  charities,  and 
not  entitled,  in  case  of  misfortune,  to  receive  public  favor. 

ResolccJ,  That  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  and  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Almshouse  are  hereby  authorized  to  take  such  steps  as 
they  may  deem  expedient,  from  time  to  time,  to  give  the  necessary  publicity 
to  the  preceding  resolution ;  and  the  Commissioners  of  the  Almshouse  are 
hereby  requested  to  use  such  means  as  may  be  in  their  power  and  discretion 
to  carry  the  same  into  effect. 

Adopted  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  April  23,  1832. 

Adopted  by  the  Board  of  Assistants,  May  7,  1832. 

J.  MOHTON,  Clerk. 

These  resolutions  were  laid  before  the  trustees,  and,  on  mo- 
tion, twenty  thousand  copies,  in  a  suitable  handbill  form,  were 
ordered  to  be  printed  and  circulated. 

In  June,  1838,  Joseph  B.  Collins  offered  the  following  reso- 
lution for  adoption  by  the  Executive  Committee : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  prepare  and  submit  to  this 
committee  a  project  of  a  plan  which  may  lead,  through  the  aid  of  our  Com- 
mon Council  and  Legislature,  to  a  more  general  attendance  of  the  children 
of  the  poor  and  laboring  classes  at  school,  and  prevent  the  multitudes  now 
roaming  through  our  streets  from  the  continuance  of  a  habit  so  destructive 
to  good  morals. 

The  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table,  but,  in  September,  was 
taken  up  and  adopted,  and  Joseph  B.  Collins,  Charles  Oakley, 
Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  Samuel  F.  Mott,  S.  Allen,  and  Robert  C. 
Cornell,  were  appointed  to  report  upon  the  objects  named. 

In  December  following,  the  propositions  of  the  committee 
were  laid  before  the  board.  The  report  is  as  follows  : 

In  contemplating  the  subject  assigned  to  them,  the  committee  early  be- 
came sensible  of  the  manifold  difficulties  of  various  character  by  which  it  is 
surrounded.  So  great,  indeed,  did  they  appear,  as  almost  to  preclude  the 
hope  of  ever  accomplishing  any  essential  reform  of  the  existing  deplorable 
evils.  Still  they  cannot  but  earnestly  desire  that  the  few  and  scanty  lights 
their  labors  may  throw  upon  the  subject  may  lead,  in  time,  through  the  con- 
tinuous efforts  of  the  Public  School  Society,  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  design 
contemplated  by  the  resolution.  The  chief  obstacles  to  be  overcome  would 
seem  to  be  of  two  classes — moral  and  physical.  The  moral  embrace  indif- 
ference and  -viciousness  of  both  parents  and  children ;  the  first  arising,  in 


VAGRANCY.  619 

part  at  least,  to  the  parents,  from  themselves  never  having  enjoyed  the  bene- 
fits of  education  ;  the  latter,  from  their  intemperance  and  indolence. 

Among  children,  a  disinclination  to  go  to  school  grows  out  of  a  dislike 
of  control  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  from  the  allurements  of  places 
of  amusement  of  various  descriptions — theatres,  circuses,  gambling-houses, 
and  dram-shops. 

The  physical  impediments  result  from  the  extreme  poverty  of  parents, 
who,  for  want  of  means,  are  unable  to  provide  suitable  clothing  for  their 
children  to  attend  school  in,  or  need,  or  conceive  they  need,  their  assistance 
in  procuring  a  livelihood  for  the  family. 

These  impediments  must  be  surmounted,  before  we  can  hope  to  attain 
the  end  in  view. 

From  the  high  character  long  enjoyed  by  the  States  of  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts  in  regard  to  the  universality  of  education  among  their  citi- 
zens, the  committee  were  naturally  led  to  seek  in  the  school  systems  and 
statistics  of  those  States  the  object  of  their  inquiry.  They  therefore  opened 
a  correspondence  with  a  gentleman  in  each,  of  great  practical  experience,  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  subject,  and  of  untiring  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
education  and  of  moral  improvement  among  the  people.  From  Connect! 
cut,  the  committee  learned  the  existence  of  a  statutory  provision,  applicable, 
in  a  degree  to  our  wants,  but,  at  the  same  time,  were  informed  that  it  is 
rarely  enforced  in  practice.  An  abstract  (a)  is  annexed.  Could  enactments 
of  a  similar  character  be  acted  upon  in  our  community,  doubtless  great  good 
would  result ;  but  the  committee  are  not  sanguine  in  the  belief  that  the 
morbidly  excitable  sensitiveness  of  our  laboring  classes  would  permit  a  scru- 
tiny of  so  inquisitorial  a  character. 

An  approximation  to  it  may,  however,  arise  under  the  arrangements  the 
committee  may  propose,  connected  with  the  establishment  of  a  Farm  or 
Manual  Labor  School,  under  the  management  of  a  society  to  be  especially 
organized  for  this  object. 

In  closing  the  report  the  committee  submitted  the  following 
plans : 

1st.  A  committee  of  five  members,  to  be  designated  the  Committee  on 
Neglected,  Vagrant,  and  Unfortunate  Children,  shall  be  appointed  by  the 
Executive  Committee,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  examine  and  nominate  to 
the  Executive  Committee  three  persons  or  more,  to  act  as  district  visitors ; 
to  instruct  and  receive  reports  from  such  visitors ;  and,  in  general,  to  have 
a  supervision  of  all  matters  arising  under  such  visitations.  The  visitors 
shall  receive  a  salary  not  exceeding  $ per  annum. 

The  general  duty  of  such  visitors  shall  be  to  visit  the  districts  around 
Public  Schools  No.  8,  1,  5,  and  10,  and  the  primaries  connected  therewith, 
look  out  for  pupils,  and  encourage  parents  to  enforce  a  more  regular  and 
general  attendance  of  their  children  at  school.  The  visitors  may  also  be 
required  to  examine  and  ascertain  what  neighborhoods  are  now  most  in 
need  of  additiona\  primary  schools,  which,  with  any  other  useful  and  rele- 


620  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

vant  matters,  they  shall  report  to  said  committee,  to  be,  in  their  discretion, 
brought  before  the  Executive  Committee. 

2d.  The  Public  School  Society  shall  endeavor  to  procure  the  aid  of  our 
city  government  in  the  following  measures,  viz. : 

1.  A  renewal  and  frequent  publication,  by  handbills  and  otherwise,  of  a 
resolution  of  the  Common  Council  in  1832  (?/). 

2.  The  passage  of  a  resolution  calling  upon  all  benevolent  societies  re- 
ceiving aid  from  our  city  treasury,  to  use  efficient  means  to  promote  the 
sending  to  school  of  all  the  children  of  families  assisted  by  them,  and  re- 
quiring a  report  of  the  means  used,  and  extent  of  their  efforts. 

To  procure  the  enactment  of  a  modification  of  the  laws  respecting  edu- 
cation now  existing  in  Connecticut,  subjecting  the  stubborn  and  vicious 
minor  to  his  being  committed  to  a  manual  labor  school  or  asylum,  for  moral 
reformation,  to  be  established ;  and,  finally, 

The  founding,  under  their  own  management,  or  that  of  a  society  to  be 
organized  for  that  purpose,  of  a  manual  labor  school,  in  an  insular  situation, 
to  which  refractory  children  may  be  sent  at  the  request  of  their  parents,-  01 
under  the  law  the  passage  of  which  they  now  ask  for. 

The  committee  are  aware  that,  among  the  class  of  children  they  hope  to 
reach,  there  are  not  a  few  who  are  kept  from  school  by  insufficiency  of  suit- 
able clothing ;  they  trust,  however,  that,  on  the  report  of  such  cases  by  our 
visitors,  means  may  be  found,  through  our  city  authorities  and  benevolent 
societies,  to  remove  this  impediment  (c). 

The  ability  of  even  young  children  to  contribute  in  some  degree  to  the 
support  of  the  family,  impresses  upon  the  committee  the  belief  that  the 
establishment  of  departments  in  our  primary,  schools  to  which  infants  of  a 
very  early  age,  say  two  and  a  half  to  three  years,  might  be  admitted,  would 
be  highly  beneficial,  and  would  meet  with  less  objection  than  any  other  from 
the  most  indifferent  parent,  since,  at  so  young  a  period,  they  may  be  said  to 
be  only  a  burden  to  their  parents,  incapable  of  earning  or  picking  up  any 
thing ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  yet  in  more  controllable  moral  con- 
dition than  even  at  a  comparatively  but  little  farther  advanced  period  of 
life.  Parents  would  soon  participate  in  the  benefits  of  the  discipline  of  our 
schools  in  the  improved  docility  of  their  children.  .  .  . 

(a.)  Laws  of  Connecticut. — Parents  and  guardians  required  by  statute  to 
have  their  children  taught  to  read,  write,  and  cipher  as  far  as  the  four  rules 
of  arithmetic.  Selectmen  shall  inspect  the  conduct  of  the  heads  of  families, 
and,  if  any  neglect  compliance  with  the  above,  may  admonish  them ;  which, 
if  they  neglect,  they  shall  take  charge  of,  and  bind  out,  children  of  such 
parents.  When  children,  minors,  are  stubborn",  and  refuse  to  obey  the  requi- 
sition of  their  parents,  they  may  be  committed  to  the  county  jail  for  thirty 
days. 

(ft.)  See  resolutions  of  Common  Council,  ante,  page  618. 

(c.)  Revised  Statutes  of  New  York.  BEGOABS  AND  VAGRANTS. — Any  child 
found  begging  may,  on  proof,  be  committed  to  any  place  provided  for  the 
support  of  the  poor ;  there  to  be  detained,  employed,  and  instructed  in  use- 


VAGRANCY.  621 

ful  labor,  until  discharged  by  the  Superintendent  of  the  Poor,  or  bound  out 
by  the  Commissioners  of  the  Almshouse. 

The  report  was  adopted,  and  referred  to  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee for  their  action  and  the  memorial  to  the  Common  Coun- 
cil was  ordered  to  be  engrossed  and  transmitted  to  that  body. 
Owing  to  the  overshadowing  importance  of  the  controversies  which 
arose  soon  afterward,  and  the  comprehensiveness  of  the  plans 
themselves,  the  committee  were  prevented  from  the  accomplish- 
ment of  any  material  work  as  contemplated  by  the  scheme,  and 
it  is  therefore  unnecessary  to  prolong  the  review  of  the  proceed- 
ings in  this  important  project  any  further  than  to  give  the  language 
of  the  thirty-fifth  annual  report  (1840),  in  which  the  result  is  thus 
presented : 

Originally  instituted  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the  neglected  poor,  it 
has  ever  been  a  subject  of  prominent  interest  with  the  Board  of  Trustees  to 
promote,  by  such  means  as  lay  within  their  power,  the  attendance  of  the 
children  of  that  class  at  their  schools.  In  the  early  years  of  the  institution, 
the  duty  of  visiting  parents  was  occasionally  enjoined  upon  the  trustees ; 
subsequently,  it  was  more  especially  performed  by  a  competent  and  faithful 
agent,  who  devoted  almost  his  entire  time  to  this  object.  The  rapid  in- 
crease of  the  schools  since  their  being  thrown  open  to  all  classes  having 
required  the  daily  attention  of  the  agent,  the  duty  of  visiting  parents  has 
ceased  to  be  a  distinct  portion  of  his  engagements.  It  was  hoped  that  the 
great  increase  in  the  number,  and  the  notoriety  of  the  schoolSj  would  suffi- 
ciently attract  the  attention  of  parents,  and  render  a  special  visitation  any 
longer  unnecessary.  It  soon,  however,  became  evident  that  the  criminal 
indifference  of  many  parents  to  the  welfare  of  their  children  was  such,  that 
some  extraordinary  effort  was  necessary  to  bring  their  offspring  within  our 
walls.  Various  expedients  were  devised,  with  very  limited  success.  Per- 
sonal application,  aided  by  kind  entreaty,  and  accompanied  by  a  judicious 
and  well-timed  explanation  of  the  benefits  of  early  culture,  offering  the  most 
promising  means  of  accomplishing  the  object  aimed  at,  the  trustees,  at  the 
commencement  of 'the  past  year,  engaged  the  services  of  several  intelligent 
and  faithful  visitors  for  that  purpose ;  and  it  is  gratifying  to  the  board  to 
be  able  to  state  that,  although  the  success  of  the  visitors  has  fallen  short  of 
the  desired  results,  yet  that  they  have  probably  been  the  means  of  inducing 
some  hundreds  of  children  to  attend  our  schools,  who,  but  for  their  agency, 
would  have  remained  mere  vagrants  in  our  streets.  The  trustees  have  felt 
so  far  encouraged  by  the  trial,  as  to  reengage  the  services  of  the  visitors,  as 
well  as  to  add  to  their  number. 

The  trustees  regret  that  their  applications  to  the  Corporation  for  com- 
pulsory enactments,  which  might  convert  the  poor  vagrant  children  who 
throng  our  streets  and  wharves  into  happy  public  school  scholars,  have  been 


622  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

unsuccessful ;  but  they  indulge  a  hope  that  though,  at  first  view,  such  meas- 
ures may  appear  to  be  adverse  to  our  political  institutions,  an  examination 
of  the  subject  will  show  that  the  good  of  the  community  requires  that  exer- 
cise of  authority,  and  that  it  will  yet  be  deemed  expedient. 

Whatever  of  partial  and  temporary  advantage  may  have 
arisen  from  the  measures  adopted  by  the  Society,  the  fact  still 
remained  evident,  at  the  close  of  every  year,  that  the  number  of 
neglected  and  uninstructed  children  was  augmenting  in  a  ratio 
equal  to  that  of  the  population  of  the  city,  if,  indeed,  it  did  not 
exceed  it.  In  the  face  of  certain  social  laws  and  proclivities, 
embarrassing  and  difficult  to  the  philosopher,  and  alarming  to 
the  philanthropist  and  the  civilian,  all  compulsory  and  reforma- 
tory measures  seem  to  be  defied  by  this  progression  in  juvenile 
delinquency  and  immorality.  It  must  be  left  for  perhaps  an- 
other age  to  develop  the  effective  remedy. 

In  addition  to  the  labors  of  the  agent  and  visitor  of  the  Soci- 
ety, the  trustees  called  into  requisition  the  aid  of  the  visitors  of 
the  American  Tract  Society,  whose  regular  monthly  visits,  in  the 
distribution  of  tracts,  were  calculated  to  exert  a  valuable  influ- 
ence. Many  parents  were,  by  these  fi-iendly  advisors,  made 
acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  schools  ;  and  although  the 
results  fell  far  short  of  the  necessities  of  the  case,  many  pupils 
were  added  to  the  rolls. 

FREE   AND   PAY  SYSTEMS. 

Great  systems  of  popular  education  require  long  periods  for 
their  development,  and  the  lapse  of  time  and  variations  of  cir- 
cumstances call  for  experiments  which  are  sometimes  followed 
by  important  results.  The  establishment  of  free  schools  in  the 
city  of  New  York  was  itself  experimental,  and  the  benefits 
which  were  successively  reaped  every  year  strengthened  the  zeal 
and  hopes  of  its  friends.  Progress,  therefore,  became  early  the 
aim  of  the  Society,  and  it  was  never  lost  or  forgotten. 

The  schools  grew  so  much  in  the  public  esteem,  and,  their 
numbers  having  increased  by  the  addition  of  several  large  and 
substantial  buildings,  it  became  an  object  of  desire  with  many 
respectable  citizens  that  their  children  should  enjoy  the  advan- 
tages of  these  institutions.  But  an  impediment  existed  in  the 
fact  that  they  were  "  free  "  or  "  charity  "  schools — a  distinction 


FREE   AND   PAY   SYSTEMS. 

that  implied  a  condition  of  dependence  and  necessity  on  the  part 
of  those  who  were  instructed  in  them.  This  was  obnoxious  to 
many  who  were  satisfied  with  the  schools,  yet  felt  that  there  was 
a  caste  classification  which  would,  in  a  measure,  degrade  their 
social  position.  To  remove  this  difficulty,  it  was  proposed  that 
such  regulations  should  be  made  as  would  secure  the  admission 
of  both  pay  and  free  scholars.  The  subject  was  first  introduced 
at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  held  July  4,  1823.  The 
following  minute  records  the  action  in  reference  to  this  change 
of  system : 

It  being  stated  that  some  dissatisfaction  exists  among  the  middle  classes 
of  our  citizens  on  account  of  their  not  partaking  of  the  benefit  of  the  com- 
mon school  fund,  and  on  a  suggestion  that  advantage  would  arise  from  our 
opening  our  schools  for  the  children  of  all  ranks,  and  receiving  a  small  com- 
pensation for  their  education,  the  subject  was  referred  to  the  consideration 
of  Isaac  Collins,  H.  Ketchum,  Robert  F.  Mott,  R.  C.  Cornell,  and  John  R. 
Hurd. 

The  committee  submitted  a  report  in  January  following,  but 
the  change  proposed  was  deemed  of  so  much  importance,  that  it 
was  laid  on  the  table,  to  be  considered  after  a  month's  notice  to 
that  effect.  At  the  same  time,  the  exciting  questions  growing 
out  of  the  proceedings  relative  to  the  Baptist  schools  were  pend- 
ing, and  the  attention  of  the  Society  was  called  to  the  legislation ' 
necessary  to  remedy  the  evils  of  the  law  giving  special  privileges 
to  those  schools.  That  law  having  been  amended,  and  a  power- 
ful and  successful  appeal  having  been  made  to  the  Legislature 
and  Corporation  of  the  city,  the  amplified  resources  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Society  enabled  them  to  project  great  improve- 
ments, as  well  as  an  expansion  of  their  system. 

Tlie  committee  to  which  the  consideration  and  protection  of 
the  interests  of  the  Society  had  been  committed  in  reference  to 
the  said  law,  were  also  instructed  to  report  a  plan  for  a  reorgani- 
zation of  the  system  ;  and,  after  a  careful  examination,  a  report 
was  submitted  which  covered  the  whole  ground.  It  was  adopt- 
ed, and  its  recommendations  were,  with  little  modification,  em- 
braced in  the  new  scheme  ;  and,  being  an  exposition  of  practical 
plans  and  results,  as  well  as  the  groundwork  for  the  experiment 
of  the  pay  system,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Chapter  IV.,  where 
it  may  be  found. 

On  the  passage  of  the  law  of  1826,  a  committee  of  five  was 


624  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

appointed  to  revise  the  by-laws  of  the  Society,  in  conformity 
with  the  recent  enactment.  The  committee  made  a  report,  in 
which  they  recommended  a  scale  of  tuition  fees,  as  follows  :  For 
tuition  in  the  1st,  2d,  and  3d  classes,  25  cents  per  quarter ;  for 
the  4th,  5th,  and  6th  classes,  50  cents  per  quarter ;  for  the  7th, 
8th,  and  9th  classes,  $1  per  quarter ;  and  for  the  higher  studies, 
$2  per  quarter.  Grouped  by  the  studies  pursued  in  the  schools, 
the  first  class  were  taught  the  alphabet,  spelling,  and  writing  on 
slates,  25  cents ;  the  second  grade  continued  these,  with  reading 
and  arithmetical  tables ;  the  third  grade  continued  the  latter 
studies,  with  writing  on  paper,  and  definitions  ;  while  the  fourth, 
or  highest  grade,  continued  these,  with  the  addition  of  grammar, 
geography,  and  the  use  of  maps  and  globes.  In  November  of 
the  same  year,  Alderman  Cowdrey  introduced  a  resolution  for 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  ascertain  whether  any  reduc- 
tion in  the  number  of  scholars  had  taken  place  since  the  intro- 
duction of  the  pay  system,  and,  if  so,  the  causes  and  the  best 
means  for  their  removal.  Najah  Taylor,  Joseph  Grinnell,  and 
Samuel  Cowdrey  were  appointed  as  that  committee. 

The  report  was  submitted  in  February,  1827,  from  which  it 
appeared  that  a  considerable  decrease  had  taken  place  in  the 
number  of  pupils  at  the  various  schools.  On  April  30,  1826,  the 
number  of  pupils  was  3,457,  and  on  the  1st  of  November,  2,999, 
making  a  decrease  of  458.  This  difference  was  becoming  great- 
er at  the  time  of  the  report.  The  tuition  fee  was  assigned  as  an 
important  cause  of  the  decline,  which,  together  with  the  fact  that 
several  large  church  schools  were  in  operation,  which  opened 
their  doors  to  all  classes,  without  distinction,  on  the  free  system, 
had  a  tendency  to  withdraw  scholars  from  the  Society.  The 
figures  are  given  as  follows  : 

April  30.         November  1. 
School.  No.  of  Pupils.      Pay  Scholars.         Free.  Total. 

No.  1,  415  452  40  492 

No.  2,  Boys,  390  245  116  861 

Girls,  319  210  95  395 

No.  3,  Boys,  515  293  114  407  • 

Girls,  820  187  97  284 

No.  4,  Boys,  423  176  123  804 

Girls,  324  177  112  230 

No.  5,  Boys,  506  820  59  379 

Girls,  289  128  55  178 

8,457      2,183      816      2,998 


FEEE   AND   PAY   SYSTEMS.  625 

This  result  exhibited  a  loss  of  458  in  six  months. 

Another  reason  assigned  by  the  committee  was  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  advanced  studies,  at  $2  per  quarter,  which  were  pur- 
sued by  only  a  few  in  each  school.  In  the  girls'  department  of 
No.  3,  only  one  pupil  was  entered  at  $2  per  quarter.  The  sys- 
tem of  separate  classification  for  these  pupils  acted  as  a  draw- 
back on  the  other  portions  of  the  schools,  and  the  fees  received 
by  no  means  met  the  expenses.  The  result,  as  stated  in  the 
report,  showed  that  there  was  a  great  decrease  in  the  number  of 
high-grade  scholars,  and  that,  during  the  first  quarter,  one  hun- 
dred and  seven  had  paid  $2  ;  during  the  second  quarter,  thirty- 
nine  ;  and  during  the  third  quarter,  only  thirteen  remained  in 
all  the  schools  at  that  price.  The  report  observes  : 

Your  committee  believe  that  the  true  and  legitimate  system  of  our  pub- 
lic schools  would  be,  to  open  our  doors  to  all  classes  of  children,  free  of  any 
expense  ;  and  the  only  branches  that  should  be  taught  in  them,  should  be 
such  as  have  before  been  designated,  viz. :  reading,  spelling,  writing,  and 
arithmetic. 

The  committee  recommended  that  the  maximum  of  the  tui- 
tion fees  be  reduced  to  $1  per  quarter,  and  that  the  higher 
branches  be  considered  as  the  reward  of  merit  in  those  case? 
where  taught. 

The  several  recommendations  of  the  committee  were  consid- 
ered from  time  to  time,  and  then  laid  on  the  table  for  the  action 
of  the  new  Board  of  Trustees.  But  no  action  was  had  upon  the 
matter,  and  the  system,  as  originated,  was  destined  to  have  a 
longer  experiment. 

During  the  following  year  (1828),  the  subject  was  renewed, 
upon  a  report  being  made  from  the  Executive  Committee,  in 
which  it  was  strongly  urged  that  the  schools  should  be  made  free 
to  all  classes,  and  be  so  far  advanced  in  their  grade  as  to  invite 
children  of  the  more  favored  ranks  in  society,  and,  by  an  addi- 
tion to  the  revenues  of  the  common  school  system,  the  Society 
would  be  warranted  in  the  expenditures  which  such  an  expan- 
sion would  require.  The  committee  recommended  the  publica- 
tion of  an  address  to  the  people,  and  the  circulation  of  petitions 
for  the  assessment  of  half  a  mill  on  the  dollar  for  common  school 
purposes.  The  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  Robert  Sedgwick, 
Joseph  B.  Collins,  and  James  I.  Eoosevelt,  Jr.,  were  appointed 
40 


626  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  committee.  At  a  subsequent  meeting,  R.  C.  Cornell,  S. 
Cowdrey,  and  Lindley  Murray  were  added  to  the  number. 

In  November,  1828,  the  returns  from  the  several  schools  hav- 
ing shown  a  very  great  decrease  in  the  amount  of  tuition  fees, 
the  Finance  Committee  was  directed  to  report  upon  the  facts. 

In  August,  1829,  the  committee  submitted  a  report  setting 
forth  the  operation  of  the  system.  Many  parents  paid,  at  first, 
as  an  entrance  fee,  but  without  intending  to  continue.  Others 
insisted  on  being  recorded  as  pay  scholars,  promising  to  pay  at 
some  future  time,  but  neglected  to  fulfil  the  engagement.  Many 
were  unable,  and  a  large  class  insisted  on  the  fact  that  the  schools 
were  supported  by  the  public,  and  that  they  had  a  right  to  the 
advantages  without  charge,  even  when  they  were  able.  The 
committee  recommended  a  strict  adherence  to  the  by-laws  in 
reference  to  the  tuition  fees.  The  report  was  laid  on  the  table. 

In  1831,  the  Treasurer,  Samuel  F.  Mott,  called  the  attention 
of  the  board  to  the  diminution  in  the  fees  from  pupils,  and  the 
matter  was  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee.  The  report 
which  was  made  by  the  committee  in  the  month  of  May,  con- 
tinned  the  previous  experience,  and  exhibited  the  fact  that 
parents  would  enter  their  children  as  pay  scholars,  and,  having 
fallen  in  arrears  for  two  or  three  quarters,  would  send  their  chil- 
dren to  other  schools,  to  repeat  the  same  process.  The  report 
recommended  a  maximum  of  $1  per  quarter,  and  the  payment 
to  be  entirely  optional  with  the  parents.  The  by-laws  were 
altered  in  accordance  with  the  suggestions  of  the  committee, 
and  an  experiment  of  the  voluntary  system  of  payment  was 
entered  upon.  The  result  is  seen  in  the  report  of  the  Treasurer 
for  the  quarter  ending  February  1st,  1832,  in  which  the  amount 
received  for  tuition  fees  was  stated  to  be  $103.91.  The  recent 
•enactments  of  the  Legislature,  by  which  the  income  of  the 
Society  was  much  increased,  together  with  the  fact  that  the 
pay  system  was  deemed  by  some  to  be  a  compulsory  method  of 
making  the  people  pay  twice  for  their  schools,  combined  with 
the  pittance  from  that  source,  induced  the  Society  to  adopt  the 
recommendation  of  the  Treasurer,  and  it  was  abolished  by  a 
resolution  of  the  board  on  the  3d  of  February,  1832,  after  a 
trial  of  five  years,  during  which  every  effort  had  been  made  to 
remove  objection,  hold  out  inducements,  and  make  the  system 
•contribute  to  inspire  self-respect  and  self-reliance  in  the  minds 


LOTTERIES.  627 

of  those  who  were  chiefly  benefited  by  the  echools.  The 
numerous  cases  of  deception,  and  the.  excuses  of  every  kind 
which  were  resorted  to  in  order  to  evade  payment,  and  the  ex- 
pedients to  obtain  a  place  on  the  register  as  pay  pupils,  without 
any  intention  of  complying  with  the  rules,  were  very  mortifying 
to  the  Society,  who  found  so  general  a  disregard  of  fine  moral 
sense  among  the  people.  It  was,  therefore,  a  source  of  relief  to 
be  able  to  abolish  the  system,  under  the  prosperous  condition  in 
which  the  institution  had  been  placed  by  the  liberal  endowment 
of  the  Legislature. 

LOTTERIES. 

On  the  13th  of  April,  1819,  the  Legislature  of  the  State 
passed  a  law,  authorizing  the  Mayor  of  the  city  of  ~New  York 
tofc  grant  licenses  to  dealers  in  lottery  tickets,  and  declaring  it 
illegal  to  carry  on  the  sale  of  tickets  in  lotteries,  and  other  simi- 
lar games  of  hazard,  without  such  authority.-  The  sum  to  be 
paid  for  licenses  was  $500  annually,  and,  in  case  of  violation  of 
the  statute,  the  penalty  was  fixed  at  $2,500  in  certain  cases, 
and,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court,  not'  to  exceed  $2,000  for 
other  infractions  of  the  law.  The  license  tax  was  to  be  equally 
divided  between  the  Institution  for  the  Instruction  of  the  Deaf 
and  Dumb,  and  the  Free  School  Society.  The  funds  of  the 
Society  were  increased  by  the  revenue  thus  obtained,  the  amount 
received  for  1820  being  $1,000.  The  business  of  vending  lottery 
tickets  was,  however,  much  extended  subsequently  to  this  period, 
so  that,  in  1825,  the  revenue  derived  from  this  source  amounted 
to  $2,625,  and,  in  1826,  to  $3,625.  The  following  year  it  reached 
$3,875.  A  question  having  arisen,  during  the  year  1826,  as  to 
the  constitutionality  of  the  law  respecting  lotteries,  Hon.  PETER 
A.  JAY  gave  his  opinion,  fully  sustaining  the  law,  and  the  power 
of  the  Society  to  recover  penalties.  On  the  reading  of  this 
opinion  in  the  meeting  of  the  board,  the  Executive  Committee 
were  directed  to  take  such  steps  in  reference  to  violations  of  the 
statute  as  they  deemed  advisable. 

In  February,  1832,  the  President  of  the  Institution  for  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb  communicated  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  the 
fact  that  the  directors  of  that  institution  had  decided  to  make 
an  application  to  the  Legislature  for  the  appropriation  of  the 


628  THE   PDBLIO   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

whole  of  the  moneys  received  from  the  sale  of  licenses  to  lottery 
dealers,  and  expressing  the  hope  that  no  opposition  to  the  meas- 
ure would  be  made  by  the  Society.  The  matter  was  referred  to 
a  committee,  consisting  of  J.  II.  Taylor,  W.  W.  Chester,  and 
James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  who  had  an  interview  with  the  officers 
of  the  institution.  They  were  directed  by  the  resolution  mak- 
ing their  appointment,  to  memorialize  the  Legislature  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  application,  but  after  a  full  examination  of  the 
question,  and  after  conferences  with  the  directors,  the  committee 
reported  a  resolution  declaring  it  inexpedient  to  interfere  with 
the  application.  The  matter  was  thus  allowed  to  go  by  consent 
to  the  Legislature,  and  the  law  was  amended  in  compliance  with 
the  application  of  the  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  and 
so  continued  until  the  whole  system  was  overthrown. 

A  leading  motive  for  this  concurrence  in  the  change  arose 
from  the  fact  that  there  was  an  apparent  inconsistency  between 
the  objects  of  the  Society  and  the  revenues  from  gambling  and 
other  vicious  pursuits.  This  feature  was  always  offensive  to  the 
Society,  and  although  the  money  thus  raised  was  appropriated 
to  a  noble  moral  use,  the  sanction  thus  given  to  a  demoralizing 
system  by  the  enjoyment  and  expenditure  of  its  revenues  was 
felt  to  be  onerous  when  viewed  in  a  strictly  moral  aspect.  The 
Society  was,  therefore,  willing  to  yield  that  portion  of  income 
with  little  reluctance,  and  leave  the  emoluments  of  vice  to  be 
disbursed  through  other  channels.  The  following  language, 
contained  in  the  twenty-second  annual  report  (1827),  expresses 
these  views  with  distinctness  and  force,  long  enough  anterior  to 
the  relinquishment  of  the  moneys  to  acquit  the  Society  of  any 
charge  of  entertaining  a  sense  of  morality  when  it  could  not 
control  the  circumstances : 

The  subject  of  lotteries,  in  which,  through  the  medium  of  moneys  re- 
ceived for  licenses  to  sell  tickets,  they  are  directly  interested,  has  engaged 
much  of  the  serious  attention  of  the  trustees.  Fully  convinced  of,  and 
deeply  regretting  the  great  and  increasing  evils  incident  to,  this  legalized 
mode  of  gambling,  they  have  deemed  it  their  incumbent  duty  to  endeavor 
to  moderate  and  lessen  the  mischiefs  of  this  pernicious  system,  and  accord- 
ingly directed  a  committee  to  prosecute  offenders  against  the  provisions  of 
the  old  law,  which  prohibited  the  selling  of  tickets  in  foreign  lotteries. 
They  also  presented  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature,  requesting,  if  they  could 
not  constitutionally  abolish  the  whole  system,  that  such  further  regulations 
might  be  adopted  as  appeared  necessary  for  the  limitation  and  curtailment 


COBPOEAL   PUNISHMENT.  629 

of  the  eviL  The  board  exceedingly  regret  that  an  act  on  this  subject, 
which  had  passed  both  branches  of  the  Legislature  by  large  majorities,  was 
negatived  by  the  Executive  on  the  ground  of  its  being  unconstitutional. 
Another  bill  was,  however,  subsequently  introduced,  passed,  and  has  be- 
come a  law,  and  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  prove  efficacious  in  preventing  that 
branch  of  the  evil  arising  from  the  sale  of  tickets  in  lotteries  not  authorized 
by  this  State. 


CORPORAL  PUNISHMENT. 

To  repress  every  thing  which  had  a  tendency  to  encourage 
or  foster  a  spirit  of  violence,  was  one  of  the  prime  objects  of 
the  moral  government  of  the  schools,  and  it  was  believed  by  the 
managers  that  this  could  be  effected  in  no  more  efficient  manner 
than  in  the  regulations  with  regard  to  corporal  punishment.  In 
1823,  a  resolution  was  adopted  that  teachers  dispense  entirely 
with  the  use  of  the  rod ;  but  should  persuasion  and  admonition 
fail,  then  the  scholars  might  be  corrected  by  the  use  of  a  small 
leather  strap,  applied  to  the  hand,  and  if  this  should  fail,  after 
suitable  trial,  the  delinquent  should  be  discharged  from  the 
school  by  proclamation. 

Several  cases  of  alleged  undue  severity  of  punishment  hav- 
ing occurred,  the  teachers  were  invited  to  be  present  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  in  September,  1825,  at  which  time 
they  were  admonished  that  the  earnest  desire  of  the  Society 
would  be  gratified  by  the  entire  abolition  of  bodily  punishment, 
and  the  exclusive  use  of  moral  means.  Where,  however,  delin- 
quents remained  insensible  to  such  admonitions,  the  moderate 
use  of  the  strap  might  be  resorted  to,  but  only  when  absolutely 
necessary. 

In  1838,  Mr.  C.  B.  Sherman,  an  assistant  teacher  in  ~No.  8, 
applied  to  the  Executive  Committee  for  authority  to  punish  the 
delinquents  in  his  department — a  discretionary  exercise  not  per- 
mitted to  assistants.  The  application  was  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee, who  reported  that  only  principals  should  be  allowed  to 
use  corporal  punishment,  and  that  assistants  ought  never  to  do 
so,  except  in  the  absence  of  the  principal,  at  which  times  the 
assistant  was  necessarily  invested  with  the  powers  of  the  supe- 
rior teacher.  Mr.  Brinsmade  offered  two  resolutions — the  first, 
to  grant  a  premium  of  one  hundred  dollars  to  a  teacher  who 
should  first  show  that  a  school  can  be  successfully  conducted 


630  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

without  corporal  punishment ;  the  second  resolution  was  in 
favor  of  granting  an  additional  premium  of  two  hundred  dollars 
to  the  teacher  who  should  conduct  a  school  six  months  by  moral 
means,  without  any  corporal  or  degrading  punishment.  The 
resolutions  and  report  were  recommitted,  but  the  final  recom- 
mendations confirmed  the  previous  action  of  the  board,  in  re- 
stricting the  right  to  punish  to  the  principals.  No  premium 
was  ever  offered  to  the  teachers  as  contemplated  by  the  resolu- 
tions of  Mr.  Brinsmade. 

A  committee  was  appointed,  in  18M,  to  report  on  the  con- 
dition and  operations  of  the  schools,  and  one  of  the  topics  which 
engaged  the  attention  of  the  committee  was  that  of  punish- 
ments. The  report  on  this  subject  recommended  the  following 
resolution,  which  was  adopted : 

Hereafter  no  corporal  punishment,  by  blows  or  otherwise,  shall  be  in- 
flicted on  any  pupil  or  pupils  in  presence  of  the  school,  or  during  school 
hours,  but  after  the  school  is  dismissed,  and  then  in  the  presence  of  the 
assistant  or  monitors,  or  both,  with  such  number  of  large  scholars  as  may 
be  necessary  for  witnesses  in  case  of  complaint  of  any  aggrieved  party ; 
and  in  no  case  shall  such  punishment  be  inflicted  until  after  proper  admo- 
nition, parental  in  its  character,  be  given,  with  a  view  of  convincing  the 
delinquents  of  the  impropriety  of  their  conduct,  and  the  necessity  of  re- 
formation ;  and  no  stripes  or  blows  to  be  applied  to  the  head,  or  any  part 
of  the  body  other  than  the  back  near  the  shoulders. 

The  resolution  granting  a  pecuniary  reward  to  such  teachers 
as  should  conduct  their  schools  satisfactorily  to  the  trustees, 
without  the  use  of  corporal  punishment,  having  been  rejected, 
a  resolution  was  adopted  that  a  certificate,  signed  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  Secretary,  setting  forth  the  facts,  should  be  given  to 
any  teacher  who  should  conduct  his  or  her  school  twelve  months 
without  using  the  rod  or  strap. 

The  predominant  idea  of  the  Society  was  that  of  PEACE,  and 
any  thing  that  tended  to  call  into  exercise  the  animal  passions, 
either  by  violence  of  language,  gesture,  or  discipline,  \vas  dis- 
countenanced as  being  peculiarly  hostile  to  the  higher  moral 
influence  which  it  was  a  special  object  to  exert.  The  sympathy 
of  the  moral  feelings  makes  us  imitative,  and  the  passional 
being  so  impulsive  and  spontaneous  in  their  exhibitions,  the  true 
secret  of  a  teacher's  success  in  moral  government  was  deemed  to 
lie  in  the  power  of  self-control.  Irritation  of  feeling  is  quickly 

1 


CORPORAL   PUNISHMENT.  631 

betrayed  in  a  teacher,  and  the  frequent  resort  to  bodily  chas- 
tisement tends  to  blunt  the  sensibility  of  the  teacher  himself. 
Hence,  all  tendency  to  unnecessary  parade  or  clamor  in  govern- 
ment, even  by  the  giving  of  the  usual  orders  of  the  school  in  a 
loud  tone  of  voice,  was  considered  objectionable.  One  sentence 
of  the  manual  is  worthy  of  being  printed  in  letters  of  gold,  as 
a  rule  for  teachers,  and  should  be  indelibly  written  on  the  mind 
of  every  preceptor  of  youth  : 

"  A  SILENT  TEACHER  MAKES  A  SILENT  SCHOOL." 

A  paragraph  from  the  manual  of  the  public  schools  will 
serve  to  show  the  solicitude  with  which  the  moral  uses  of  disci- 
pline were  regarded,  as  also  the  suggestions  offered  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  teachers : 

In  the  regular  orders  of  command,  the  teacher's  voice  should  seldom,  or 
never,  be  heard.  Approbation  and  displeasure,  too,  may  very  often  be  as 
well  expressed  by  looks  and  gestures  as  by  words ;  and  sometimes  better. 
Such  is  the  language  of  nature,  and  the  medium  of  the  first  moral  lessons 
of  infancy — and  therefore  well  understood.  In  giving  orders,  signs  are 
always  preferable  to  words.  A  gentle  tap  on  the  desk  with  the  forefinger, 
a  single  and  slight  sound  of  the  bell,  or  a  slight  clap  of  the  hands,  will 
sooner  command  and  fix  attention  than  noise  or  blustering.  Gentle  sounds 
act  by  sympathy  on  the  nervous  system,  and  enforce  silence  and  order  when 
once  the  school  is  accustomed  to  such  a  mode  of  discipline.  But  noise  is 
never  effectually  prevented  by  noise ;  or,  if  thus  repressed,  it  is. only  for  the 
moment,  and  it  returns,  as  a  spring  recoils  on  the  removal  of  a  weight.  "  A 
silent  teacher  makes  a  silent  school." 

Thus,  by  the  proper  exercise  of  firmness  and  decision,  with  the  constant 
practice  of  vigilance  and  mildness,  the  alternative  of  corporal  punishment 
may  be  very  much,  if  not  altogether  avoided.  Yet  every  precaution  should 
be  taken,  lest  resort  be  had  to  objectionable  substitutes  for  the  use  of  the 
rod ;  some  of  which  may  be  equally  painful  to  the  corporeal  system — some- 
times more  injurious,  and  even  dangerous,  and  not  unfrequently  hurtful  from 
their  moral  effects — and,  therefore,  some  of  them  certainly  improper  to  be 
used.  The  sustaining  of  wearisome  burdens,  unnatural  and  long-continued 
attitudes  of  restraint,  public  exposures,  and  badges  of  disgrace,  are  of  this 
class  of  punishments.  Some  of  these,  with  judicious  modifications  of  the 
usual  methods  by  which  they  are  practised,  and  having  due  regard  to  their 
moral  effects  on  the  delinquent,  may  be  used,  but  only  under  careful  limita- 
tions, and  with  great  circumspection  and  judgment ;  for  it  requires  a  skilful, 
discreet,  and  conscientious  teacher  to  use  them  safely  and  to  advantage. 
It  is  ever  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  they  are  best  suited  to  little  children, 
and  to  boys ;  and  not  adapted  t*>  the  discipline  of  girls — in  whom  a  nice 
sense  of  shame,  and  a  delicate  sensibility  to  reputation,  should  be  carefully 


632  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

cherished  With  them,  such  punishments  tend  to  blunt  those  feelings  which 
it  is  the  teacher's  duty  most  carefully  to  cultivate  as  among  the  best  safe- 
guards to  female  character.  Can  punishments  of  this  class,  then,  be  safely 
ventured  upon,  without  extreme  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  ?  How 
hazardous  in  its  moral  effects  to  leave  a  child  publicly  exposed,  and  liable 
to  be  neglected  by  the  teacher,  till  the  current  of  feeling  begins  to  turn ! 
Observe,  that  this  ebbing  again  of  the  passions  must  be  nicely  watched. 
It  is  only  by  a  careful  attention  to  this  critical  point,  that  punishment  by 
public  exposure  can  become,  as  it  sometimes  does,  a  powerful  means  of  dis- 
cipline, especially  in  the  training  of  little  children.  But  they  become  worse 
than  useless,  if  not  thus  rightly  used ;  for,  be  it  remembered,  that,  while  the 
teacher  may  be  here  and  there,  the  tide  of  feeling  may  change,  and  the  first 
surge  of  its  backward  course  excite  pride,  anger,  and  malevolence.  And, 
though  this  should  be  but  in  a  small  degree,  every  moment's  continuance 
of  the  punishment  or  exposure  beyond  the  salutary  point,  inflicts  a  moral 
injury  that  surpasses  tenfold  any  possible  good  which  the  teacher  can  hope 
to  derive  from  it  as  a  means  of  discipline.  It  also  renders  the  punishment 
altogether  ineffectual  for  another  occasion,  thereby  throwing  the  teacher 
into  a  new  perplexity  for  other  substitutes  for  corporal  punishment.  It  is 
therefore  plain,  that,  in  resorting  to  such  methods  of  discipline,  untiring 
vigilance  alone  is  to  be  depended  upon  to  give  it  any  success.  Now,  there 
is  only  one  answer  to  be  made  to  an  inquiry  that  will  here  arise —  What, 
then,  isto'be  done  ?  It  is  the  old,  the  oft-repeated  adage,  "  An  ounce  of  pre- 
vention is  worth  a  pound  of  cure."  Set  vigilance,  then,  as  the  vanguard  ; 
send  it  out  far  and  wide,  backed  and  strengthened  by  the  firm  commands 
of  decision,  while  a  spirit  of  kindness  shall  strengthen  all  the  forces  brought 
into  the  discipline  of  a  school,  and  how  many  embarrassments,  difficulties, 
and  perplexities  will  flee  away  before  the  faithful  and  skilful  teacher ! 


MUSIC. 

The  course  of  instruction  adopted  in  the  schools  was  for 
many  years  rudimentary,  and  it  was  only  after  the  increase  of 
means,  and  the  .advance  in  the  grade  of  the  schools  by  long  ex- 
perience, that  it  was  deemed  opportune  to  introduce  higher 
studies.  But  the  progress  was  steadily  onward  toward  perfec- 
tion of  system  and  of  instruction.  In  the  course  of  studies,  no 
time  was  appropriated  to  musical  exercises.  The  primary  or 
infant  schools  depended  more  or  less  upon  singing  lively  school 
songs,  and  moral  lessons  thus  taught  were  fully  appreciated. 
But  this  method  of  refining  the  taste,  as  well  as  of  cultivating 
the  mind  and  heart  of  the  older  pupils,  had  not  been  recognized 
as  expedient  or  useful.  It  was  regarded  as  beiug  merely  an 
accomplishment,  and  to  this  consideration  was  added  the  con- 


MUSIC.  633 

spicuous  fact  that  the  time  spent  in  school  by  a  majority  of  the 
pupils,  before  being  pressed  into  industrial  employments,  was 
too  short -to  be  expended  in  any  other  pursuit  than  the  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge.  It  is  true,  moreover,  that  an  influential 
portion  of  the  trustees,  as  well  as  of  the  members  of  the  So- 
ciety, was  composed  of  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  who 
do  not  use  music  in  their  public  worship,  and  among  whom  it 
is  not  deemed  essential.  Whether  this  fact  influenced  in  any 
measure  the  policy  of  the  Society,  may  be  more  a  matter  of 
surmise  than  of  just  conclusion  or  of  evidence. 

The  example  and  practice  of  schools  in  Europe,  particularly 
those  of  the  continent,  at  the  head  of  which  stood  the  German 
institutions,  was  suggestive  of  a  similar  experiment  in  the  schools 
of  New  York.  Gentlemen  of  professional  ability  and  zeal  in 
the  cause  of  education,  who  felt  the  importance  of  the  intro- 
duction of  music  into  the  public  schools,  resolved  to  take  the 
initiative  in  the  matter,  and  make  an  experiment  for  the  pur- 
pose of  testing  its  utility. 

Mr.  DAKICS  E.  JONES  commenced  a  course  of  lessons  in 
School  No.  10,  and  after  they  had  been  continued  for  some  time 
with  evident  advantage,  the  "  section "  or  committee  for  that 
school  reported  the  case  to  the  board.  The  subject  was  referred 
to  a  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Theodore  Dwight,  Jr.,  J. 
I.  Eoosevelt,  Jr.,  John  Morrison,  S.  B.  Childs,  S.  F.  Mott,  J. 
R.  Hurd,  and  A.  R.  Lawrence.  After  the  expiration  of  several 
months,  the  committee  reported,  in  August,  1836,  as  follows  : 

Your  committee,  as  soon  after  their  appointment  as  was  found  con- 
venient, was  called  together  two  or  three  times,  at  Public  School-house  No. 
10,  to  hear  the  performances  of  the  children  in  the  two  upper  schools,  who 
had  been  gratuitously  taught  music  by  Mr.  Jones.  It  was  evident  that  they 
had  made  great  progress  in  an  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  the  sci- 
ence, as  well  as  in  the  practice  of  singing,  considering  the  small  amount  of 
time  they  had  devoted  to  that  branch.  The  teachers  testified  that  favorable 
effects  had  been  produced  by  its  introduction,  both  in  order  and  study,  and 
that  they  were  very  desirous  of  having  it  continued. 

The  lessons  in  music  had,  at  that  time,  been  suspended  about  three 
months,  and  the  whole  amount  of  time  ever  devoted  to  them  was  but  twenty 
hours,  chiefly  after  the  close  of  school,  and  scattered  through  a  long  period 
of  about  six  months. 

Some  difference  of  feeling  is  believed  to  exist  in  this  Society  in  relation 
to  the  introduction  of  vocal  music  into  our  schools ;  and  although  no  facts 


634:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

have  come  under  the  knowledge  of  the  committee  calculated  to  show  that 
it  has  ever  produced,  or  is  likely  to  produce,  any  bad  effects,  if  conducted 
on  a  judicious  plan,  your  committee  do  not  wish  to  recommend  any  precipi- 
tate measures  which  may  cause  disagreement.  They  feel  it,  however,  to  be 
their  duty  to  recommend  that  some  measures  should  be  resorted  to  to  secure 
a  fair  experiment  upon  this  subject  in  such  sections  of  our  schools  as  are 
disposed  to  give  it  encouragement.  It  is  due  to  this  branch  of  education  to 
state,  that  the  example  of  Prussia,  Holland,  France,  Switzerland,  and  other 
foreign  countries,  is  in  favor  of  its  introduction.  In  several  of  them  vocal 
music  is  taught  as  an  important  branch,  and  with  evident  and  salutary 
results.  In  different  places  in  the  United  States  where  it  has  been  properly 
taught  on  modern  principles,  it  has  found  numerous  advocates  and  general 
approbation.  In  Boston  particularly,  scientific  and  practical  instruction  in 
music  has  become  highly  popular ;  and,  without  mentioning  other  places,  in 
a  number  of  very  respectable  schools  in  our  city  it  has  been  introduced  with 
full  success.  In  some  of  our  own  primary  schools,  music  has  long  been 
taught  by  rote,  yet,  with  the  disadvantages  attending  that  method,  it  is 
approved  and  continued. 

Only  two  objections  have  been  urged  against  its  introduction  into  our 
schools,  so  far  as  your  committee  are  informed :  1st.  That  it  would  be  ex- 
pensive ;  and  2d.  That  it  would  encroach  upon  school  hours.  But  music 
may  be  taught  without  exposure  to  either  of  these  evils.  Several  teachers 
have  signified  a  readiness  to  teach  a  year  or  six  months  gratuitously,  one 
hour  in  each  week  (which,  experience  shows,  is  sufficient),  and  the  lessons 
may  be  restricted  to  hours  not  appropriated  to  the  regular  school  exercises. 
Several  of  our  teachers  are  believed  to  be  qualified  to  instruct  their  pupils 
in  this  branch ;  and  these  have  expressed  their  willingness  to  perform  the 
task. 

Your  committee  would,  therefore,  report  for  adoption  the  following  reso- 
lution : 

Besolved,  That  the  sections  shall  be  at  liberty  to  have  vocal  music  taught 
in  their  schools,  provided  it  be  done  without  expense  to  this  Society,  and 
without  encroaching  on  the  regular  school  hours. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

The  report  gave  rise  to  a  long  and  animated  debate,  which 
was  terminated  by  a  motion  to  lay  the  whole  subject  on  the 
table.  The  motion  prevailed,  and  the  introduction  of  music  into 
the  schools  was  indefinitely  postponed. 

In  1840,  Mr.  A.  "W.  GOFF  submitted  an  application  to  the 
Executive  Committee  for  leave  to  introduce  singing  into  the 
schools,  and  for  an  appointment  as  instructor.  The  committee, 
after  consideration  of  the  subject,  directed  the  application  to  be 
returned,  with  the  explanation  that  music  was  not  one  of  the 
branches  taught  in  the  public  schools. 


MUSIC.  635 

During  the  year  1843,  the  teacher  of  School  No.  7  submitted 
a  proposition  to  the  "  section  "  of  the  trustees  to  whom  the  care 
of  that  school  was  committed,  for  the  employment  of  a  teacher 
of  vocal  music.  The  reasons  urged  were  those  of  an  experienced 
and  observant  preceptor,  who  estimated  the  advantages  of  such 
instruction,  and  the  application  was  fully  discussed  at  a  meeting 
of  the  section.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  debate,  a  resolution 
was  unanimously  adopted  adverse  to  the  suggestion,  and  a  re- 
port made  to  the  Board  of  Trustees,  as  follows  : 

On  consideration  (all  the  members  of  the  section  being  present),  it  was 
resolved,  unanimously,  to  be  inexpedient  to  adopt  the  suggestion  or  propo- 
sition of  the  teacher  of  No.  7,  relative  to  appointing  a  teacher  of  vocal 
music. 

The  report  of  the  section  was  approved  by  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  and  the  subject  was  thus  once  more  reserved  for  future 
action. 

No  effort  was  renewed  with  reference  to  the  introduction  of 
vocal  music  into  the  schools  for  several  years.  But  the  advocates 
of  that  measure  were  not  satisfied  with  the  position  held  by  the 
schools  of  the  Society,  and  it  was  again  deemed  expedient  to 
press  the  question  upon  the  attention  of  the  board.  According- 
ly, in  January,  1S4/T,  the  ward  schools  having  been  in  existence 
five  years,  a  member  of  the  board  offered  a  resolution  at  a  meet- 
ing held  on  the  19th  of  that  month,  which  reads  as  follows : 

• 

Resolved,  That  music  be  taught  in  the  upper  schools,  and  also  in  the  nor- 
mal schools,  and  that  a  competent  number  of  teachers  be  employed  at  sala- 
ries not  exceeding  two  hundred  dollars  per  annum. 

On  motion,  the  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table,  and  there 
remained  as  long  as  the  table  lasted,  the  proposition  not  being 
again  renewed  during  the  existence  of  the  Society. 

In  the  minds  of  many,  the  action  of  the  board  in  regard  to 
music  will  ever  be  considered  as  reprehensible,  and  unworthy  of 
the  position  held  by  the  institution.  But  whatever  may  be  the 
views  of  others,  supported  by  the  very  high  consideration  of 
moral  and  intellectual  refinement  and  cultivation,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that,  while  the  board  fully  appreciated  the  services  of 
all  who  could  in  any  way  benefit  the  schools,  they  were  not  de- 
sirous of  expending  considerable  portions  of  a  limited  income, 
disproportioned  to  the  demands  made  upon  the  institution,  in 


636  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

incidentals,  and  were  equally  reluctant  to  accept  permanently 
valuable  services  for  which  no  compensation  could  be  made.  In 
addition  to  a  sense  of  justice  and  honor  in  this  respect,  they 
were,  moreover,  cautious  of  adopting  measures  which  promised 
to  make  them  obnoxious  to  outside  opposition.  They  had  been, 
for  many  years,  jealously  watched  by  parties  ever  on  the  alert  to 
detect  weak  points,  errors  in  policy,  carelessness  in  system,  im- 
providence in  expenditure,  or  blunders  in  experiment.  The 
opposition  of  these  parties  would  be  strengthened  by  measures 
on  which  any  great  diversity  of  views  was  entertained,  and 
every  false  step  or  premature  undertaking  would  have  been  only 
to  furnish  capital  upon  which  antagonism  might  feed  its  spirit 
of  hostility.  While  other  views  might  have  been  held,  with 
greater  favor  to  the  public  sympathy  than  those  which  overruled 
the  propositions  to  introduce  vocal  music  into  the  schools;  the 
reader  of  the  history  should  guard  against  prejudices  arising  in 
his  mind,  because  circumstances  and  considerations  of  a  peculiar 
character,  altogether  independent  of  the  merits  of  the  question, 
interposed  a  formidable  barrier.  It  is  sufficient  to  know  that  the 
decision  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  was  founded  in  conscientious 
views  of  rigid  adherence  to  that  which,  at  the  time,  appeared  to 
be  right  and  true. 


MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  INSTRUCTION. 

Men  who  regard  the  present  life  as  being  a  preparatory  stage 
for  an  immortality  of  existence,  and  are  prompted  to  labor  for 
the  elevation  of  the  lowly  and  the  almost  friendless  classes  of 
society,  are,  in  most  cases,  influenced  by  a  deep  conviction  of 
duty,  immeasurably  nobler  than  that  of  the  clamorer  for  popular 
favor,  who  has  but  his  own  aggrandizement  in  view,  and  looks 
no  higher  than  the  ballot-box,  and  no  lower  than  the  means  to 
secure  popular  suffrage  will  require  him  to  descend.  The  origi- 
nators of  the  Free-School  Society,  and  those  who  continued  it  to 
its  honorable  close,  were  men  of  earnest  convictions  o£  moral 
and  religious  responsibility,  and  they  did  not  shrink  from  a  con- 
stant desire  to  promote  the  moral  and  religious  welfare  of  the 
objects  of  their  care. 

The  questions  which  arose  during  the  career  of  the  Society 
in  regard  to  the  religious  character  of  its  system,  present,  to  say 


MORAL  AND   RELIGIOUS   INSTRUCTION.  *  637 

the  least,  some  very  remarkable  exhibitions  of  reas6ning.  Its 
opponents  brought  conflicting  charges  against  it,  which  will  be 
found  fully  presented  in  the  reports  of  the  controversies  relative 
to  the  school  fund.  One  charge  was,  that  the  Society  was  a 
religious  institution  ;  another,  that  it  was  sectarian  ;  another, 
that  it  was  infidel ;  and  another,  that  "  it  was  favorable  only  to 
the  sectarianism  of  infidelity,  and  opposed  to  Christianity."  A 
brief  exposition  of  the  practice  of  the  institution  is  therefore 
essential  in  a  history  of  its  operations. 

The  members  of  the  Society,  as  must  be  evident  from  the 
nature  of  its  organization,  represented  almost  every  religious 
denomination,  and,  consequently,  it  would  have  been  impossible 
to  have  adopted  a  system  of  instruction  in  religious  opinions  or 
creeds  which  would  have  been,  in  the  strict  meaning  of  the  term, 
"  sectarian."  Yet  there  are  certain  tenets  and  articles  of  faith 
which  are  common  to  all  men  who  have  any  religious  opinions 
whatever :  such  as  the  existence  of  the  Deity,  moral  responsibil- 
ity, the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  the  practice  of  all  the  moral 
duties  which  are  elevated  above  the  mere  idea  of  selfish  advan- 
tage as  being  more  convenient  or  more  to  a  man's  own  interests 
than  the  indulgence  of  vice  or  crime.  The  maxim  that  "  hon- 
esty is  the  best  policy,"  is  good  enough  as  a  demonstrable  factrin 
many  cases  of  human  experience,  but  it  is  a  base  and  selfish 
maxim  at  the  best.  It  requires  the  higher  motive  and  the  higher 
obligation  of  spiritual  and  religious  convictions  and  responsibili- 
ties. To  denounce  the  inculcation  of  such  principles  in  the 
minds  of  the  youth  of  our  common  schools  as  "  sectarian,"  would 
argue  a  strange  menial  vision  on  the  part  of  one  who  holds  each 
and  all  of  these  same  doctrines  and  opinions ;  or,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  perversity  of  opposition  which  has  only  selfish  ends  for 
its  basis.  The  Society  gave  religious  and  moral  instruction,  but 
it  never  descended  to  the  level  of  "  sectarianism." 

The  importance,  however,  of  devoting  a  specified  portion  of 
time  to  the  religious  training  of  the  pupils,  led  to  a  demand  for 
some  system  upon  which  all  denominations  could  unite,  and  a 
regulation  was  adopted  at  an  early  period  which  afforded  the 
opportunity  desired.  The  afternoon  of  every  Tuesday  was  ap- 
propriated to  the  instruction  of  the  pupils  in  the  catechisms  of 
the  various  churches  to  which  they  belonged.  An  association  of 
ladies  was  formed  for  the  purpose,  who  met  at  the  schools  at  the 


638  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

appointed  time  to  conduct  these  exercises.  At  the  time  of  the 
ninth  annual  report  (1814),  the  number  of  children  educated  in 
the  peculiar  tenets  of  the  religious  denominations  represented 
was  as  follows : 

Presbyterians,         ......  271 

Episcopalians,  ......  166 

Methodists,              ......  172 

Baptists,            ......  119 

Dutch  Reformed  Church,  .            .            .            .  4f 

Roman  Catholics,         .....  9 

The  report  adds  : 

In  furtherance  of  the  same  interesting  object,  the  children  have  been 
required  to  assemble  at  their  respective  schools  on  the  morning  of  every  Sab- 
bath, and  proceed,  under  the  care  of  a  monitor,  to  such  place  of  public  wor- 
ship as  was  designated  by  their  parents  or  guardians.  This  requisition  has 
been  regularly  attended  to  by  many,  but  the  want  of  suitable  clothing  has 
prevented  others  from  complying  with  it.  In  cases  where  an  attendance  at 
school  previous  'to  going  to  church  is  particularly  inconvenient,  liberty  has 
been  given  for  the  children  to  attend  public  worship  in  company  with  their 
parents  or  guardians. 

Early  in  the  year  1819,  it  was  deemed  proper  to  print  and 
distribute  an  address  to  parents,  from  which  the  following  ex- 
tracts are  made : 

SEC.  8.  You  know  that  many  evils  grow  out  of  idleness,  and  many  more 
out  of  the  improper  use  of  spirituous  liquors ;  that  they  are  ruinous  and 
destructive  to  morals,  and  debase  the  human  character  below  the  lowest  of 
all  created  beings ;  we  therefore  earnestly  desire  you  may  be  watchful  and 
careful  in  this  respect ;  otherwise,  in  vain  may  we  labor  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  your  children. 

SEC.  9.  In  domestic  life,  there  are  many  virtues  which  are  requisite  in 
order  to  promote  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  families.  Temperance  and 
economy  are  indispensable,  but  without  cleanliness  your  enjoyments  as  well 
as  your  reputation  will  be  impaired ;  it  is  promotive  of  health  and  ought 
not  to  be  neglected.  Parents  can,  perhaps,  scarcely  give  a  greater  proof  of 
their  care  for  their  children  than  by  keeping  them  clean  and  decent,  espe- 
cially when  they  are  sent  to  school,  where  it  is  expected  they  will  appear 
with  their  hands,  faces,  and  heads  perfectly  clean,  and  their  clothing  clean 
and  in  good  order.  The  appearance  of  children  exhibits  to  every  observing 
mind  the  character  of  the  mother. 

SEC.  10.  Among  other  moral  and  religious  duties,  that  of  a  due  observ- 
ance of  the  first  day  of  the  week,  commonly  called  Sunday,  we  consider  of 
importance  to  yourselves  and  to  your  children.  Public  worship  is  a  duty ' 


MORAL  AND   KELIGIOUB   INSTRUCTION.  639 

we  owe  to  our  Creator ;  it  is  of  universal  obligation,  and  you  ought  to  be 
good  examples  thereof.  And  believing,  as  we  do,  that  the  establishment  of 
what  is  called  Sunday  schools  has  been  a  blessing  to  many,  and  may  prove 
so  to  many  more,  we  are  desirous  you  may  unite  in  the  support  of  a  plan  so 
well  calculated  to  promote  the  religious  duties  of  that  day,  which  ought  to 
be  appropriated  to  public  worship,  retirement,  and  other  duties  connected 
with  the  improvement  of  the  mind. 

SEC.  11.  Seeing,  next  to  your  own  souls,  your  children,  and  those  placed 
under  your  care,  are,  or  ought  to  be,  the  immediate  objects  of  your  constant 
attention  and  diligent  concern,  you  ought  to  omit  no  opportunity  to  instruct 
them  early  in  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  in  order  to  bring  them, 
in  their  youth,  to  a  sense  of  the  unspeakable  love  and  infinite  wisdom  and 
power  of  their  Almighty  Creator ;  for  good  and  early  impressions  on  tender 
minds  often  prove  a  lasting  means  of  preserving  them  in  a  religious  life  even 
to  old  age.  May  you,  therefore,  watch  over  them  for  good,  and  rule  over 
them  in  the  fear  of  God,  maintaining  your  authority  in  love ;  and  as  very 
much  depends  on  the  care  and  exemplary  conduct  of  parents,  and  the  judi- 
cious management  of  children  by  tutors,  we  cannot  too  strongly  recommend 
to  their  serious  consideration  the  importance  of  the  subject,  as  one  deeply 
interesting  to  the  welfare  of  the  rising  generation,  and  no  less  connected 
with  the  best  interests  of  civil  and  religious  society. 

SEC.  12.  As  the  Holy  Scriptures,  or  Bible,  with  which  you  ought  all  to 
be  furnished,  contain  a  full  account  of  things  most  surely  to  be  believed, 
and  Divine  commands  most  faithfully  to  be  obeyed,  and  are  said  to  make 
"  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which  is  in  Jesus  Christ,"  2  Tim.  iii.  15, 
it  is  the  duty  of  every  Christian  to  be  frequent  and  diligent  in  the  reading 
of  them  in  their  families,  and  in  privately  meditating  on  those  sacred 
records. 

The  address  from  which  these  passages  are  taken  was  signed 
by  DE  WITT  CLINTON,  President,  and  the  officers  and  members 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  among  whom  were  John  Murray,  Jr., 
Thomas  Eddy,  Rensselaer  Havens,  Jacob  Lorillard,  Leonard 
Bleecker,  Col.  Henry  Rutgers,  Najah  Taylor,  Henry  Eckford, 
John  Pintard,  and  George  T.  Trimble,  the  last  President  of  the 
Society. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  inquire  and  report  upon  the 
state  of  the  schools,  and  especially  with  reference  to  the  attend- 
ance of  tfre  pupils  at  public  service  on  the  Sabbath.  In  May, 
the  committee  reported  that  there  were  480  scholars  in  No.  1,  of 
whom  397  attended  church  regularly  ;  of  437  on  the  register  of 
No.  2,  335  were  regular  in  their  Sunday  observances ;  in  No.  3, 
of  333  on  the  register,  312  attended  church.  This  supervision 
over  the  moral  and  religious  habits  of  their  pupils  was  continued 
by  the  Society,  although  the  system  of  voluntary  instruction  by 


640  THE   PUBLIC   BCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

catechism  once  a  week  was,  after  a  time,  discontinued,  as  well  as 
the  special  requirements  in  regard  to  public  worship.  The  great 
enlargement  of  the  system  of  the  Society,  and  its  modification, 
made  regulations  for  the  Sabbath  unwieldy  and  inexpedient,  if 
not  impracticable. 

A  resolution  was  adopted  at  the  time  of  publishing  the  ad- 
dress, requiring  that  the  children  should  commit  to  memory, 
each  week,  passages  from  tracts  on  spirituous  liquors ;  but  the 
resolution  was  reconsidered  and  rescinded  at  the  meeting  held 
during  the  month  of  June  following. 

The  daily  reading  of  a  portion  of  the  Bible  at  the  opening  of 
school  had  been  practised  from  the  organization  of  No.  1,  and 
was  continued  till  the  close  of  the  Society's  labors.  In  1821,  a 
volume  of  "  Scripture  Lessons,"  which  had  been  adopted  in 
England  for  the  use  of  schools,  was  recommended  to  the  board 
for  its  adoption.  It  was  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of 
John  E.  Hyde,  Najah  Taylor,  Isaac  Collins,  and  Leonard  Bleeck- 
er.  Soon  afterward,  a  catechism,  "  said  to  be  free  from  sectarian 
principles,"  was  also  submitted  to  the  board,  and  referred  to  the 
same  committee.  The  report  recommended  the  adoption  of  both 
works,  and  the  committee  was  directed  to  have  the  "  Scripture 
Lessons  "  stereotyped,  and  an  edition  of  1,000  copies  printed  and 
bound  for  the  use  of  the  schools.  Two  thousand  copies  of  the 
catechism  were  purchased,  and  distributed  among  the  pupils. 

The  twenty-second  annual  report  (1827)  contains  the  follow- 
ing passage : 

The  trustees  are  aware  of  the  importance  of  early  religious  instruction ; 
and  although  the  nature  of  their  association  and  its  true  interests  require 
that  none  but  such  as  is  exclusively  general  and  scriptural  in  its  character 
should  be  introduced  into  the  schools  under  their  charge,  they  require  from 
the  teachers  stated  returns  of  the  number  of  their  scholars  who  attend  a* 
the  various  Sunday  schools  or  places  of  worship  on  the  Sabbath.  The  las* 
reports  from  all  the  schools,  except  No.  8,  show  that,  on  the  1st  of  April,  of 
3,925  children  on  the  registers,  2,463  belonged  to  Sunday  schools,  and  of  the 
remainder,  1,142  were  attendants  at  the  various  places  of  worship  to  which 
their  parents  were  attached,  leaving  but  326  unaccounted  for,  or  who  aro 
negligent  in  this  important  duty. 

The  thirty-third  annual  report  (1838)  alludes  to  the  same 
topic,  jn  the  following  language : 

The  constitution  of  the  Society,  and  public  sentiment,  wisely  forbid  the 


MORAL   AND   RELIGIOUS   INSTRUCTION.  643 

introduction  into  these  schools  of  any  such  religious  instruction  as  shall 
favor  the  peculiar  views  of  any  sect ;  and  the  trustees  endeavor  so  carefully 
to  guard  them  in  this  respect,  as  to  give  no  just  cause  of  complaint,  leaving 
this  subject  where  it  rightfully  belongs — to  the  parents  and  guardians  of  the 
children.  They  wish,  however,  not  to  be  understood  as  regarding  religious 
impressions  in  early  youth  as  unimportant ;  on  the  contrary,  they  desire  to 
do  all  which  may  with  propriety  be  done  to  give  a  right  direction  to  the 
minds  of  the  children  entrusted  to  their  care.  Their  schools  are  uniformly 
opened  with  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  class-books  are  such  as 
recognize  and  enforce  the  great  and  generally  acknowledged  principles  of 
Christianity. 

Entertaining  views  like  those  expressed  in  the  foregoing  ex- 
tracts, the  Executive  Committee,  during  the  year  1838,  appoint- 
ed Joseph  B.  Collins,  Samuel  R.  Childs,  and  William  L.  Stone 
to  report  upon  a  manual  for  moral  and  religious  instruction.  In 
compliance  with  the  directions  appointing  them,  the  committee 
made  a  report  in  January,  1839,  to  which  the  following  resolu- 
tions were  appended : 

Resolved,  That  the  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  hold  in  high 
estimation  the  inculcation  of  correct  elementary  education  among  all  classes 
of  children ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  they  contend  that  it  is  of  the  greater 
importance  as  regards  their  temporal  and  eternal  welfare,  that  the  youthful 
mind  should  be  imbued  with  sound  moral  and  religious  principles ;  there- 
fore, 

Resolved,  That,  in  their  view,  it  is  expedient  to  introduce  into  our  public 
and  primary  schools  suitable  books  setting  forth  in  concise  terms  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  free  from  all  sectarian  bias,  and 
also  those  general  and  special  articles  of  the  moral  code,  upon  which  the 
good  order  and  welfare  of  society  are  based ;  the  substance  of  which  shall 
be  committed  to  memory  by  the  pupils. 

On  the  reading  of  the  report  and  resolutions,  some  discussion 
ensued,  and  the  following  alteration  of  the  by-laws  was  pro- 
posed : 

Special  care  must  be  taken  to  avoid  any  instruction  of  a  sectarian  char- 
acter ;  but  the  teachers  shall  embrace  every  favorable  opportunity  of  incul- 
cating the  general  truths  of  Christianity,  and  the  primary  importance  of 
practical  religious  and  moral  duty,  as  founded  on  the  precepts  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures. 

The!  whole  subject  was  laid  on  the  table,  and  the  accumula- 
tion of  other  business  occasioned  a  pause  in  the  proceedings, 
and,  in  the  mean  time,  the  renewal  of  the  controversy  in  rela- 

41 


642  THE  PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

tion  to  the  school  fund,  which  was  foreshadowed  and  opened 
early  in  the  following  year  (1840),  suspended  them  altogether. 

An  illustration  of  the  religious  exercises  recommended  for 
the  use  of  the  teachers  at  the  opening  of  school  will  be  found  in 
the  following  passages  from  the  "  MANUAL  "  prepared  for  the 
primary  departments  by  SAMUEL  W.  SETON,  and  approved  and 
published  by  order  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  during  the  year 
1830.  After  the  salutation  of  the  teacher  to  the  school,  and  ex- 
pressing their  dependence  upon  GOD  for  sparing  them  to  meet 
again,  the  exercise  proceeds  : 

Teacher.   How  should  we  feel  to  our  heavenly  Father  for  these  mercies  ? 

Answer.  Truly  thankful. 

T.   What  example  have  we  for  this  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  ? 

A.  Psalm  c.  4,  5  :  "  Be  thankful  unto  Him,  and  bless  His  name,  for  the 
Lord  is  good.  His  mercy  is  everlasting,  and  Bis  truth  endureth  to  all  gen- 
erations." 

T.   Children,  who  is  good  ? 

A.  The  Lord  is  good.  . 

T.   To  whom  should  we  be  thankful  ? 

A.   Be  thankful  unto  Him. 

T.   Whose  name  should  we  bless  ? 

A.   Bless  His  name. 

T.  What  is  said,  in  this  Psalm,  of  God's  mercy  ? 

A.   His  mercy  is  everlasting. 

T.  What  is  said  of  God's  truth  ? 

A.   His  truth  endureth  to  all  generations. 

T.  What  is  God's  truth  ? 

A.   His  holy  laws. 

T.  Psalm  xxxiv.  11 :  "Come,  ye  children,  hearken  unto  me;  I  will  teach 
you  the  fear  of  the  Lord."  My  dear  children,  tell  me,  who  has  watched 
over  you,  and  preserved  your  lives  through  the  past  night  ? 

A.  Psalm  iii.  5 :  "I  laid  me  down,  and  slept.  I  waked,  for  the  Lord 
sustained  me." 

T.   Does  God  always  see  you  ? 

A.  Proverbs  xv.  3  :  "  The  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  in  every  place." 

T.  Does  God  know  your  very  thoughts  ? 

A.  Psalm  cxxxix.  1,  2 :  "  O  Lord,  thou  hast  searched  me,  and  known 
me.  Thou  knowest  my  down-sitting  and  mine  uprising ;  thou  understand- 
est  my  thoughts  afar  off." 

T.  Does  God  know  all  you  do  ? 

A.  Psalm  cxxxix.  3 :  "  Thou  compassest  my  path  and  my  lying  down, 
and  art  acquainted  with  all  my  ways." 

T.  Does  God  hear  all  you  say  ? 

A.  Psalm  cxxxix,  4  :  "  For  there  is  not  a  word  in  my  tongue,  but  lo,  O 
Lord,  thou  knowest  it  altogether." 


MORAL   AND   RELIGIOUS   INSTRUCTION.  643 

T.  Does  God  require  the  young  to  serve  Him  ? 

A.  Ecclesiastes  xii.  1 :  "  Remember  now  thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy 
youth." 

To  vary  the  exercises,  other  lessons  were  provided,  to  be  used 
at  the  discretion  of  the  teacher,  one  of  which  is  as  follows : 

T.  Is  our  life  uncertain  ? 

A.  Proverbs  xxvii.  1 :  "  Boast  not  thyself  of  to-morrow ;  for  thou  know- 
est  not  what  a  day  may  bring  forth." 

T.   What,  then,  should  you  ask  of  your  heavenly  Father  ? 

A.  Psalm  xc.  12  :  "  So  teach  us  to  number  our  days,  that  we  may  apply 
our  hearts  unto  wisdom." 

T.  How  does  God  encourage  you,  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  to  love  and 
serve  Him  while  you  are  young  ? 

A.  Proverbs  viii.  17 :  "  I  love  them  that  love  me,  and  those  that  seek  me 
early  shall  find  me." 

These  exercises  were  followed  by  the  repetition  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  the  singing  or  recitation  of  a  hymn  suitable  for  chil- 
dren, commencing  with  the  lines, 

"  I  thank  the  goodness  and  the  grace 
Which  on  my  birth  have  smiled, 
And  made  me,  in  these  Christian  days, 
A  highly  favored  child." 

The  opening  exercise  for  the  youngest  children,  as  they  took 
their  places  on  the  gallery  in  the  morning,  and  also  for  all  the 
classes  when  they  respectively  used  the  gallery,  was  the  follow- 
ing: 

Teacher.  My  dear  children,  the  intention  of  this  school  is  to  teach  you  to 
be  good  and  useful  in  this  world,  that  you  may  be  happy  in  the  world  to 
come.  What  is  the  intention  of  this  school  ? 

T.  We  therefore  first  teach  you  to  "  remember  your  Creator  in  the  days 
of  your  youth."  What  do  we  first  teach  you  ? 

T.  It  is  our  duty  to  teach  you  this,  because  we  find  it  written  in  the 
Holy  Bible.  Why  is  it  our  duty  to  teach  you  this  ? 

T.  The  Holy  Bible  directs  us  to  "  train  you  up  in  the  way  you  should 
go."  What  good  book  directs  us  to  train  you  up  in  the  way  you  should  go  ? 

T.  Therefore,  my  children,  you  must  obey  your  parents. 

Scholar.  I  must  obey  my  parents. 

jP.  You  must  obey  your  teachers. 

8.  I  must  obey  my  teachers. 

T.  You  must  never  tell  a  lie. 

8.  I  must  never  tell  a  lie. 

21  You  must  never  steal  the  smallest  thing. 

8.  I  must  never  steal  the  smallest  thing. 


644  THE   PUBLTC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

jT.  You  must  never  swear. 

8.  I  must  never  swear. 

T.  God  will  not  hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh  His  name  in  vain. 

8.   God  will  not  hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh  His  name  in  vain. 

T.  God  always  sees  you.     (Sloicly,  and  in  a  soft  tone.) 

S.  God  always  sees  me. 

21   God  hears  all  you  say. 

8.   God  hears  all  I  say. 

T.   God  knows  all  you  do. 

8.  God  knows  all  I  do. 

T.  You  should  fear  to  offend  Him,  for  He  is  most  holy. 

8.   I  should  fear  to  offend  Him,  for  He  is  most  holy. 

T.  You  should  depart  from  evil,  and  learn  to  do  well. 

8.  I  should  depart  from  evil,  and  learn  to  do  well. 

T.  May  all  you,  dear  children,  learn,  while  attending  this  school,  to  be 
good  and  useful  in  this  world. 

8.  May  we  all,  while  attending  this  school,  learn  to  be  good  and  useful 
in  this  world. 

T.  And,  with  God's  blessing,  may  you  be  happy  in  the  world  to  come. 

8.  And,  with  God's  blessing,  may  we  be  happy  in  the  world  to  come. 

The  children  then  sing  a  hymn  by  Dr.  WATTS,  as  follows  : 

"  Let  children  that  would  fear  the  Lord 

Hear  what  their  teachers  say, 
With  reverence  meet  their  parents'  word, 
And  with  delight  obey. 

"  Have  we  not  heard  what  dreadful  plagues 

Are  threatened  by  the  Lord, 
To  him  who  breaks  his  father's  laws, 
And  mocks  his  mother's  word  ? 

"  But  those  who  worship  God,  and  give 

Their  parents  honor  due, 
Here  on  this  earth  they  long  shall  live, 
And  live  hereafter  too." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  multiply,  in  this  place,  quotations  from 
the  records  of  the  Society  bearing  upon  the  nature  and  extent 
of  the  "  religious  "  instruction  sought  to  be  inculcated  in  the 
schools.  They  would  present  only  repetitions  of  the  views 
already  expressed,  and  these  are  deemed  sufficiently  clear  and 
extended  to  define  the  position  held  during  the  whole  career  of 
the  institution.  For  additional  information,  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred to  the  several  memorials  and  papers  of  the  Society  which 
will  be  found  in  other  pages  of  this  volume,  and  to  the  argu- 
ments made  on  its  behalf  by  its  advocates  and  representatives. 


NORMAL   AND  HIGH    SCHOOLS.  645 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

NORMAL  AND  HIGH  SCHOOLS. 

Monitorial  Classes  Organized — Central  School  for  Advanced  Studies — High  Schools — 
Normal  Schools — Classical  Institute — Free  Academy. 

THE  experience  of  all  systems  of  education  has  shown  the 
necessity  of  assuring  a  supply  of  competent  instructors.  Where 
the  number  of  teachers  properly  qualified  for  their  duties  falls 
below  the  demand,  the  deficiency  must  be  supplied  by  those  of 
indifferent  qualifications — which  is,  at  the  best,  a  doubtful  expe- 
dient, and  only  a  little  better  than  the  alternative  of  temporary 
suspension  in  the  routine  of  education  until  the  want  can  be 
met.  The  most  perfect  machinery  of  system  and  the  most  lib- 
eral endowment  of  means  cannot  sufficiently  compensate  for  the 
absence  of  the  skilful  and  efficient  teacher. , 

The  monitorial  system  in  use  in  the  schools  of  the  Public 
School  Society  made  the  training  of  properly  qualified  assistants 
a  matter  of  urgent  necessity.  The  value  of  expert  and  well- 
trained  monitors,  thoroughly  familiarized  with  the  Lancasterian 
methods,  led  the  Society  at  an  early  day  to  adopt  a  system  of 
indentures,  by  which  the  monitors  were  apprenticed  to  learn  the 
art  of  teaching.  As  an  indispensable  part  of  the  means  for  fully 
attaining  these  ends,  it  was  deemed  expedient  to  establish  classes 
for  the  instruction  of  the  monitors  in  the  schools.  This  course 
was  adopted  in  the  year  1817,  and  was  the  initiative  of  the  nor- 
mal school  system  now  existing  under  the  Board  of  Education. 

During  the  year  1826,  a  committee  of  three  was  appointed 
for  the  purpose  of  reporting  on  a  proposition  to  establish  a 
'•"CENTRAL  SCHOOL"  for  the  instruction  of  tutors  and  monitors, 
and  for  such  advanced  pupils  of  the  schools  as  might  deserve  the 
distinction. 

The  committee  promptly  reported  upon  the  resolution  re- 
ferred to  them,  in  which  the  various  considerations  were  strongly 


646  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

urged  which  should  induce  the  Society  to  organize  such  a  school. 
The  project  of  the  committee  confined  the  range  of  studies  to 
the  English  branches,  with  natural  philosophy,  bookkeeping, 
mercantile  education,  geology,  and  chemistry.  This  course  of 
studies,  it  was  thought,  would  be  more  practically  valuable  for 
that  period,  and  under  the  circumstances  in  which  the  Society 
and  its  schools  were  then  placed,  than  an  institution  in  which  a 
classical  course  should  be  introduced.  A  liberal  and  extended 
view  was  taken,  in  the  report,  of  the  positive  and  reflex  advan- 
tages and  influence  of  such  a  school  in  the  city,  and  an  appro- 
priation of  $25,000  was  named  as  being  required  to  erect  suit- 
able buildings,  and  furnish  them  with  the  requisite  appoint- 
ments. A  committee  was  authorized,  in  accordance  with  the 
recommendation  of  the  report,  to  memorialize  the  Legislature 
for  a  grant  of  the  sum  required  ;  but,  in  consequence  of  the  dif- 
ference of  views  entertained  in  relation  to  so  important  a  meas- 
ure, it  was  finally  suffered  to  rest  without  decision. 

The  question  was  renewed,  in  1832,  in  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Reorganization,  in  which  it  was  observed  that,  as 
"  part  of  a  perfect  system,"  the  establishment  of  a  high  school, 
as  soon  as  circumstances  would  warrant,  was  to  be  kept  con- 
stantly in  view. 

The  growing  importance  of  the  common  school  system  of  the 
city  and  the  State  at  large,  had  been  for  some  time  attracting 
the  attention  of  prominent  citizens  and  friends  of  education,  and 
the  consultations  and  correspondence  which  had  been  held  in 
reference  to  the  subject,  especially  in  connection  with  the  proper 
training  of  a  body  of  efficient  teachers,  led  to  the  call  for  a  pub- 
lic meeting  of  the  friends  of  normal  schools,  to  be  held  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  The  convention  assembled,  measures  were 
recommended,  and  appropriate  committees  were  appointed.  A 
committee  of  which  Gideon  Lee  was  chairman,  and  Theodore 
Dwight,  Jr.,  secretary,  together  with  a  committee  of  the  Council 
of  the  University,  laid  before  the  Board  of  Trustees,  in  Febru- 
ary, 1834,  a  communication  inviting  a  conference  on  the  subject 
of  their  appointment.  Messrs.  Robert  C.  Cornell,  Gulian  C. 
Yerplanck,  and  James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  were  appointed  on  be- 
half of  the  Society.  The  action  growing  out  of  these  confer- 
ences did  not  come  within  the  administration  of  the  Society,  and 
need  not  be  discussed  here. 


NORMAL   AND   HIGH   SCHOOLS.  647 

The  Executive  Committee,  however,  sympathizing  fully  with 
the  movement,  and  being  forced  to  witness  the  disadvantages 
growing  out  of  the  non-existence  of  such  a  school,  directed  the 
Committee  on  Teachers  and  Monitors  to  present  a  report  on  a 
school  of  the  kind  contemplated.  The  report  was  laid  before  the 
board  on  the  1st  of  August,  in  which  it  was  recommended  that 
a  school  be  opened  on  the  last  day  of  every  week,  except  during 
the  usual  vacation,  in  Public  School  No.  5,  in  Mott  street,  for 
the  instruction  of  assistants  and  monitors  of  the  primary  schools 
and  primary  departments.  The  teachers  thus  specified,  being 
all  females,  gave  the  school  the  character  which  it  has  since 
maintained,  as  the  "  Female  Normal  School."  It  was  conduct- 
ed by  ELIZA  Cox  and  WILLIAM  BELDEN,  Sr.,  then  and  for  more 
than  twenty  years  the  principal  of  Public  School  No.  2. 

The  success  of  the  institution  was  striking  and  immediate, 
and  its  beneficial  influence  on  the  day  schools  was  too  potent  not 
to  be  recognized.  It  was  found  that  teachers  practically  drilled 
in  the  daily  routine  of  school  discipline  and  instruction,  and 
simultaneously  taught  in  those  branches  which  they  were  expect- 
ed to  teach,  were,  beyond  all  comparison,  superior  in  tact,  skill, 
and  efficiency  to  persons  educated  in  high  schools  or  colleges, 
and  placed  in  the  station  of  assistant  teachers  without  prelimi- 
nary preparation  or  apprenticeship. 

A  branch  of  this  school  for  the  education  of  the  junior  teach- 
ers of  the  male  departments  was  established  a  few  months  after- 
ward. 

In  1841,  on  the  completion  of  the  new  edifice  called  "  Trus- 
tees' Hall,"  situated  on  the  corner  of  Grand  and  Elm  streets, 
and  designed  to  furnish  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society 
with  rooms  for  their  meetings,  as  well  as  to  provide  accommoda- 
tions for  the  female  normal  schools,  the  institution  was  removed 
from  its  former  location  in  No.  5,  and  held  its  sessions  in  the 
new  building.  A  large  apartment,  capable  of  accommodating 
four  hundred  persons,  for  the  general  assembling  of  the  school  in 
the  morning,  and  five  commodious  recitation-rooms  were  pro- 
vided, and  the  school  continued  to  flourish  with  increased  pros- 
perity. 

Upon  the  death  of  LINDLEY  MURRAY,  Esq.,  a  member  of  the 
committee  charged  with  the  care  of  the  several  schools,  his  place 
was  supplied  by  A.  P.  HALSEY,  Esq. ;  and  on  the  decease  of  Mr. 


648  THE   TCBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

SAMUEL  DEMILT,  the  chairman,  Mr.  GEORGE  T.  TREMBLE,  by  se- 
niority, succeeded  him  in  that  station,  and  the  vacant  place  on 
the  committee  was  filled  by  the  appointment  of  Dr.  Charles  E. 
Pierson.  On  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Halsey,  William  II.  Neil- 
son,  Esq.,  having  become  a  member  of  the  committee,  these 
three  gentlemen — Messrs.  Trimble,  Pierson,  and  Neilson — con- 
tinued the  superintendence  up  to  the  time  of  the  dissolution  of 
the  Society. 

The  success  and  efficiency  of  the  normal  schools  will  be  ap- 
parent from  the  fact  stated  in  1853,  in  the  forty-seventh  annual 
report,  that,  out  of  the  422  teachers  of  all  grades  then  engaged 
in  the  various  departments  of  the  public  schools,  386  had  been, 
or  still  were,  pupils  of  the  normal  schools.  Nearly  350  were 
engaged  in  ward  or  other  schools,  and  460  graduates  were  en- 
gaged in  other  professions,  or  in  the  duties  of  domestic  life.  The 
whole  number,  from  the  time  of  its  establishment  in  1834 
to  1853,  being  1,150  trained  in  the  male  and  female  normal 
schools. 

In  reviewing  the  history  of  this  institution,  it  is  impossible  to 
forbear  paying  a  passing  tribute  to  the  memory  of  those  noble 
and  philanthropic  men  by  whose  fostering  care  it  was  founded 
and  sustained.  . 

During  the  last  eleven  years  of  his  life,  SAMUEL  DEMILT  was 
unremitting  in  his  oversight  of  these  schools,  attending  at  each 
session  ;  and,  during  the  whole  period  of  five  hours,  he  gave,  by 
his  interest  and  example,  an  encouragement  and  stimulus  to  the 
establishment  which,  to  a  great  extent,  was  the  means  of  placing 
it  on  a  permanent  basis. 

During  a  brief  career  of  usefulness,  ISAAC  H.  CLAPP  was  also 
unwearied  in  his  exertions  to  promote  the  interests  and  welfare 
of  the  institution,  devoting  all  the  energies  of  early  manhood  to 
the  cause,  with  a  disinterested  zeal  and  activity  rarely  seen,  and 
worthy  of  the  highest  admiration. 

In  addition  to  those  who  have  ceased  from  their  labors,  it 
would  be  unjust  not  to  mention  those  who  were  either  their  co- 
adjutors or  successors  in  this  important  trust,  and  who,  though 
still  engaged  in  similar  oifices  of  benevolence  and  usefulness  to 
the  living,  have  ceased  to  be  connected  with  the  charge  of  this 
favorite  object  of  their  care. 

In  this  connection,  George  T.  Trimble  deserves  to  be  remem- 


NORMAL   AND    HIGH   SCHOOLS.  649 

bered  and  esteemed.  During  nearly  the  whole  twenty  years  of 
the  existence  of  the  normal  school,  he  was  among  the  most  zeal- 
ous in  his  watchful  oversight  of  the  female  normal  school.  To 
him  and  his  associates  the  city  is  indebted  for  the  institution 
which  has  prepared  so  large  a  number  of  active  teachers  for 
their  responsible  duties. 

The  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  were  not  behind 
any  of  their  fellow-citizens  in  a  just  appreciation  of  the  advan- 
tages and  economy  of  the  highest  kind  of  education  which  could 
be  afforded  to  the  masses.  This  charge  has  been  made  and  re- 
peated by  men  who  judged  by  circumstances,  and  not  by  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  publications  and  unsuccessful  efforts 
of  the  Society  to  reach  the  object  of  their  cherished  desire.  It 
would  argue  little  for  the  character  of  an  institution  at  whose 
head  stood,  for  forty  years,  such  men  as  De  Witt  Clinton,  Gulian 
C.  Verplanck,  Henry  Eckford,  Colonel  Eutgers,  and  others  of 
the  same  class,  to  suppose  that  it  ever  sought  to  limit  the  extent 
of  its  studies,  or  to  crush  out  aspirations  for  the  higher  walks  of 
literature  and  science.  Its  resources  were  never  equal  to  the 
calls  upon  them,  and  the  practical  aim  was  to  give  to  all  the 
children  of  the  school  age  at  least  some  of  the  advantages  of 
education,  rather  than  to  give  a  higher  culture  to  a  limited  num- 
'ber  who  could  afford  to  obtain  it  through  other  institutions.  It 
was  deemed  better  to  give  a  good  rudimentary  education  to 
scores  of  thousands,  than  to  adopt  a  course  of  studies  which 
could  be- enjoyed  only  by  the  minority.  It  had  not  the  elastic 
liberty  of  a  board  of  officers  who  could  call  for  an  almost  unlim- 
ited amount,  but  was  restricted  in  its  expenditures,  so  that  it  was 
obliged,  in  order  to  meet  the  demand  upon  it,  to  mortgage  a 
large  portion  of  its  property,  that  it  might  erect  new  buildings 
for  its  pupils.  The  project  of  a  high  school,  or  classical  institu- 
tion, was  no  novelty  with  a  large  portion  of  the  members  of  the 
Public  School  Society. 

As  early  as  1828,  at  the  time  of  making  an  appeal  to  the 
Legislature  for  additional  means,  an  address  to  the  public  was 
circulated,  in  which  high  schools  for  advanced  English  studies, 
fully  up  to  the  standard  of  the  best  of  the  ward  schools  now  in 
existence,  were  strongly  advocated,  and  a  classical  seminary  was 
held  before  the  people  as  an  object  of  pride,  usefulness,  and 
honor.  In  this  address  the  trustees  speak  as  follows  : 


650  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

We  desire  to  see  our  public  schools  so  endowed  and  provided,  that  they 
shall  be  equally  desirable  for  all  classes  of  society.  To  effect  this,  the  means 
of  instruction  which  are  offered  to  the  poor  should  fie  the  very  best  which  can 
fie  provided.  They  may  not  all  be  able  to  proceed  so  far  in  the  path  of  learn- 
ing as  others  in  happier  circumstances ;  but  to  the  extent  of  their  progress 
let  them  have  all  the  helps  which  the  present  state  of  knowledge  affords. 
This  is  no  mere  fanciful  theory.  The  advantages  of  a  free  intercourse  and 
competition  between  persons  of  all  ranks  and  conditions  in  life,  as  exhibited 
in  the  Edinburgh  high  school,  have  been  admirably  illustrated  by  one  of 
the  first  British  orators  of  the  age.  He  regarded  such  an  institution  as 
invaluable  in  a  free  State ;  because,  to  use  his  own  language,  men  of  the 
highest  and  lowest  rank  in  the  community  sent  their  children  there  to  be 
educated  together.  The  practical  beneficence  of  this  system  is  attested  by 
the  noble  institutions  of  a  sister  city.  It  is  by  such  a  union  and  inter- 
course that  the  real  worth  of  outward  distinctions  is  perceived — that  the 
highest  rewards  of  merit  are  felt  to  be  equally  offered  to  all — that  the 
jealousies  which  are  too  apt  to  arise  from  differences  of  condition  are  melt- 
ed away — and  that  the  relations  which  subsist  between  the  different  classes 
of  society  are  felt  to  be  relations  of  mental  advantage  and  dependence,  and 
not  those  of  hostility. 

In  connection  with  this  subject,  the  address  urged  a  scale  of 
higher  rewards  for  the  qualifications  of  teachers,  the  view  held 
by  the  trustees  being,  that  the  office  of  teacher,  considered  as 
one  of  grave  responsibility  and  importance,  called  for  high 
attainments  and  a  proportionate  remuneration.  In  fact,  there 
has  been  no  advance  made  in  the  common  school  system  of  New 
York  which  was  not  in  some  form  urged  repeatedly  by  the  sev- 
eral boards  and  committees  of  the  Public  School  Society. 

The  success  and  value  of  the  normal  school  scheme  had  been 
illustrated  by  nine  years  of  experience,  and  the  number  of  pupils 
who  had  progressed  to  important  posts  as  teachers  in  New  York 
and  other  localities,  was  constantly  on  the  increase.  The  Board 
of  Education  also,  under  the  law  of  1842,  had  sprung  into  exist- 
ence, and  additional  schools  were  creating  an  augmented  demand 
for  qualified  teachers.  Under  these  circumstances,  Abraham  R. 
Lawrence  introduced,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
on  May  16,  1843,  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  it  be  referred  to  a  special  committee  to  inquire  into  and 
report  to  this  board,  at  a  future  meeting,  the  expediency  of  making  the  nor- 
mal schools  day  schools,  to  be  open  every  day  in  the  week,  excepting  Satur- 
days and  Sundays ;  that  their  range  of  studies  be  so  extended  as  to  instruct 
male  pupils  in  all  the  branches  of  learning  necessary  to  their  initiation  in 


NORMAL   AND   HIGH   SCHOOLS.  651 

any  of  the  colleges  of  this  State,  and  females  in  such  studies  as  are  taught 
in  the  highest  grade  of  seminaries  for  female  instruction  in  this  city ;  and 
that  the  said  schools  constitute  one  distinct  section. 

The  resolution  was  adopted,  and  referred  to  a  committee,  con- 
sisting of  Abraham  K.  Lawrence,  Lindley  Murray,  John  T. 
Adams,  Burritt  Sherwood,  and  James  F.  Depeyster. 

The  committee  submitted  a  report  recommending  the  adop- 
tion of  the  measure,  and  the  name  "  High  Schools  "  was  substi- 
tuted for  that  of  "  Normal  Schools."  In  June,  1844,  the  subject 
was  renewed,  and,  after  a  protracted  discussion,  a  committee, 
consisting  of  Messrs.  Abraham  R.  Lawrence,  John  R.  Hurd, 
Samuel  B.  Childs,  John  T.  Adams,  and  Joseph  B.  Collins,  was 
appointed,  to  prepare  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature,  asking  au- 
thority to  establish  high  schools  in  which  Latin  and  Greek  and 
similar  advanced  studies  should  be  taught. 

The  committee  submitted  their  report  in  January,  .1845,  in 
which  the  necessity  of  such  an  institution  was  earnestly  and  care- 
fully presented.  The  memorial  was  referred  back  to  the  com- 
mittee, to  operate  in  concert  with  the  Executive  Committee,  who 
had  appointed  several  of  their  number  to  confer  with  the  Board 
of  Education  relative  to  the  enterprise. 

Several  of  the  teachers  in  the  ward  schools  of  the  Fourteenth 
Ward  having  been  refused  admittance  to  the  normal  school,  the 
case  was  laid  before  the  trustees  by  a  committee  of  the  Board  of 
Education.  A  conference  was  had,  and  an  explanation  of  the 
difficulty  having  been  made,  the  trustees  recognized  the  claim 
of  the  teachers  of  the  ward  schools  to  the  privileges  of  the  nor- 
mal schools,  "  on  their  complying  with  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  schools." 

The  measures  contemplated  by  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Law- 
rence were  never  prosecuted,  but  they  became  a  stimulus  to  the 
movement  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Free  Acad- 
emy, under  the  care  of  the  Board  of  Education,  which  was  pub- 
licly opened  by  appropriate  exercises  on  the  5th  of  February, 
1849. 


652  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

INFANT  SCHOOLS  AND  PRIMARY  SCHOOLS. 

Female  Association — Girls'  Schools — The  Infant-School  Society — Experiment  in  No.  10 
— Junior  Department  of  No.  8 — Theory  of  Infant  Schools — The  System  Approved 
— Delegation  to  Visit  Boston — Primary  Departments  Established — Female  Teach- 
ers Introduced  to  the  Schools — Primary  Schools  Established. 

-  THE  origin  of  our  public  system  of  education  antedates  the 
formation  of  the  Free-School  Society  about  three  years,  and  is  to 
be  found  in  the  benevolent  efforts  of  a  number  of  ladies,  mem- 
bers of  the  Society  of  Friends,  who  were  zealously  engaged  in 
labors  of  love  and  charity  among  the  poor. 

In  the  month  of  March,  1798,  several  ladies  proposed  to 
organize  an  "  Association  for  the  Relief  of  the  Sick  Poor,"  and 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  report  rules  for  the  government 
of  the  Association.  The  report  was  submitted  at  a  meeting  held 
on  the  21st  of  that  month,  and  the  ladies  entered  upon  their  be- 
nevolent labors.  The  first  article  excluded  all  persons  not  mem- 
bers of  the  Society  of  Friends  from  the  Association ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  sixth  article  provided  that  "  no  relief  be  afford- 
ed to  any  of  the  people  called  Quakers"  Among  the  ladies  vAw 
thus  devoted  themselves  to  the  wants  of  the  sick,  were  Catharine 
Murray,  Amy  Bowne,  Elizabeth  Haydock,  M.  Minturn,  Lydia 
Mott,  Agnes  Abbatt,  Elizabeth  "W.  Underbill,  Penelope  Hull, 
Sarah  Collins,  Hannah  Eddy,  Deborah  Franklin,  and  others,  the 
names  of  whose  descendants  are  still  found  frequent  and  con- 
spicuous in  our  public  institutions,  in  the  faithful  discharge  of 
similar  labors.  These  ladies  became  intimate  with  the  social 
condition  of  the  families  they  visited,  and  were  not  long  in  per- 
ceiving the  necessity  of  affording  to  poor  children  that  kind  of 
instruction  best  adapted  to  their  condition.  In  1801,  the  propo- 
sition to  establish  a  school  was  fully  discussed,  and  a  committee 


ASSOCIATION    OF   WOMEN    FRIENDS.  653 

appointed  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  and  employ  a 
teacher.  It  was  opened  in  June,  1801.  The  original  minute  in 
the  record,  which  appears  not  to  have  been  used  until  the  close 
of  1802,  is  as  follows : 

The  Association  of  Women  Friends  for  the  Relief  of  the  Poor,  having 
concluded  that  a  part  of  their  funds  should  be  appropriated  to  the  educa- 
tion of  poor  children  of  the  following  description,  viz.,  those  whose  parents 
belong  to  no  religious  society,  and  who,  from  gome  cause  or  other,  cannot 
be  admitted  into  any  of  the  charity  schools  of  this  city,  have  appointed  the 
following  persons  as  a  committee  to  open  a  school  for  that  purpose  :  Lydia 
P.  Mott,  Caroline  Bowne,  Sarah  Collins,  Mary  Minturn,  Jr.,  Hannah  Bowne, 
aud  Susan  Collins ;  who  have,  agreeably  to  permission,  rented  a  room  at  the 
rate  of  £16  per  annum,  and  engaged  a  widow  woman  of  good  education 
and  morals  as  an  instructor,  and  allow  her  a  salary  of  £30  a  year,  to  be 
advanced  at  the  discretion  of  the  committee,  which  met  at  the  school-room, 
28th  of  12th  month. 

The  school  was  attended  by  children  of  both  sexes,  but  the 
committee  soon  became  convinced  that  the  plans  they  had  de- 
signed would  be  more  advantageously  prosecuted  by  admitting 
only  girls  to  the  school.  The  male  pupils  were  discharged,  and 
the  institution  was  restricted  to  females  during  the  subsequent 
existence  of  the  schools  under  its  care. 

The  ladies  who  organized  the  Association  and  were  its  earli- 
est members,  were  the  following : 

Catharine  Murray,  Hannah  Eddy, 

Elizabeth  Bowne,  Ann  Eddy, 

Sarah  Robinson,  Agnes  Abbatt, 

Amy  Bowne,  Sarah  Collins, 

Hannah  Pearsall,  Elizabeth  Pearsall, 

Margaret  B.  Haydock,  Mary  Pearsall  Robinson, 

Elizabeth  Haydock,  Hannah  Lawrence, 

Sarah  Haydock  [Mrs.  Hicka],  Rebecca  Haydock, 

Ann  Shipley,  Elizabeth  "W.  Underbill, 

Mary  R.  Bowne  [Mrs.  King],  Esther  Robinson  Minturn, 

Amy  Clarke,  Penelope  Minturn, 

M.  Minturn,  Abigail  Kenyon, 

Lydia  Mott,  Penelope  Hull, 

Martha  Stansbury,  E.  Hoyland  "Walker, 

Mary  Dunbar  [Mrs.  Slocum],  Sarah  Hallet, 

Jane  Johnston,  Sarah  Bowne  Minturn, 

Harriet  Robbins,  Mary  Minturn,  Jr., 

Sarah  Tallman,  Deborah  Minturn  Abbatt, 


654  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

t 

Hannah  Bowne,  Hannah  Bowne, 

Mary  Murray  [Mrs.  Perkins],  Ann  Underbill, 

Sarah  Robinson,  E.  Tullman, 

Mary  Wright,  Susan  Collins, 

Caroline  Bowne,  Sarah  Lyons  Kirby, 

Elizabeth  Burling,  Hannah  Shelton, 
Charlotte  Leggett. 

After  the  erection  'of  Free  School  No.  1,  in  Try  on  Row,  in 
1809,  the  trustees  afforded  accommodations  to  the  Association 
for  the  school  for  girls  then  established,  which  was  continned  for 
many  years  afterward. 

The  school-house  in  Henry  street,  No.  2,  having  been  erected 
by  the  Free-School  Society,  the  trustees  delegated  a  committee 
to  inform  the  Female  Association  of  the  fact,  and  to  tender  to 
that  body  the  use  of  apartments  for  a  school  for  girls.  On  the 
16th  of  December,  1811,  John  Murray,  Jr.,  attended  a  meeting 
of  the  Association  and  made  the  communication,  upon  the  an- 
nouncement of  which  a  committee  was  appointed  to  organize  the 
school,  composed  of  Mary  Minturn,  Sarah  Minturn,  Eliza  Bowne, 
Sarah  Marshall,  Niobe  Minturn,  Niobe  Stanton,  Lydia  Hath- 
away, and  Sarah  Collins.  The  school  was  opened  February  18th. 
1812,  with  twenty  pupils,  Mary  I.  Morgan,  teacher. 

By  the  law  of  1813,  schools  not  incorporated  were  excluded 
from  the  benefits  of  the  common  school  fund.  The  friends  of  the 
Female  Association,  therefore,  took  immediate  measures  to  secure 
an  act  of  incorporation  for  the  Association,  which  was  passed  by 
the  Legislature  on  March  26th,  1813.  By-laws  were  adopted, 
and  the  officers  of  the  Association  were  designated  as  first  and 
second  directors,  secretary,  treasurer,  and  register.  The  Board 
of  Trustees  consisted  of  twelve  members. 

A  third  school  was  opened  for  girls  on  the  8th  of  January, 
1815.  The  committee  to  superintend  the  opening  of  No.  3  con- 
sisted of  Sarah  Collins,  Rachel  Seaman,  Elizabeth  Clapp,  Niobe 
Minturn,  and  Mary  M.  Perkins.  At  about  the  same  time,  the 
trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society  granted  the  use  of  an  addi- 
tional room  in  No.  1  to  the  Association,  for  one  of  their  schools. 
During  the  first  three  months  of  the  existence  of  No.  3,  271 
pieces  of  needlework  were  finished  by  the  girls.  The  variety 
and  kind  of  work  performed  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
inventory :  18  shirts,  11  shifts,  21  sheets,  16  samplers,  23  era- 


SCHOOLS   FOE  GIRLS.  655 

vats,  4:  night-caps,  4  thread  cases,  2  pair  stockings,  47  diaper 
towels,  15  pocket  kerchiefs,  8  pillow-cases,  7  table-cloths,  33 
coarse  towels,  9  check  aprons,  25  infant  shirts,  2  pair  neck-gus- 
sets, 5  muslin  aprons,  5  pair  wristbands,  4  muslin  borders,  3 
window-curtains,  1  pair  muslin  sleeves,  2  calico  ruffles,  6  house- 
cloths.  The  following  quarter  presented  an  equally  flattering 
report  of  the  industry  of  the  pupils.  Susan  Morgan,  teacher. 

On  the  9th  of  May,  1817,  a  committee  was  appointed,  con- 
sisting of  Sarah  Collins,  Sarah  Ludlam,  Elizabeth  W.  Lawrence, 
and  Niobe  Minturn,  to  superintend  the  opening  of  Girls'  School 
No.  4.  The  school  was  opened  on  the  7th  of  July,  the  pupils 
being  transferred  from  one  of  the  schools  of  the  Free-School 
Society.  Isabella  Morgan  was  appointed  teacher. 

The  provisions  of  the  law  which  restricted  the  expenditure 
of  the  school  money  for  the  payment  of  teachers'  salaries  being 
found  inconvenient  in  practice,  the  Association  petitioned  the 
Legislature  for  an  amendment  of  the  law  in  favor  of  the  schools 
under  its  care.  The  petition  was  granted,  and  a  special  act 
passed  on  the  12th  of  April,  1819. 

The  trustees  of  the  African  Free  School,  having  erected  the 
new  house  in  Mulberry  street,  near  Grand,  offered  the  use  of  the 
lower  room  to  the  Association.  A  committee  was  appointed  to 
examine  the  premises  and  report  upon  the  proposition.  The 
room  was  rented  for  $200  a  year,  and  a  school  commenced  for 
colored  girls.  The  proportion  of  school  moneys  received  by  the 
Association  in  1820,  was  $1,977. 

In  May,  1820,  the  trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society  re- 
quested the  Association  to  appoint  a  committee  to  superintend 
the  school  for  girls  in  their  new  building  in  Bivington  street,  No. 
4,  which  had  just  been  completed.  The  committee  was  accord- 
ingly appointed,  and  consisted  of  Sarah  Collins,  Elizabeth  Pear- 
sail,  Eliza  Murray,  Mary  L.  Hartshorne,  Sarah  Shotwell,  Pe- 
nelope Minturn,  and  Mary  Minturn,  Jr.  The  industrial  branch- 
es of  instruction  being  considered  of  great  importance,  the  com- 
mittee, having  examined  the  school  with  great  satisfaction, 
reported  in  favor  of  appointing  an  efficient  committee  for  the 
purpose  of  aiding  the  teacher  in  the  sewing  department. 

The  Association  having  for  some  time  occupied  apartments 
in  School  No.  2,  in  Henry  street,  and  the  trustees,  being  desirous 
of  organizing  female  schools  under  their  own  care,  notified  the 


656  THE    PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Association,  in  January,  1823,  of  their  desire  to  occupy  the 
whole  building.  Measures  were  taken  to  procure  other  apart- 
ments in  the  neighborhood,  which  were  successful,  and  the 
school  was  removed  to  the  lecture-rooms  of  the  Rutgers  Street 
Church. 

The  Association  for  many  years  held  annual  public  examina- 
tions of  their  pupils,  the  exercises  being  held  in  the  large  room 
of  Free  School  No.  1,  in  Tryon  Row.  The  pupils  of  the  several 
schools  were  assembled  on  these  occasions,  and,  in  1823,  about 
550  represented  the  total  number  present  from  the  schools.  The 
number  on  register  was  about  750. 

In  March,  1828,  it  was  resolved  to  apply  to  the  Public  School 
Society  for  the  use  of  a  room  in  one  of  their  buildings  for  an 
infant  school.  The  Executive  Committee  replied  affirmatively, 
granting  the  gratuitous  use  of  either  of  the  unappropriated  base- 
ment:rooms  of  their  school-houses  for  the  purpose,  during  the 
pleasure  of  the  board.  The  trustees,  however,  did  not  confirm 
the  action  of  the  Executive  Committee,  and  the  Association 
obtained  apartments  in  the  Lutheran  Church,  in  "Walker  street. 
Thei  school  was  opened  on  the  20th  of  October,  1828,  under  the 
care  of  Anna  Harford. 

On  the  28th  of  April,  the  Association  closed  the  school  for 
girls,  which  had  so  long  been  conducted  under  the  original  plans. 
The  operation  of  the  law  of  1828  deprived  this  body  of  the  use 
of  the  school  fund,  and  it  was  obliged  to  contract  its  sphere  of 
labor.  But  several  bequests  and  donations  having  been  made  to 
the  Association,  which  yielded  about  $500  a  year,  in  addition  to 
the  contributions  and  subscriptions  of  members  and  friends,  it 
was  decided  that  one  or  more  infant  schools  be  established,  as  the 
best  mode  of  appropriating  the  fund  to  carry  out  the  objects  of 
the  donors. 

In  February,  1830,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  procure 
rooms  for  another  school,  for  which  purpose  the  basement  of  the 
Bowery  Church  was  selected.  This  building  was  located  between 
"Walker  and  Hester  streets.  At  the  same  time,  however,  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  having  become 
convinced  that  the  establishment  of  schools  for  young  children 
was  demanded,  adopted  a  resolution  granting  the  use  of  the  un- 
occupied basement-rooms  of  their  buildings  to  the  Association 
for  that  purpose,  and  tendering  apartments  in  No.  5,  in  Mott 


SCHOOLS   FOR   GIRLS.  657 

street.  The  basement  of  this  house  had  never  been  finished,  and 
the  trustees  proposed  that  the  Association  should  finish  and  fit  it 
up,  and,  whenever  possession  should  be  taken  by  the  board,  the 
expense  should  be  repaid  to  the  Association.  The  proposal  was 
accepted,  and  the  proposed  school  in  the  Bowery  church  was 
never  organized.  The  rooms  in  Public  School  No.  5  were  fitted 
up  and  furnished,  and  the  school  opened  in  the  month  of  June 
of  the  same  year  (1830),  and  was  sustained  until  1845,  at  which 
time  the  trustees  notified  the  Association  of  their  desire  to  have 
the  infant  schools  transferred  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  board, 
a'nd  made  a  department  under  the  general  system  which  had 
been.^adopted  by  the  Public  School  Society.  The  school  was 
accordingly  transferred,  and  the  Female  Association  closed  its 
labors  for  the  instruction  of  poor  children. 

The  character  of  the  schools  established  by  these  ladies  was 
always  high  for  the  grade.  Inspired  with  the  idea  that  was  so 
predominant  in  the  minds  of  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School 
Society — that  of  giving  the  best  rudimentary  education  to  the 
greatest  number  possible — the  range  of  studies  was  not  advanced 
as  high  as  it  has  since  been  in  our  public  schools,  but  it  was 
accompanied  with  a  generous  and  constant  supervision  by  those 
accomplished  and  intelligent  Christian  women,  which  imparted  a 
moral  and  elevating  influence  not  gained  from  splendid  and 
costly  appointments  or  glittering  apparatus.  The  practical  in- 
struction in  the  industrial  arts,  to  which  females  must  mainly 
look  for  subsistence  at  the  present  time,  with  the  kindness  and 
maternal  sympathy  which  pervaded  the  school-room,  has  doubt- 
less exerted  a  quiet  but  refining  influence  over  many  minds  and 
hearts  that  will  ever  remember  the  attentions  and  visits  of  their 
devoted  friends. 

The  Female  Association  still  exists,  but  its  office  is  confined 
to  the  distribution  of  the  annual  income  from  its  funds  for  chari- 
table uses. 

It  is  worthy  of  remembrance  that  Col.  Henry  Rutgers,  who 
was  from  an  early  period  a  devoted  friend  of  the  system  of  com- 
mon schools,  left  a  legacy,  amounting  to  $750,  for  the  use  of  the 
Female  Association.  It  was  committed  to  the.  care  of  the  trus- 
tees of  the  Free-School  Society,  who  paid  $45  interest  annually 
to  the  Association — the  principal  sum  to  revert  to  the  Society 
42 


658  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

whenever  the  Association  should  cease  its  labors  in  the  cause  of 
education. 


INFANT  SCHOOLS. 

Passing  from  this  brief  review  of  the  career  of  the  Female 
Association,  a  record  must  be  made  of  the  first  efforts  to  estab- 
lish a  class  of  schools  which  were  as  novel  in  their  design  as  they 
were  interesting,  simply  as  an  educational  experiment. 

During  the  year  1826,  a  great  degree  of  interest  and  atten- 
tion was  directed  to  the  establishment  of  "  INFANT  SCHOOLS," 
which  had  recently  been  introduced  in  England.  Early  in  1827, 
an  association  of  ladies  was  formed  in  New  York  for  the  purpose 
of  organizing  a  school  upon  the  same  plan,  and  for  children  of 
the  same  age.  The  theory  of  the  system  may  be  briefly  defined 
to  be  this :  The  mind  and  heart  of  the  child  are  susceptible  of 
receiving  impressions  of  a  deep  and  lasting  nature,  and  of  form- 
ing habits  at  a  very  early  age.  The  impressions  should  be  those 
of  virtue,  love,  gentleness,  and  piety,  all  having  a  tendency  to 
give  to  the  opening  moral  consciousness  of  the  child  a  pure  and 
lofty  direction.  Preoccupy  the  mind  and  heart  with  the  seeds 
of  goodness,  and  they  will  grow  and  produce  a  corresponding 
character  in  the  after-life.  To  realize  this  idea,  it  was  proposed 
to  take  children  even  as  young  as  eighteen  months,  who,  being 
imitative,  could  at  least  begin  by  learning  sounds,  motions,  and 
habits  of  order  and  stillness.  These  groups  of  tender  pupils 
were  fittingly  denominated  "  infant  schools,"  and  the  novelty  of 
the  experiment,  at  least,  stimulated  the  desire  to  make  a  fair 
trial  of  its  value.  In  addition  to  these  reasons,  another  was 
forcibly  presented,  growing  out  of  the  fact  that  the  children  of 
laborers  were  often  left  at  home,  locked  up  in  the  absence  of 
parents,  and  in  danger  of  fire  or  other  accidents,  or  left  to  roam 
in  the  streets,  exposed  to  casualties  and  corrupting  influences. 

The  first  meeting-  of  ladies  was  held  in  the  Brick  Church 
Chapel  on  May  23,  1827,  when  Mrs.  JOANNA  BETHUNE  was  called 
to  the  chair,  and  Mrs.  HOLT  was  appointed  secretary. 

Two  resolutions  were  adopted  :  1st.  To  organize  a  society 
for  the  care  of  children  from  eighteen  months  to  two  years  of 


INFANT   SCHOOLS.  G59 

age ;    and,  2d.    Persons  contributing  one  dollar  a  year,  to  be 
members. 

The  following  officers  were  chosen  : 

Mrs.  BETHUNE,  First  Directress. 

Mrs.  STRIKER,  Second  Directress. 

Mrs.  TUTHILL,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  pro  tern. 

On  the  28th  of  June,  the  fourth  meeting  of  the  Society  was 
held,  at  which  a  constitution  was  adopted,  officers  and  managers 
were  chosen,  and  a  letter  was  read  from  His  Excellency  DE  WITT 
CLINTON,  Governor  of  the  State,  who  consented  to  become  the 
patron  of  the  Society,  which,  in  fact,  was  organized  at  his  sug- 
gestion. The  officers  chosen  were  the  following : 

Mrs.  JOANNA  BETHUNE,  First  Directress. 

Miss  STRIKER,  Second  Directress. 

Mrs.  HANNAH  L.  MURRAY,  Treasurer. 

Mrs.  LAURA  E.  HYDE,  Corresponding  Secretary. 

Miss  M.  A.  C.  WILLETT,  Recording  Secretary. 

A  board  of  thirty  managers  was  also  appointed,  by-laws 
adopted,  and  the  Society  was  fully  organized. 

As  soon  as  sufficient  funds  were  collected  to  warrant  the  com- 
mencement of  operations,  a  school  was  opened,  July  16,  in  the 
basement-story  of  the  Canal  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  corner 
of  Greene  street.  The  school,  in  a  few  months,  numbered  one 
hundred  and  seventy  pupils  on  its  register,  with  an  average 
attendance  of  from  sixty  to  one  hundred.  Two  teachers  were 
employed,  with  an  assistant,  who  also  attended  to  the  fires,  keep- 
ing the  school-room  in  order,  and  other  general  duties. 

The  age  of  children  was  specified,  in  the  constitution,  at  from 
eighteen  months  to  six  years.  During  the  winter,  few  under 
three  years  of  age  were  able  to  attend. 

The  school  had  been  in  operation  less  than  six  months,  when 
Governor  CLINTON,  who  had  been  the  President  of  the  Public 
School  Society  from  its  foundation,  made  the  following  allusion 
to  it  in  his  Message  to  the  Legislature : 

The  institution  of  infant  schools  is  the  pedestal  to  the  pyramid.  It 
embraces  those  children  who  are  generally  too  young  for  common  schools ; 
it  relieves  parents  from  engrossed  attention  to  their  offspring,  softens  the 
brow  of  care,  and  lightens  the  hand  of  labor.  More  efficacious  in  reaching 
the  heart  than  the  head,  in  improving  the  temper  than  the  intellect,  it  has 
been  eminently  useful  in  laying  the  foundation  of  good  feelings,  good  prin- 
ciples, and  good  habits. 


660  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

A  communication  was  sent  by  Mrs.  Betlmne  to  the  Public 
School  Society,  asking,  on  behalf  of  herself  and  her  colleagues, 
the  use  of  the  basement-rooms  of  No.  8,  in  Grand  street,  for 
school  purposes.  The  Board  of  Trustees  granted  the  request, 
and  the  school  was  organized.  By  this  means  was  originated 
the  extensive  system  known  as  the  "  Primary  Schools "  and 
"  Primary  Departments."  A  few  months  afterward,  Mrs. 
Bethune,  on  behalf  of  "  THE  INFANT  SCHOOL  SOCIETY,"  applied 
for  the  use  of  the  rooms  in  No.  10,  in  Duane  street,  which  ap- 
plication was  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee  with  power, 
by  whom  the  whole  subject  was  referred  to  a  sub-committee. 
The  report  was  laid  before  the  Board  of  Trustees  in  February, 
1828,  and  was  as  follows : 

The  Committee  on  the  Infant  School  and  Junior  Department  System 
REPORT : 

That  they  have  carefully  attended  to  the  duty  assigned  them,  have  visit- 
ed the  schools  several  times,  and  have  had  an  interview  with  the  first  direc- 
tress of  the  Infant  School  Society. 

That  the  infant  miud  is  capable  of  receiving  instruction  at  the  early  age 
of  two  or  three  years ;  that  the  inculcation  of  moral,  ideal,  and  literal 
knowledge  cannot  be  commenced  at  too  early  a  period  after  the  faculty  of 
speech  is  developed ;  that  the  formation  of  good  habits  is  of  immense  im- 
portance even  with  children  of  the  age  in  question ;  that  the  providing  a 
place  in  which  the  younger  children  of  the  poor  may  pass  the  day  comfort- 
ably, whilst  their  parents  are  engaged  in  their  usual  avocations,  instead  of 
wandering  the  streets,  exposed  to  the  contamination  of  vice,  is  an  object 
worthy  the  regard  of  the  benevolent.  These  your  committee  consider  as  the 
foundation  axioms  on  which  the  infant  school  system  is  established,  and 
their  examination  of  the  subject  has  led  to  the  conclusion  that  that  founda- 
tion standeth  sure. 

The  committee  do  not  consider  it  necessary  to  enlarge  their  report  with 
reasoning,  but  that  facts  and  the  results  of  their  investigation  are  alone 
required  of  them. 

The  infant  school  in  Canal  street  has  on  register  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty children  of  both  sexes,  and  from  about  two  to  six  years  of  age,  the  lat- 
ter being  the  limit  at  which  any  was  received.  The  number  in  attendance 
varies  from  fifty  to  one  hundred.  There  are  two  female  teachers,  a  princi- 
pal, and  one  assistant,  employed  at  salaries  of  $200  each.  The  children  arc 
allowed  to  come  early  in  the  morning,  and  to  remain  till  near  dark,  bringing 
their  dinners  with  them,  or  to  attend  during  the  usual  school  hours  only. 
The  essence  of  the  system  pursued  in  the  school  appears  to  be  a  judicious 
combination  of  instruction  and  amusement,  and  that  both  shall  be  calcu- 
lated to  form  and  elicit  ideas,  rather  than  mere  literal  knowledge,  though 
this  is  by  no  means  neglected.  The  children  are  evidently  happy  and  inter- 


INFANT  SCHOOLS.  C61 

ested  in  their  employments,  and  the  scene  ia  altogether  deeply  engaging  to 
the  best  feelings  of  humanity.  The  opinion  of  the  first  directress  and  teach- 
ers is,  that  the  same  plan  may  be  advantageously  adopted  in  a  school  of  two 
to  three  hundred  children  ;  and  the  English  Reports  inform  us  of  schools  of 
the  latter  number  now  in  sucessful  operation. 

In  the  junior  department  of  No.  8  there  are  more  than  three  hundred 
children,  giving  an  average  daily  attendance  of  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty.  The  system  of  this  school  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  public  schools 
generally,  and  therefore  well  known  to  the  trustees.  The  children  are  one 
degree  older  than  those  of  the  infant  school — say  from  three  to  seven  or 
eight.  The  school  appeared  in  as  good  order  as  could  be  reasonably  ex- 
pected. 

On  a  comparison  of  the  mode  of  instruction  adopted  in  the  two  schools, 
your  committee  are  of  opinion  that  the  infant  school  system,  as  applied  to 
children  of  such  tender  years,  is  decidedly  preferable ;  the  one  being  the 
mere  course  of  common  instruction  in  the  knowledge  of  letters  and  wt>rds, 
the  other  including  the  first,  arid  extending  its  views  to  what  is  of  much 
greater  importance — the  knowledge  of  things  and  ideas,  with  moral  maxims 
and  scriptural  instruction  ;  the  whole  illustrated  by  visible  objects  and  ver- 
bal explanations  calculated  to  excite  the  attention  and  interest  the  feelings 
of  the  infant  mind. 

From  this  view  of  the  subject,  your  committee  are  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  is  expedient  that  infant  schools  be  gradually  established  throughout 
the  city ;  and  the  question  only  remains,  whether  this  shall  be  done  by  the 
already  organized  Infant  School  Society  of  ladies,  and  to  whom  the  credit 
and  honor  are  due  for  having  first,  and  by  persevering  exertions,  introduced 
this  system  into  this  city,  or  by  the  Public  School  Society.  As  there  are 
thousands  of  children  who  would  be  proper  objects  for  these  schools,  and 
many  rooms  and  large  funds  would  be  required  to  carry  them  on  advan- 
tageously, it  would  probably  be  best  that  a  part  of  the  duty  of  founding 
and  continuing  them  be  in  the  hands  of  a  society  of  men,  though  their  im- 
mediate supervision  would  be  better  entrusted  to  the  motherly  patronage 
and  care  of  ladies.  And  as  these  schools  would  be  introductory  to  and 
could  be  conveniently  accommodated  in  the  basements  of  the  public  schools, 
your  committee  are  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  advisable  for  this  Society  to 
undertake  the  work,  and  that  the  Infant  School  Society,  with  such  other 
ladies  as  may  hereafter  join  them,  be  invited  to  act  as  a  committee  for  the 
visitation  and  superintendence  of  the  schools. 

The  comnfittee  are  aware  of  the  importance  of  the  measure  proposed, 
and  believe  it  will  be  judicious  to  embark  therein  gradually ;  and,  as  the 
final  result  of  their  investigations,  they  with  deference  propose  : 

1st.  That  the  junior  department  school  in  No.  8  be,  for  the  present,  con- 
tinued without  change. 

2d.  That  an  infant  school  be  opened  by  the  Public  School  Society  in  the 
basement  of  No.  10,  so  soon  as  competent  teachers  can  be  obtained  and  made 
acquainted  with  the  peculiarities  of  the  system. 

3d.  That  the  Infant  School  Society  be  requested  to  act  as  a  ladies'  com- 


662  THE  PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

mittee  for  the  management  and  supervision  of  said  school,  and'  that  tho 
school  committee  of  No.  10  be  associated  with  the  sub-committee  of  ladies 
so  far  as  to  act  as  their  advisers  and  assistants. 

4th.  That  the  teachers  be  appointed  by  the  Executive  Committee,  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  Infant  School  Society.  That  the  ladies'  committee 
be  requested  to  adopt  such  rules  and  regulations  for  the  schools  as  they  shall 
deem  proper,  subject,  however,  to  the  advice  and  control  of  the  trustees. 

5th.  That  the  sub-committee  of  ladies  having  special  charge  of  the 
school,  make  a  quarterly  report  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  state  and 
condition  thereof,  with  the  number  and  progress  of  the  children,  &c.,  &c., 

ROBERT  C.  CORNELL,  \ 
F.  SHELDON,  >  Committee. 

LINDLEY  MURRAY,      ) 

The  infant  school  iu  No.  10  had  been  in  operation  about 
eighteen  months,  when,  in  April,  1829,  a  committee,  consisting 
of  Messrs.  Samuel  F.  Mott,  Erastus  Ellsworth,  W.  W.  Chester, 
Samuel  Demilt,  and  J.  II.  Taylor,  was  appointed  to  examine  it, 
in  connection  with  the  junior  department  of  No.  8,  and  report 
upon  the  adoption  of  the  system,  either  with  or  without  the  aid 
of  the  Infant  School  Society.  The  committee  reported  very 
favorably  upon  the  plan,  and  recommended  it  for  its  superiority 
over  the  mixed  system  of  the  junior  departments.  Questions  of 
a  financial  and  legal  nature  interposed,  however,  to  prevent  tho 
immediate  extension  of  the  system.  The  funds  were  not  deemed 
to  be  sufficient,  and  the  restrictions  of  the  law  relative  to  the 
distribution  of  the  school  money  served  to  raise  a  barrier  to  ap- 
propriations for  that  class  of  schools  ;  as  the  addition  of  so  many 
children  of  an  age  under  that  specitied  by  the  law  of  the  State 
would  give  an  unequal  proportion  to  the  city,  by  including  thou- 
sands of  pupils  who  were  younger  than  the  school  children  of 
the  rural  and  town  districts.  The  report  was  referred  back  to 
the  committee,  to  procure  the  legal  opinion  of  the  law  members 
of  the  board  upon  the  points  suggested  by  the  committee.  The 
opinions  of  the  committee  being  sustained,  it  was  dtemed  to  be 
inexpedient  at  the  time  to  increase  the  number  of  infant  schools. 

In  the  month  of  October  of  the  same  year,  the  subject  was 
renewed,  the  reports  of  the  committee  and  the  legal  opinions 
being  read  in  full.  Two  of  the  opinions  (those  of  Messrs.  Ben- 
jamin Clark  and  Hiram  Ketchum)  were  adverse  to  the  right  of 
the  Society  to  organize  and  draw  money  for  those  schools ;  and 
four  of  the  opinions  (those  of  Messrs.  Robert  Sedgwick,  James 


INFANT   SCHOOLS.  663 

I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  Samuel  Boyd,  and  D.  Lord)  were  in  favor  of 
the  said  right.  A  resolution  was  offered,  declaring  it  expedient 
to  establish  infant  schools,  which  was  lost  by  a  vote  of  fourteen 
in  the  affirmative  and  sixteen  in  the  negative. 

Notwithstanding  the  apparent  difficulties  and  the  positive 
differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  propriety  of  adopting  the  infant 
school  as  a  part  of  the  system  of  instruction,  some  of  its  friends 
were  so  convinced  of  its  importance,  that  they  could  not  long 
permit  the  matter  to  rest.  The  Executive  Committee  had  the 
proposition  under  constant  advisem,ent,  and  in  May,  1830,  the 
report  of  a  sub-committee  on  the  junior  department  of  No.  8 
was  laid  before  the  board.  It  rcommended  the  alteration  of  the 
rooms  occupied  by  the  junior  department  so  as  to  adapt  it  for 
the  use  of  an  infant  school.  The  subject  was  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  Messrs.  John  R.  Hurd,  Robert  C.  Cornell, 
Hiram  Ketchum,  J.  H.  Taylor,  and  Charles  Oakley. 

The  report  of  this  committee,  presented  to  the  board  in  July, 
recommended  the  change  of  the  system,  and  left  the  details  of 
the  arrangements  to  the  several  sections,  the  school-buildings  at 
that  time  not  being  equally  well  adapted  for  separate  depart- 
ments. The  1st,  2d,  3d,  and  4th  classes  were  to  be  designated 
as  the  Third  or  Junior  Department,  and  to  be  under  the  care  of 
female  teachers.  The  important  change  of  teachers  thus  intro- 
duced was  alone  a  great  advance,  males  having  been  previously 
almost  exclusively  employed,  and  the  younger  classes  of  scholars 
having  been  usually  assigned  to  the  care  of  male  monitors.  The 
advantage  of  female  teachers  for  these  young  learners  was  too 
evident  to  the  committee,  and  their  introduction  was  warmly 
urged  in  the  report.  It  was  referred  to  a  special  meeting  to  be 
held  in  September,  at  which  time  a  preamble  and  resolutions 
adopting  the  infant  school  system  were  presented,  and  adopted 
by  the  board.  It  was  resolved  to  change  the  junior  department 
of  No.  8  into  an  infant  school,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  examine  the  school  in  No.  10,  and  report  such  modifications 
and  changes  as  might  be  deemed  advisable.  Messrs.  Robert  C. 
Cornell,  Myndert  Van  Schaick,  John  R.  Hurd,  Samuel  F.  Mott, 
and  Lindley  Murray  were  entrusted  with  this  service.  Their 
report  was  submitted  in  the  month  of  November,  with  a  code  of 
regulations  for  the  schools,  which  were  designated  as  "  PRIMARY 
DEPARTMENTS."  The  school  committees,  or  "  sections  "  of  trus- 
tees, were  to  be  aided  by  a  sub-committee  of  ladies,  who  should 


664  T1JE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

be  entitled  to  nominate  the  teachers  and  monitors.  Female 
scholars  from  two  years  of  age  and  upward  were  to  be  admitted, 
and  male  scholars  from  two  to  six  years  of  age,  but  no  children 
were  to  be  admitted  who  were  qualified  to  enter  the  4th  class  of 
the  public  schools.  Two  cents  a  week  was  the  tuition  fee,  the 
pay  system  being  at  that  time  in  operation. 

The  plans  and  recommendations  of  the  committee  were 
adopted,  and  the  Executive  Committee  was  directed  to  apply  to 
the  Legislature  for  power  to  educate  and  draw  school  money  for 
all  children  between  two  and  sixteen  years  of  age.  The  Manual 
was  also  altered  and  amended  to  conform,  to  the  new  system,  and 
copies  were  printed  and  distributed  to  the  teachers. 

The  Society,  at  the  same  time,  took  measures  to  secure  addi- 
tional means  from  the  Legislature,  which  were  ultimately  suc- 
cessful, and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  visit  the  Boston 
schools,  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  system  there  in  use. 
The  deputation  made  a  report  upon  the  remodelling  and  im- 
provement of  the  schools  of  the  Society,  a  prominent  feature  of 
which  report  was  the  general  plan  of  primary  schools,  or  schools 
similar  to  the  primary  departments,  but  located  in  buildings  of 
a  moderate  size,  and  so  distributed  over  the  city  as  to  be  easy 
and  near  of  access  to  young  children.  These  schools  were  to  be 
exclusively  under  the  care  of  female  teachers,  subject  to  the  con- 
trol of  the  respective  sections  to  which  they  might  be  assigned. 
The  scheme  submitted  by  the  committee  was  adopted  in  May, 
1832,  and  Messrs.  Samuel  W.  Seton,  James  B.  Brinsmade, 
George  T.  Trimble,  J.  H.  Taylor,  Mahlon  Day,  Heman  Averill, 
and  Samuel  Demilt  were  selected  as  the  Committee  on  Primary 
Schools,  to  introduce  the  system  under  the  resolutions  adopted, 
by  organizing  ten  primary  schools.  The  gentlemen  thus  com- 
missioned held  their  first  meeting  on  May  22d,  1832,  and  entered 
with  great  zeal  upon  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  and  a  number 
of  schools  were  soon  put  into  successful  operation.  They  in- 
creased in  number  and  importance  until  about  the  year  1844, 
when  the  questions  arose  between  the  Society  and  the  Board  of 
Education  as  to  the  power  of  the  former  to  erect  new  buildings 
and  acquire  additional  property  for  school  purposes.  At  this 
time  the  Society  had. fifty-six  primary  schools  for  white  children, 
and  five  of  the  same  class  for  colored  children,  in  operation,  in 
which  8,970  pupils  were  instructed.  By  the  law  of  1853,  they 
were  transferred  to  the  Board  of  Education. 


SCHOOLS   FOR   COLORED   CHILDREN.  665 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

SCHOOLS  FOR  COLORED  CHILDREN. 

The  Manumission  Society  Organized — Objects  and  Measures — School  for  Colored  Chil- 
dren Proposed — Committee  Appointed — Report — Funds — Teachers  Employed — 
School  Organized — Purchase  of  a  School  Site — Grant  of  Land  from  Frederick  Jay 
— Legacy  from  Estate  of  John  Murray — Evening  School— The  Lancasterian  Sys- 
tem Adopted — Manumission  Society  Incorporated — Change  of  Location  of  the 
School — Grant  of  Land  in  William  Street  by  the  Corporation — Building  Erected 
— School  in  Mulberry  Street — General  La  Fayette — C.  C.  Andrews — School  No.  3 
— School  No.  4 — School  No.  5— School  No.  6 — Transfer  to  the  Public  School 
Society  Proposed — Proceedings  of  the  Societies — Committees  Appointed — Author- 
ity to  Transfer  Granted  by  the  Legislature — Transfer  Completed — The  Schools 
Reorganized — New  School-House  in  Laurens  Street — School  for  Colored  Monitors 
— Decline  of  Schools  and  the  Causes — Name  Changed — Dissolution  of  the  Manu- 
mission Society. 

ON  the  25th  of  January,  1785,  a  number  of  gentlemen  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  who  had  witnessed  the  sufferings  of'the  col- 
ored population,  and  the  frequent  injustice  done  to  free  persons 
of  color,  organized  "  A  Society  for  Promoting  the  Manumission 
of  Slaves,  and  Protecting  such  of  them  as  have  been  or  may  be 
Liberated."  The  meeting  was  held  at  the  dwelling-house  of 
John  Simmons,  innkeeper. 

The  gentlemen  present  on  that  occasion  were  Robert  Bowne, 
Samuel  Franklin,  John  Murray,  Sr.,  Robert  Troup,  Lawrence 
Embree,  Melanchthon  Smith,  William  Goforth,  Willet  Seaman, 
Elijah  Cock,  Joseph  Lawrence,  William  Keese,  John  Murray, 
Jr.,  Effingham  Embree,  Thomas  Bowne,  Edward  Lawrence, 
James  Cogswell,  William  Shotwell,  Ezekiel  Robins,  and  John 
Keese. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Mr.  Troup,  who  stated 
the  object  of  the  conference,  and  Melanchthon  Smith  was  chosen 
chairman.  A  committee,  consisting  of  Samuel  Franklin,  Law- 
rence Embree,  Robert  Troup,  Melanchthon  Smith,  and  John 
Murray,  Sr.,  was  appointed  to  report  a  draft  of  by-laws  and 


666  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

regulations  for  the  government  of  the  Sdfciety.  The  meeting 
then  adjourned  to  the  4th  of  February. 

At  the  meeting  held  by  adjournment,  a  number  of  other 
gentlemen  were  present,  among  whom  appear  the  names  of  John 
Jay  and  Alexander  Hamilton,  Hon.  John  Jay  being  elected 
chairman. 

The  Committee  on  "  Rules  "  submitted  their  report,  which 
was  discussed,  amended,  and  adopted  as  a  constitution  of  the 
Society.  The  preamble  is  as  follows : 

.  The  benevolent  Creator  and  Father  of  men  having  given  to  them  all  an 
equal  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  property,  no  sovereign  power  on  earth  can 
justly  deprive  them  of  either,  but  in  conformity  to  impartial  government 
and  laws  to  which  they  have  expressly  or  tacitly  consented. 

It  is  our  duty,  therefore,  both  as  free  citizens  and  Christians,  not  only  to 
regard  with  compassion  the  injustice  done  to  those  among  us  who  are  held 
as  slaves,  but  to  endeavor,  by  lawful  ways  and  means,  to  enable  them  to 
share  equally  with  us  in  that  civil  and  religious  liberty  with  which  an  indul- 
gent Providence  has  blessed  these  States  ;  and  to  which  these  our  brethren 
are,  by  nature,  as  much  entitled  as  ourselves. 

The  violent  attempts  lately  made  to  seize  and  export  for  sale  several  free 
negroes  who  were  peaceably  following  their  respective  occupations  In  this 
city,  must  excite  the  indignation  of  every  friend  to  humanity,  and  ought  to 
receive  exemplary  punishment. 

The  hope  of  impunity  is,  too  often,  an  invincible  temptation  to  trans- 
gression ;  and  as  the  helpless  condition  of  the  persons  alluded  to  doubtless 
exposed  them  to  the  outrages  they  experienced,  so  it  is  probable  that  the 
like  circumstances  may  again  expose  them,  and  others,  to  similar  violences. 
Destitute  of  friends  and  of  knowledge,  struggling  with  poverty,  and  accus- 
tomed to  submission,  they  are  under  great  disadvantages  in  asserting  their 
rights. 

These  considerations  induce  us  to  form  ourselves  into  a  society,  to  be 
styled  "  A  Society  for  Promoting  the  Manumission  of  Slaves,  and  Protecting 
such  of  them  as  have  been  or  may  be  Liberated." 

After  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  Alexander  Hamilton, 
Robert  Troup,  and  White  Matlack  were  appointed  a  committee 
to  recommend  a  course  of  proceedings  to  be  pursued  in  the  case 
of  persons  to  be  aided  by  the  Society.  The  meeting  then  ad- 
journed to  the  10th  of  the  same  month,  for  the  purpose  of  effect- 
ing  a  permanent  organization  under  the  rules.  Accordingly,  on 
that  day,  the  members  met,  and  having  balloted  for  officers, 
Hon.  John  Jay  was  elected  president,  Samuel  Franklin,  vice- 
president,  John  Murray,  Jr.,  treasurer,  and  John  Keese,  secre- 


THE   MANUMISSION   SOCIETY.  667 

tary.  The  Standing  Committee  was  composed  of  six  members, 
as  follows :  Melanchthon  Smith,  Lawrence  Embree,  Dr.  James 
Cogswell,  Ezekiel  Kobins,  "William  Goforth,  and  Elijah  Cock. 

The  objects  of  the  Society  were  pursued  with  great  diligence, 
and  it  became  evident  to  the  friends  of  the  colored  race  that,  in 
addition  to  other  means  of  advancing  their  interests  and  elevat- 
ing them  in  their  social  and  moral  condition,  a  school  for  the 
education  of  children  was  essential.  The  Standing  Committee, 
composed  at  that  time  (May  llth,  1786)  of  Jacob  Seaman,  Law- 
rence Embree,  "White  Matlack,  and  Leonard  M.  Cutting,  made 
a  report,  in  which  they  recommended  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee to  report  a  plan  for  establishing  a  free  school  for  negro 
children.  John  Murray,  Jr.,  James  Cogswell,  and  John  Keese, 
were  appointed  as  the  committee. 

At  the  following  meeting,  held  August  10th,  the  committee 
reported  their  plan,  which  provided  for  the  raising  of  money  by 
subscription  or  donation,  the  appointment  of  a  teacher  at  a  sea- 
sonable time,  and  the  selection  and  appointment  of  trustees  by 
the  Society.  The  report  was  laid  on  the  table  until  the  next 
meeting,  held  on  November  9th,  when  the  report  was  amended 
and  adopted,  and  Melanchthon  Smith,  John  Murray,  Jr.,  Mat- 
thew Clarkson,  William  Goforth,  Lawrence  Embree,  William 
Backhouse,  and  Dr.  Cogswell  were  appointed  a  committee  to 
make  collections  for  the  purpose.  On  the  17th  of  May,  1787, 
the  fund  subscribed  amounted  to  about  $5,000,  and  the  committee 
asked  that  they  be  discharged,  and  that  a  new  committee  be  ap- 
pointed. The  request  was  granted,  and  the  new  committee  con- 
sisted of  John  Murray,  Jr.,  William  Backhouse,  Abijah  Ham- 
mond, John  Lawrence,  White  Matlack,  Richard  PJatt,  and 
Ezekiel  Robins. 

At  the  meeting  held  on  August  16th,  the  committee  reported 
that  £801  12s.  had  been  subscribed,  and  urged  the  adoption  of 
immediate  measures  for  the  organization  of  a  school.  The  report 
was  adopted,  and  Rev.  John  Rodgers,  D.D.,  John  Murray,  Jr., 
White  Matlack,  Lawrence  Embree,  William  Backhouse,  Dr. 
James  Cogswell,  and  Ebenezer  Harwood,  were  appointed.  The 
committee  reported  at  the  next  quarterly  meeting,  held  on  No- 
vember 15th,  stating  that  they  had  prepared  an  application  to 
Trinity  Church  for  a  donation  of  a  piece  of  ground  for  the  pur- 
pose of  a  school  for  colored  children,  and  that  they  had  engaged 


668  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

a  schoolmaster  to  take  charge  of  the  school.  This  gentleman, 
the  committee  stated,  had  dismissed  a  school  of  white  children 
in  order  to  take  charge  of  the  proposed  school,  and  under  such 
terms  as  convinced  the  committee  that  "gain  was  not  his  object," 
for  he  would  furnish  a  school-room  and  fuel,  and  teach  the  chil- 
dren for  six  months,  "  for  sixty  pounds."  The  teacher,  Corne- 
lius Davis,  having  been  thus  obtained,  the  next  step  was  to  adopt 
rules  for  the  admission  and  government  of  scholars ;  and,  on  the 
1st  of  November,  a  school  was  opened,  which  numbered  twelve 
pupils  at  the  time  of  the  report.  On  the  recommendation  of  the 
committee,  twelve  trustees  were  appointed  to  have  the  super- 
vision of  the  school  until  the  next  annual  election.  The  Board 
of  Trustees,  at  this  first  organization,  consisted  of  Melanchthon 
Smith,  Lawrence  Embree,  John  Lawrence,  Matthew  Clarkson, 
John  Bleecker,  Thomas  Burling,  Jacob  Seaman,  White  Matlack, 
James  Cogswell,  Willett  Seaman,  Nathaniel  Lawrence,  and  John 
Murray,  Jr.  In  February,  1788,  the  trustees  reported  29  pupils 
in  attendance.  In  November,  there  were  56  on  register. 

In  May,  1791,  a  committee  of  four  members — Messrs.  James 
Cogswell,  Samuel  Franklin,  John  Lawrence,  and  Moses  Rogers — 
was  appointed  to  raise  funds  for  the  building  of  a  school-house. 
At  the  following  meeting  in  November,  the  President  of  the 
Society,  Matthew  Clarkson,  Dr.  Cogswell,  and  William  W. 
Woolsey,  were  named  as  a  committee  to  procure  a  lot  from  the 
corporation  of  Trinity  Church.  The  application  was  replied  to 
negatively,  and  the  only  lot  of  ground  which  would  answer  the 
wishes  of  the  Society,  in  the  rear  of  the  chapel  in  Beekman 
street,  was  fixed  at  so  high  a  price,  and  on  such  terms,  that  the 
Society  could  not  comply  with  them.  The  committee  was  ac- 
cordingly continued ;  the  Committee  on  Subscriptions  was  dis- 
charged, and,  in  February,  1793,  a  new  committee  appointed. 

In  August,  1792,  a  school  for  colored  girls,  taught  by  Mrs. 
Davis,  was  taken  under  the  control  of  the  Society. 

The  difficulty  of  procuring  a 'suitable  piece  of  ground  pre- 
sented an  obstacle  to  the  operations  of  the  school,  and,  at  the 
close  of  1794  (November  18),  a  committee  of  three  was  appoint 
ed  to  take  steps  to  obtain  an  act  of  incorporation  for  the  African 
Free  School,  and  to  apply  to  the  Regents  of  the  University  to 
have  the  institution  recognized  by  that  body.  Noah  Webster, 
Jr.,  Robert  Bowne,  and  William  Johnson  were  named  for  that 


AFRICAN   FREE   SCHOOL.  669 

duty.  The  committee  reported  at  the  following  meeting,  and 
were  discharged.  At  the  annual  meeting  in  February,  1795,  it 
was  resolved  to  apply  to  the  Legislature  for  aid,  and  a  committee 
of  five  was  appointed  to  prepare  and  present  a  petition,  making 
the  wants  of  the  school  known  to  that  body.  The  effort  was 
successful,  an  appropriation  was  made,  and  the  committee  was 
discharged,  on. the  reading  of  their  report,  in  May,  1796. 

In  May,  1794,  Frederick  Jay,  Esq.,  had  presented  the  Soci- 
ety a  lot  of  land  on  Great  George  street,  25  by  100  feet,  for  a 
school-house,  and,  if  deemed  not  desirable  for  that  purpose,  the 
Society  were  authorized  to  sell  it,  and  use  the  proceeds  in  the 
purchase  of  another  site.  The  committee  appointed  in  Novem- 
ber of  the  same  year  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  a  location, 
were  continued  until  February,  1796,  when  they  reported  that, 
in  consequence  of  the  high  prices  at  which  property  was  held, 
they  could  not  make  a  desirable  selection,  and  they  were  dis- 
charged. 

In  November,  1795,  John  Murray,  Jr.,  the  treasurer,  report- 
ed that  he  had  received  a  legacy  of  £200  from  his  father's  estate, 
for  the  use  of  the  African  Free  School,  the  interest  on  that 
amount  to  be  a  perpetual  annuity  for  the  benefit  of  the  school. 

In  April,  1796,  a  special  meeting  of  the  Society  was  held,  on 
the  call  of  the  trustees  of  the  school,  to  hear  a  report  on  its  con- 
dition and  necessities.  The  report  was  discussed,  and  laid  on 
the  table  until  the  regular  meeting  in  May.  The  trustees  re- 
ported that  they  had  selected  a  piece  of  property  in  Cliff  street, 
and  had  taken  steps  to  secure  its  purchase.  The  report  was 
accepted  and  approved,  and  the  trustees  directed  to  proceed  with 
their  plans.  They  were  authorized  to  sell  the  lot  donated  by 
Mr.  Jay,  and  appropriate  the  proceeds  toward  the  purchase  of 
the  property.  A  large  committee  was  appointed  to  obtain  con- 
tributions, viz. :  Thomas  Eddy,  Alexander  Hamilton,  Matthew 
Clarkson,  Peter  Jay  Munro,  Gabriel  Furman,  John  Campbell, 
Samuel  Boyd,  Streatfield  Clarkson,  Noah  "Webster,  William 
Johnsoiv,  Moses  Rogers,  Samuel  Bowne,  Thomas  Franklin,  Wil- 
liam Dunlap,  George  M.  Woolsey,  George  Gosman,  Jacob  Mott, 
John  Murray,  Jr.,  and  Andrew  Cock.  The  trustees  were  also 
directed  to  employ  teachers,  whose  aggregate  salaries  should  not 
exceed  $700.  The  treasurer  was  directed  to  pay  to  the  trustees 
£200  on  the  purchase-money,  and  £100  for  repairs  to  the  premises. 


670  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

In  January,  1797,  the  trustees  reported  that  they  had  em- 
ployed "William  Pirsson  as  teacher,  at  $500  a  year,  and  John 
Teasman  as  assistant,  with  a  salary  of  $120  a  year.  Abigail 
Nicolls,  the  former  female  teacher,  was  also  continued,  with  a 
salary  of  $200  a  year.  The  branches  taught  were  reading,  writ- 
ing, arithmetic,  the  elements  of  geography,  with  sewing,  &c.,  in 
the  girls'  school.  The  school  at  that  time  numbered  122  pupils 
— 63  males  an<J  59  females,  with  an  average  attendance  of 
about  80. 

The  trustees  also  reported  an  evening  school  for  colored 
pupils,  taught  by  the  same  teachers,  having  36  male  and  8 
female  pupils,  averaging  about  35 — the  whole  number  of  pupils 
being  166.  The  improvement  of  the  school  was  such  that,  on 
the  1st  of  May,  1797,  the  salaries  were  increased,  and  Mr.  Pirs- 
son was  paid  $625,  Miss  Nicolls,  $250,  and  Mr.  Teasman,  $200 
a  year. 

In  1797,  the  Corporation  made  a  grant  of  $275  to  the  school, 
and  the  trustees  were  directed  to  make  inquiries  and  take  all 
proper  steps  to  secure  an  apportionment  of  the  public  money 
with  the  other  schools  entitled  to  the  use  of  the  fund. 

The  Corporation  made  a  further  donation,  in  the  following 
year,  of  $250. 

In  1799,  Mr.  Pirsson  was  allowed  to  retire,  and  John  Teas- 
man  conducted  the  school,  at  a  salary  of  $300,  assisted  by  Miss 
ISTicolls,  whose  salary  was  reduced  to  $200.  Want  of  means 
occasioned  this  retrenchment. 

In  May,  1800,  the  Corporation  made  a  donation  of  $517. 

In  1801,  the  Legislature  made  an  apportionment  to  the  school 
which  amounted  to  $1.565.78,  to  be  loaned  on  real  estate,  and 
the  interest  only  used  for  the  schools.  An  annual  report  of  its 
condition  was  required  to  be  made  to  the  Legislature. 

The  progress  of  the  school  during  this  time  was  encouraging 
to  the  friends  of  the  depressed  people  for  whose  benefit  the  Soci- 
ety was  organized,  and  the  various  appropriations  made  by  both 
the  city  and  State  authorities,  afforded  them  very  important  aid 
in  carrying  out  their  plans.  During  the  year  1807,  the  Lancas- 
terian  system  of  instruction  for  poor  children,  which  had  been 
lately  introduced  into  the  school  of  the  "  Free-School  Society," 
was  also  adopted  in  its  modified  form  by  the  trustees  of  the  Afri- 
can Free  School. 


AFRICAN  FREE   SCHOOL.  671 

The  Manumission  Society  had  now  been  in  existence  about 
twenty-three  years,  and  the  importance  of  a  more  perfect  organi- 
zation and  well-defined  legal  rights  induced  its  members  to  apply 
for  an  act  of  incorporation,  which  was  granted,  and  passed  on 
the  19th  of  February,  1808. 

The  premises  occupied  by  the  school  in  Cliff  street  were  not 
as  desirable  as  the  trustees  wished,  and  an  opportunity  for  a 
change  was  presented  at  the  close  of  the  year  1809.  In  the 
month  of  December,  the  large  school-house  on  Tryon  Row, 
erected  by  the  Free-School  Society,  was  finished,  and  opened  on 
the  llth,  with 'public  exercises.  The  school  had  been  previously 
held  in  apartments  in  the  old  Almshouse  building  in  the  Park, 
and  the  trustees  of  the  African  Free  School  applied  for  the  privi- 
lege of  occupying  them.  It  was  granted,  but,  in  consequence 
of  inconveniences  which  arose,  the  school  was  soon  removed  to 
its  former  location  in  Cliff  street.  Not  long  afterward,  in  1811, 
its  apparatus  was  enriched  by  the  addition  of  a  library. 

The  necessity  of  a  better  location  for  the  school  pressed  con- 
stantly on  the  attention  of  the  trustees,  and  they  made  an  ear- 
nest appeal  to  the  Corporation  for  the  donation  of  a  piece  of 
ground  for  the  purpose.  In  1812,  a  site  in  William  street,  near 
Duane,  was  granted  in  answer  to  the  appeal.  There  were  leases 
upon  it,  a  lease  of  one  half  being  for  fourteen  years,  and  the 
other  being  a  life-lease.  The  trustees  recommended  the  purchase 
of  these  leases,  the  sale  of  the  Cliff  street  and  other  property, 
and  the  erection  of  a  new  building  in  William  street.  The  Soci- 
ety accordingly  authorized  the  changes  proposed.  The  Cliff 
street  property  was  sold  for  $5,000,  and  the  lease  for  fourteen 
years  purchased  for  $400.  Before  the  purchaser  took  possession 
of  the  Cliff  street  property,  the  house  was  destroyed  by  fire 
(January  5,  1814),  and  he  refused  to  close  the  purchase  unless 
some  allowance  were  made  by  the  trustees.  They  concluded  not 
to  alter  the  terms,  and  the  sale  was  not  then  made. 

.In  October  of  that  year,  the  trustees  were  directed  to  erect  a 
building,  30  by  60  feet,  on  the  William  street  lots,  and  to  mort- 
gage the  Cliff  street  property  for  a  sufficient  sum  to  pay  for  the 
house,  which  was  not  to  cost  over  $1,800.  The  property  was 
mortgaged  for  $2,500,  which  was  expended  in  paying  for  the, 
erection  of  the  house  and  the  purchase  of  the  lease. 

In  a  few  months  after  opening  the  new  school,  the  room  be- 


672  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

came  so  crowded  with  pupils  that  it  was  found  necessary  to 
engage  a  separate  room  next  to  the  school,  to  accommodate  such 
of  the  females  as  were  to  be  taught  sewing.  This  branch  had 
been  for  some  time  discontinued,  but  it  was  now  resumed  under 
a  well-qualified  young  woman,  Miss  Lucy  Turpen,  whose  amiable 
disposition,  and  faithful  as  well  as  successful  discharge  of  her 
duties,  made  her  greatly  esteemed  both  by  her  pupils  and  by  the 
trustees.  Miss  Turpen,  after  serving  the  board  for  some  time, 
removed  to  Ohio,  and  her  place  was  supplied  by  Miss  Mary 
Lincruin,  who,  with  her  predecessor,  had  been  a  pupil  of  the 
Female  Association  in  this  city,  whose  schools  were  models  of 
the  class.  Miss  Lincrum  was  succeeded  by  Eliza  J.  Cox,  and 
the  latter  by  Mary  Ann  Cox,  under  both 'of  whom  the  female 
department  sustained  its  character  for  order  and  usefulness. 

The  increase  in  numbers  of  the  colored  people,  and  the 
growth  and  expansion  of  the  city,  called  for  the  erection  of  a 
new  house  ;  and  a  location  being  found  in  Mulberry  street,  near 
Grand,  a  building  was  erected,  and  African  School  No.  2  was 
opened  in  May,  1820.  The  building  was  of  brick,  two  stories 
high,  75  by  35  feet,  standing  on  a  lot  of  ground  50  by  100  feet. 

In  the  year  1824,  General  LA  FAYETTE  visited  the  United 
States,  and,  during  his  stay  in  the  city  of  New  York,  he  visited 
the  public  institutions,  and,  among  others,  some  of  the  schools 
of  the  Public  School  Society.  General  La  Fayette  had  been 
elected  an  honorary  member  of  the  Manumission  Society  in  the 
year  1788,  in  company  with  Granville  Sharpe  and  Thomas  Clark- 
son,  of  England,  and  the  members  of  the  Society  could  not  allow 
the  opportunity  to  pass  of  presenting  so  distinguished  a  guest  to 
the  pupils  of  the  school.  Accordingly,  on  the  10th  of  Septem- 
ber, General  La  Fayette,  in  company  with  several  of  the  trustees 
and  officers,  visited  the  school,  and  witnessed  some  of  their  ex- 
ercises, expressing  great  satisfaction  with  the  proceedings.  One 
of  the  pupils  addressed  him  as  follows  : 

GENERAL  LA  FAYETTE  :  In  behalf  of  myself  and  my  fellow-schoolmates, 
may  I  be  permitted  to  express  our  sincere  and  respectful  gratitude  to  you 
for  the  condescension  you  have  manifested  this  day  in  visiting  this  institu- 
tion, which  is  one  of  the  noblest  specimens  of  New  Yor?:  philanthropy. 
Here,  sir,  you  behold  hundreds  of  the  poor  children  of  Africa,  sharing  with 
those  of  a  lighter  hue  in  the  blessings  of  education  ;  and,  while  it  will  be 
our  pleasure  to  remember  the  great  deeds  you  have  done  for  America,  it  will 


SCHOOLS  FOB  COLORED  CHILDREN.  673 

be  our  delight  also  to  cherish  the  memory  of  General  La  Fayette  as  a  friend 
to  African  emancipation,  and  as  a  member  of  this  institution. 

To  which  the  General  replied  briefly, 
I  thank  you,  my  dear  child. 

The  schools  continued  to  prosper  under  the  care  given  to 
them,  and,  in  1829,  the  pupils  in  No.  1  numbered  262,  while 
No.  2  had  a  register  of  452  in  good  attendance.  The  trustees 
of  the  Public  School  Society  at  this  time  were  making  an  ap- 
peal to  the  public  for  an  increased  school-tax,  in  order  to  aiford 
the  means  for  the  necessary  extension  of  the  system  of  public 
instruction.  The  trustees  of  the  African  Free  School  united  in 
the  effort,  which  was  successful,  being  generously  responded  to 
by  the  people,  and  enacted  by  the  Legislature. 

In  January,  1832,  C.  C.  Andrews,  the  teacher  of  No.  2, 
tendered  his  resignation,  to  take  effect  on  the  1st  of  May,  but 
the  time  was  shortened,  and  he  surrendered  his  trust  on  the 
10th  of  April,  to  James  Adams.  Mr.  Andrews  had  been  em- 
ployed as  a  teacher  by  the  Society  for  twenty-three  years,  a  fact 
which  alone  attests  his  faithfulness  and  success.  But  a  prejudice 
against  his  administration  had  arisen  among  the  pupils  and  their 
friends,  and  a  loss  of  attendance,  showing  that  his  influence  was 
much  impaired,  led  the  trustees  very  reluctantly  to  accept  his 
resignation.  Mr.  Andrews  wrote  a  "  History  of  the  African 
Free  School,"  which  was  published  in  1830,  containing  many 
interesting  productions  of  pupils  of  the  school.  Miss  Julia  G. 
Andrews,  his  daughter,  also  teacher  in  the  female  department 
of  No.  2,  resigned  at  the  same  time.  No.  1  had  been  changed 
to  a  girls'  school,  of  which  Caroline  Roe  was  teacher. 

About  the  1st  of  November,  1831,  a  new  schooly  No.  3,  wa& 
opened  in  Nineteenth  street,  near  the  Sixth  avenue,  under  the 
care  of  Benjamin  F.  Hughes.  The  attendance  was  good  for 
some  time,  the  number  of  pupils  being  about  80,  but  it  became 
reduced  by  reason  of  its  inconvenient  location  ;  and  a  difficulty 
having  arisen  in  obtaining  suitable  premises,  owing  to  the  objec- 
tions urged  against  a  colored  school  by  the  people  in  that  vicin- 
ity, the  trustees  chose  a  building  in  Amity  street,  near  the  Sixth 
avenue. 

The  female  department  of  No.  2  was  reorganized  on  the  1st 
of  May,  1832,  as  School  No.  4,  and  placed  under  the  care  of 
43 


674  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

Nancy  II.  Buckingham.  During  the  summer,  No.  5  was  opened 
at  161  Duane  street,  under  the  care  of  Jane  A.  Parker,  and  No. 
6,  at  108  Columbia  street,  under  the  care  of  John  Peterson — 
both  of  them  colored  teachers.  At  this  time  the  number  of 
pupils  in  the  schools  was  as  follows :  No.  1,  144;  No.  2,  272; 
No.  3,  385  ;  No.  4,  298  ;  No.  5,  179  ;  No.  6,  161— total,  1,439. 
At  this  period,  Charles  Reason  was  assistant  in  No.  2,  Eliza  D. 
Richards  in  No.  3,  and  Fanny  Tompkins  in  No.  4.  In  June, 
1833,  School  No.  7  was  opened  at  38  White  street,  under  Levi 
Folsom.  In  September,  No.  3  was  divided,  and  the  female  de- 
partment was  known  as  Female  School  No.  3.  Soon  afterward, 
a  school  was  opened  at  24  Laurens  street,  as  a  branch  of  No  7, 
under  the  care  of  Prince  Leveridge. 

On  the  1st  of  February,  1834,  No.  1  was  organized  as  a  boys' 
school,  James  Adams,  of  No.  2,  resigned,  and  Abel  Libolt  was 
appointed  as  his  successor.  Caroline  Roe,  of  No.  1,  was  trans- 
ferred to  No.  4,  in  place  of  Nancy  H.  Buckingham,  resigned. 

While  these  changes  were  taking  place,  and  the  trustees  were 
adding  to  the  number  of  schools,  a  plan  of  union  with  the  Pub- 
lic School  Society  had  been  agitated,  and  measures  taken  to  con- 
summate it.  The  law  restricted  the  trustees  to  the  payment  of 
teachers'  salaries  in  the  expenditure  of  their  portion  of  the  school 
moneys,  while  the  Public  School  Society  was  authorized  to  use 
its  revenue  for  all  the  purposes  of  the  system.  This  advantage 
was  obvious,  while  another  consideration  was  regarded  as  being 
of  great  importance ;  the  original  object  of  the  Manumission 
Society  had  been  secured — the  slave-trade  had  been  rendered 
illegal,  the  system  of  slavery  had  been  abolished  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  the  only  practical  object  of  its  existence  centered 
in  its  schools.  To  place  these  under  a  more  liberal  patronage 
and  a  better  developed  organization,  seemed  wise  as  a  matter  of 
policy  for  the  Society,  and  beneficent  for  the  children  of  the 
colored  schools. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Public  School 
Society,  held  November  2,  1832,  a  communication  was  received 
from  the  trustees  of  the  African  Free  Schools,  informing  them 
that  they  had  appointed  a  committee  to  confer  with  a  similar 
committee  on  behalf  of  the  Society  in  relation  to  a  transfer  of 
their  schools,  and  requesting  the  appointment  of  such  a  com- 
mittee. Messrs.  Samuel  Deinilt,  George  T.  Trimble,  John  R. 


TEAN8FEK   OF   COLORED    SCHOOLS.  675 

Hurd,  Samuel  F.  Mott,  and  Lindley  Murray  were  accordingly 
named  for  the  conference. 

On  the  14th  of  December  the  committee  reported  progress  ; 
the  report  was  referred  back,  and  Hiram  Ketchum  was  added  to 
the  number. 

The  committee  met  repeatedly,  and,  on  February  1,  1833, 
a  report  was  laid  before  the  trustees,  stating  that  the  proposition 
was  to  transfer  .the  schools  of  the  Manumission  Society  to  the 
Public  School  Society,  on  qondition  that  the  latter  purchase  the 
properties  at  a  fair  valuation.  The  real  estate  consisted  of  a 
house  and  lots  in  Mulberry  street,  near  Grand,  a  house  in  Wil- 
liam street,  near  Duane,  on  ground  held  by  a  perpetual  lease 
from  the  city  for  school  purposes,  and  the  furniture  and  fixtures 
of  the  schools. 

Beside  these  there  were  four  smaller  schools,  kept  in  hired 
apartments.  The  whole  number  of  scholars  on  register  was 
1,400,  with  an  average  attendance  of  fifty  per  cent. 

The  committee,  on  a  full  review  of  the  circumstances, 
although  persuaded  that  a  separate  organization  was  most  expe- 
dient if  it  could  be  maintained  without  a  diversion  of  the  school 
fund  from  its  special  purpose  by  the  Manumission  Society,  recom- 
mended the  transfer.  The  same  committee  was  continued  to  com- 
plete the  arrangements,  William  W.  Fox  being  substituted  for 
John  R.  Hurd,  who  resigned. 

On  the  2d  of  August,  the  committee  reported  that  an  impedi- 
ment had  been  discovered,  by  which  the  Manumission  Society 
was  incapable  of  conferring  a  title  to  its  property  until  an  act  to 
authorize  such  transfer  should  be  passed  by  the  Legislature,  and 
recommending  that  the  measure  be  suspended.  The  report  was 
adopted  by  the  board. 

The  application  of  the  Manumission  Society  was  laid  before 
the  Legislature  at  the  ensuing  session,  and  the  act  was  passed 
authorizing  the  transfer  of  the  real  and  personal  property  to  the 
Public  School  Society.  On  the  2d  of  May,  1834,  the  facts  were 
reported  to  the  board,  and  also  that  the  Common  Council  had 
consented  to  the  transfer  of  the  lease  for  the  William  street 
property.  Copies  of  the  law,  the  resolution  of  the  Common 
Council,  and  of  the  agreement  between  the  two  Societies  were 
submitted  with  the  report.  The  committee  were  directed  to  pro- 
ceed and  complete  the  duty  assigned  them. 


676  THE   PUBLIC   BCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

On  the  1st  of  August,  the  committee  made  a  final  report. 
The  property  had  been  examined  by  appraisers  chosen  by  the 
joint  conference  committees,  and  the  value  fixed  at  $12,130.32, 
which  had  been  paid  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Public  School 
Society. 

The  Mulberry  street  property,  two  lots,  50  by  100  feet,  with 
a  two-story  brick  house  thereon,  35  by  75  feet,  was  valued  at 
$9.500. 

The  William  street  school-house,  one  story  high,  35  by  59 
feet,  $1,000. 

The  fixtures,  apparatus,  cabinets  of  specimens,  books,  &c., 
in  these  houses,  and  in  seven  hired  rooms,  $1,630.22. 

The  transfer  was  not  actually  completed  in  all  its  forms  until 
some  time  in  July,  but  as  it  had  been  determined  in  the  early 
part  of  the  year  by  the  act  of  the  Legislature,  the  schools  were 
deemed  to  be  under  the  care  of  the  Public  School  Society  from 
the  1st  of  May.  The  salaries  of  the  teachers,  and  other  expen- 
ses, were  all  commenced,  on  the  part  of  the  Society,  at  that 
time,  and  the  teachers'  reports  for  the  quarter  made  to  conform 
to  the  transfer. 

The  names  of  the  teachers  then  on  duty  are  as  follows : 

No.  1,  Ransom  F.  Wake,  of  No.  2  (temporary  teacher). 

No.  2,  male,  Abel  Libolt,  teacher ;  Ransom  F.  Wake  and  Charles 
Reason,  assistants. 

No.  2,  female,  Catharine  Roe,  teacher ;  Mary  Roe  and  Maria  M. 
De  Grass,  assistants. 

No.  3,  male,  John  Brown,  teacher. 

No.  3,  female,  Sarah  M.  Douglass. 

No.  4,       "       Eliza  D.  Richards. 

No.  5,       "       Fanny  Tompkins. 

No.  6,  "  John  Peterson,  teacher ;  Rebecca  Peterson,  as- 
sistant. 

No.  7,  "  Levi  Folsom,  teacher ;  Sarah  Freeman,  and  Sarah 
M.  Freeman,  assistants. 

No.  7,  "  (branch)  William  Hamilton,  teacher ;  Elizabeth 
Brady,  assistant. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Manumission  Society,  held  on  January 
13, 1835,  the  trustees  of  the  schools  presented  their  final  report, 
asking  to  be  discharged  from  their  duties.  The  report  was  ac- 


TRANSFER   OF   COLORED   SCHOOLS.  677 

cepted,  and  the  labors  of  the  Society  in  its  educational  depart- 
ment were  terminated. 

At  the  time  of  sale  the  Treasurer  of  the  Manumission  Society 
had  in  his  hands  an  unexpended  balance,  from  the  school  moneys 
of  1833,  of  $1,063.43,  to  which  was  added  the  whole  of  the 
apportionment  for  1834,  amounting  to  $8,241.21,  making  a  total 
of  $9,304.64,  which  was  paid  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Public 
School  Society. 

The  committee  submitted  several  recommendations  in  regard 
to  the  reorganization  of  the  colored  schools.  They  were  to  be 
subject  to  the  same  by-laws,  and  conducted  on  the  same  system 
as  the  other  schools.  No.  2,  in  Mulberry  street,  was  to  take 
rank  as  No.  1,  while  the  original  No.  1,  in  William  street,  was 
to  be  called  Primary  No.  1,  and  the  other  primary  schools  num- 
bered consecutively. 

A  special  committee  was  also  recommended  to  examine  the 
schools,  and  report  on  such  changes  in  the  system  of  conducting 
them  as  might  be  expedient  and  proper. 

The  report  was  adopted  by  the  board.  The  following  gentle- 
men, members  of  the  Manumission  Society,  were  balloted  for 
and  elected  members  of  the  board :  Israel  Corse,  Thomas  Bus- 
sing, Edmund  Willetts,  Henry  Hinsdale,  Charles  Walker,  Ed- 
mund Haviland,  Thomas  L.  Jewett,  William  L.  Stone,  and  Ira 
B.  Underbill.  These  gentlemen,  together  with  Samuel  Wood 
and  Mahlon  Day,  were  appointed  the  section  for  the  colored 
schools. 

Messrs.  Samuel  W.  Seton,  George  T.  Trimble,  Samuel  De- 
milt,  Ira  B.  Underbill,  and  Thomas  Bussing  were  appointed  a 
committee  on  the  course  of  studies  and  examination. 

On  the  first  of  May,  the  number  of  scholars  on  register  was 
1,608,  with  an  average  attendance  the  previous  quarter  of  757. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  the  Committee  on  Examination  and 
Change  of  System  laid  a  report  before  the  board,  recommending 
that  the  school  in  William  street  be  reorganized  as  Primary  No. 
1,  and  placed  under  the  care  of  a  female  teacher,  and  made  to 
conform  to  the  other  primary  schools.  The  report  was  adopted. 

At  the  time  of  the  transfer  there  were  five  primary  schools  ; 
No.  2,  had  been  suspended,  and  No.  1,  in  William  street,  had 
been  known  as  African  School  No.  1.  The  others  were  the  fol- 
lowing :  No.  3,  in  Amity  street ;  No.  4,  at  199  East  Broadway  ; 


678  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

No.  5,  161  Duane  street ;  No.  6,  108  Columbia  street ;  and  No. 
7,  38  White  and  24:  Laurens  streets. 

On  the  6th  of  February,  1835,  the  committee  submitted  a 
long  report  in  which  many  recommendations  were  made,  relating 
to  the  system  of  instruction,  transfer  of  schools,  and  salaries, 
with  other  plans,  all  of  which  were  referred  to  the  Executive 
Committee,  with  power. 

One  of  the  most  important  measures  recommended  was  the 
erection  of  a  new  school-house,  west  of  Broadway,  for  a  large 
school,  to  which  the  pupils  of  No.  7  should  be  transferred. 

On  the  7th  of  August  following,  the  Committee  on  Locations 
reported  the  purchase  of  lots  in  Laurens  street,  near  Broome,  for 
the  new  school-house.  The  price,  $5,250,  had  been  paid  for  the 
property.  At  the  same  meeting,  the  Property  Committee  was 
empowered  to  procure  plans  for  the  building,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  Executive  Committee,  and  erect  the  house  as 
soon  as  possible. 

On  the  5th  of  February,  1836,  a  proposition  for  a  school 
for  colored  monitors  was  made  to  the  board,  which,  with  other 
measures  relative  to  these  schools,  was  referred  to  a  special  com- 
mittee, consisting  of  Samuel  F.  Mott,  Lindley  Murray,  James 
F.  Depeyster,  Joseph  B.  Collins,  and  Robert  Pardow.  These 
gentlemen  were  to  act  in  connection  with  the  section  on  African 
schools. 

One  of  the  most  important  matters  taken  into  consideration 
by  the  committee  was  the  great  decline  in  the  attendance,  and 
the  deterioration  in  the  grade  of  the  schools.  They  were  ac- 
counted for,  in  part,  by  the  fact  that  the  transfer  was  unpopular 
among  the  colored  people,  who  had  always  regarded  the  Manu- 
mission Society  with  a  grateful  esteem,  and  the  members  of 
which  they  had  always  loved  as  their  devoted  friends.  In  addi- 
tion to  this,  the  riots  and  disorders  of  the  year  1834,  by  men 
who  had  been  prompted  by  violent  leaders  to  attack  prominent 
friends  of  the  emancipation  movement,  had  made  the  parents 
very  timid  about  trusting  their  children  at  long  distances  from 
their  homes.  The  course  of  studies  and  books  were  also  novel, 
and  the  children  were  not  easily  trained  to  the  new  discipline. 
Public  meetings  were  held  in  order  to  interest  the  colored  people 
in  their  schools,  and  Prince  Leveridge,  a  colored  agent,  was 
employed  to  visit  the  families  throughout  the  city,  in  order  to 


DISSOLUTION   OF   THE  MANUMISSION   SOCIETY.  679 

press  the  importance  of  education  upon  their  attention  person- 
ally. 

These  impediments  to  the  successful  operation  of  the  schools 
gradually  wore  away,  and  they,  have  since  that  time  been  con- 
ducted with  the  average  success  of  the  white  schools  of  the  same 
grade. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  board,  held  May  4,  1838,  a  petition 
from  the  teachers  of  these  schools  was  presented,  asking  that  the 
name  be  changed.  After  some  discussion  on  the  matter,  the 
petition  was  responded  to  affirmatively,  and  the  title  of  the 
schools  was  changed  to  "  Colored,"  in  place  of  "  African." 

A  proposition  was  made  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  to  open 
one  or  more  new  schools  for  colored  children,  but  a  report  on 
the  proposition,  on  the  1st  of  March,  1839,  determined  the  board 
not  to  entertain  it.  The  Manumission  Society,  by  its  committee, 
offered  to  contribute  $2,500  toward  the  cost  of  a  new  school, 
but  the  board  felt  it  necessary  to  decline  the  liberal  donation. 

Soon  after  this  period  the  Manumission  Society,  feeling  that 
a-new  class  of  agencies,  far  more  extensive  than  their  own,  and 
adapted  to  a  different  and  vastly  larger  population,  had  been 
called  into  existence,  believing  that  its  work  had  been  prac- 
tically accomplished,  adopted  a  resolution  to  terminate  its  exist- 
ence. It  had  nobly  filled  its  place  as  an  agent  in  protecting  the 
helpless,  rescuing  such  as  were  unjustly  held  in  bondage,  restor- 
ing free  persons  to  the  liberty  of  which  they  had  been  deprived 
by  kidnappers,  or  otherwise,  and  in  educating  the  children 
of  the  colored  people  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It  had  also 
witnessed  the  grand  event  of  emancipation  in  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  and  the  institution  wThose  sorrows  and  evils  had 
called  it  into  existence  had  migrated  far  beyond  its  sphere  of 
action.  In  a  consciousness  of  pure  and  exalted  motives,  self- 
sacrificing  and  laborious  action,  and  hallowed  in  the  sacred 
memories  of  lofty  philanthropy  and  Christian  benevolence,  it 
ceased  its  labors,  to  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  noblest  and 
earliest  of  American  institutions  devoted  especially  to  the  cause 
of  humanity  and  freedom. 


680  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


CHAPTER    XX. 
HISTORICAL    NOTES    OF    THE    SCHOOLS. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.    1. 

THE  first  school  of  the  Public  School  Society  was  opened  in 
a  house  in  Bancker  (now  Madison)  street,  on  the  17th  of  May, 
1806,  and  continued  there  until  removed  to  the  Almshouse  build- 
ing in  the  Park.  The  necessity  of  enlarged  accommodations  had 
induced  the  Society  to  apply  to  the  Corporation  for  a  grant,  and 
an  old  building,  known  as  the  Arsenal,  was  accordingly  donated 
for  the  use  of  the  Society.  This,  however,  proved  insufficient, 
and  measures  were  taken  to  secure  the  erection  of  a  commodious 
structure.  The  efforts  of  the  trustees  were  successful,  and,  on 
the  llth  of  December,  1809,  the  building  was  publicly  opened 
with  appropriate  exercises.  The  President  of  the  Society,  De 
Witt  Clinton,  delivered  an  address  on  the  occasion.  William 
Smith,  teacher. 

On  the  18th  of  December,  the  committee  met  to  receive 
applications  for  admission.  A  large  number  of  pupils  offered 
themselves,  and  the  registering  proceeded  rapidly.  On  the  26th 
of  January,  1810,  an  arrangement  having  been  made  with  the 
Fire  Department,  a  committee,  consisting  of  Robert  Wardell, 
Peter  Sharp,  and  John  Caldwell,  attended  to  superintend  the 
admission  of  pupils  from  that  department.  Fifty  pupils  were 
to  be  instructed  in  the  school,  the  tuition  fee  being  $6  each  per 
annum.  Forty-four  were  admitted  on  the  26th,  and  the  remain- 
der on  the  20th  of  January. 

The  school  was  an  object  of  great  interest  not  only  to  citi- 
zens, but  to  strangers,  and  so  frequent  were  their  visits  as  to 
interfere  with  the  operations  of  the  school.  A  regulation  ap- 
pointing Thursday  morning  for  visitors  was  adopted — none  being 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL   NO.    1.  681 

admitted  at  other  hours,  except  by  the  special  request  of  a 
trustee. 

On  the  22d  of  January,  1810,  John  Missing,  afterward  prin- 
cipal of  No.  2,  was  employed  as  an  assistant  in  No.  1.  In  April, 
1810,  Shepherd  Johnston,  afterward  principal  of  No.  3,  was 
employed  as  a  monitor,  together  with  William  McAlpin,  both 
pupils  in  the  school. 

At  the  end  of  a  year  the  school  numbered  550  pupils. 

In  1816,  Lloyd  D.  Windsor  was  appointed  principal,  in  place 
of  William  Smith. 

On  February  2d,  1813,  a  committee  of  twenty-four  ladies, 
of  the  Presbyterian,  Episcopal,  Methodist,  Associate  Reformed, 
and  Reformed  Dutch  Churches,  attended  to  catechise  the  chil- 
dren. On  the  9th,  thirty,  and  on  the  16th,  forty  ladies  attended 
to  give  religious  instruction.  Bishop  Hobart  opened  the  exer- 
cises with  prayer.  One  afternoon  in  the  week  was  devoted  to 
these  religious  services. 

In  1820,  the  managers  of  the  American  Bible  Society  were 
engaged  in  selecting  a  location  suitable  for  their  depository,  and 
it  was  proposed  to  sell  No.  1  for  that  purpose.  A  committee  of 
the  Public  School  Society  was  appointed  to  present  a  memorial 
to  the  Corporation,  asking  that  a  fee-simple  of  the  ground  be 
vested  in  the  Society,  to  enable  it  to  sell  the  property  and  pur- 
chase a  less  public  and  noisy  location.  The  application  was 
referred  to  the  Finance  Committee,  who  reported  adversely,  and 
the  proposition  failed. 

In  1823,  the  Female  Association,  which  had  until  that  time 
sustained  the  girls'  school  in  No.  1,  resolved  to  close  it,  and  the 
trustees  immediately  reorganized  the  female  department,  so  that 
the  girls  in  that  part  of  the  city  should  not  be  deprived  of  in- 
struction. 

In  1824,  the  Corporation  made  an  offer  to  purchase  No.  1, 
but,  after  some  negotiation,  the  project  was  abandoned. 

In  1825,  John  Scudder,  the  proprietor  of  the  American 
Museum,  proposed  to  hire  the  building  on  a  perpetual  lease,  at 
a  rent  of  6  per  cent,  on  $30,000,  and  an  annual  admission  of  the 
pupils  of  the  schools  to  the  museum,  which  failed,  as  the  Cor- 
poration made  a  new  proposition  for  the  property,  and,  in  1826, 
appointed  a  committee  to  obtain  a  release  of  the  ground  to  the 
city  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  Park.  The  trustees  adopted 


682  THE   PUBLIC   6CHOOL   SOCIETY. 

a  preamble  and  resolutions,  setting  forth,  that,  as  the  property 
was  held  for  purposes  of  public  instruction,  the  Society  could 
not  surrender  the  property  without  an  equivalent,  so  that  the 
object  of  the  donors,  by  whose  liberality  the  building  was  erected, 
might  be  secured  in  another  place,  and  calling  for  a  joint  board 
of  live  appraisers  to  make  an  award.  Two  appraisers  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  Common  Council,  and  the  Committee  of  Confer- 
ence were  authorized  to  appoint  two  on  behalf  of  the  Society. 
Asa  Mann  and  Henry  WyckofF,  for  the  Corporation,  and  Peter 
Augustus  Jay  and  E.  W.  King,  for  the  Society,  awarded  $26,500 
as  the  value  of  the  lease.  The  negotiation  was  not  completed. 
In  1831,  a  similar  movement  met  with  a  similar  fate. 

In  1832,  Messrs.  W.  D.  Coit,  J.  H.  Taylor,  and  others, 
formed  an  association  for  the  teaching  of  apprentices,  and  other 
pupils,  and  applied  for  the  use  of  No.  1,  two  evenings  in  the 
week,  for  an  evening  school.  The  Executive  Committee  granted 
the  request,  subject  to  the  decision  of  the  section  of  No.  1,  by 
whom  it  was  deemed  inexpedient  to  grant  the  building  for  the 
purpose. 

In  1833,  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen  appointed  a  Com- 
mittee of  Conference  to  take  measures  to  obtain  absolute  pos- 
session of  the  property.  The  committee  renewed  the  offer  on 
the  terms  of  the  joint  award  previously  made,  but  no  result  was 
reached. 

In  1837,  the  long-vexed  question  was  terminated  by  the  order 
of  the  Common  Council  to  open  Centre  street.  The  commis- 
sioners allowed  the  Society  $22,000  damages,  and  left  part  of 
the  lot  as  the  property  of  the  Society. 

The  building  in  William  street,  formerly  occupied  by  Colored 
School  No.  1,  had  been  appropriated  for  a  court-house,  to  which 
the  pupils  would  have  been  immediately  transferred,  but  for  this 
occupancy.  Until  the  Society  could  regain  possession  of  the 
premises,  the  pupils  were  accommodated  in  other  places.  The 
boys'  school  was  held  in  St.  Phillip's  Church,  in  Centre  street, 
and  the  girls'  school  in  the  Brick  Church  chapel.  A  new  build- 
ing was  erected  in  William  street,  and,  on  October  16,  1838,  the 
pupils  were  transferred  from  their  temporary  quarters  to  the  new 
house.  Appropriate  exercises  were  had,  and  James  I.  Roose- 
velt, Jr.,  and  Samuel  W.  Seton  addressed  the  audience. 

The  teachers  of  No.  1  have  been  as  follows : 


PUBLIC    SCHOOL   NO.    2.  683 

William  Smith,  1806-1816. 

Lloyd  D.  Windsor,  1816-1836,  who  was  removed  from  his 
post  by  death,  August  1. 

William  Belden,  Jr.,  1836-1839. 

Kichard  S.  Jacobson,  1839-1848. 

William  W.  Smith  entered  on  duty  September,  1848,  and 
continued  until  the  transfer  of  the  schools  to  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation, in  1853. 

The  school  was  reorganized  in  1837,  and  a  female  depart- 
ment established,  under  the  care  of  Eliza  Harris. 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL  NO.   2. 

Col.  Henry  Rutgers  having  donated  lots  of  ground  to  the 
"  Free-School  Society,"  and  a  new  school  being  demanded  by 
the  wants  of  the  eastern  portion  of  the  city,  it  was  resolved  to 
erect  a  building  upon  the  lots  so  generously  granted.  A  com- 
mittee was  accordingly  appointed,  consisting  of  Col.  Henry  Rut- 
gers, Thomas  Collins,  and  Garrett  Van  Wagener,  to  superintend 
the  erection  and  opening  of  the  building.  It  was  completed 
during  the  month  of  October,  and  opened  for  the  reception  of 
pupils  on  the  13th  of  November,  1811.  Forty-seven  scholars  of 
both  sexes  were  admitted,  and  the  number  was  increased  in  two 
weeks  to  197,  under  the  care  of  John  Missing,  teacher. 

The  boys  and  girls  occupied  the  same  room,  all  being  under 
the  care  of  one  principal.  But  the  number  increased  so  that  it 
became  desirable  to  separate  the  scholars  into  two  departments. 
The  building  was  two  stories  high,  with  a  basement,  the  school 
being  in  the  upper  story.  The  first  floor  was  occupied  in  part 
as  the  residence  of  the  teacher,  and  in  part  by  one  of  the  schools 
of  the  Female  Association.  It  was  proposed,  in  1821,  to  pro- 
cure other  accommodations  for  the  teacher,  extend  the  school- 
room, and  separate  the  boys  and  the  girls.  The  alterations  were 
made,  and  the  girls'  school  was  opened  on  the  1st  of  November, 
under  the  care  of  Rebecca  Leggett,  at  a  salary  of  $200. 

In  1822,  the  crowded  state  of  the  girls'  school  suggested  an 
exchange  of  apartments — the  boys  being  transferred  to  the  lower 
floor,  and  the  girls  to  the  upper,  which  was  accordingly  done. 


684  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   BOCIETY. 

In  1823,  the  school  of  the  Female  Association  was  removed  from 
the  building,  and  the  partitions  being  taken  down,  the  whole 
floor  was  appropriated  to  the  boys'  school.  Other  alterations 
were  made,  in  1827,  to  make  the  house  better  fitted  for  the  use 
of  the  pupils.  The  following  year  (1828),  in  consequence  of 
widening  Henry  street,  it  became  necessary  to  cut  oft'  about 
eight  feet  from  the  front  of  the  building,  and  to  make  other 
alterations  corresponding  to  the  reduced  size  of  the  house,  all  of 
which  were  promptly  executed,  and  the  school  was  reopened  on 
the  15th  of  September.  It  continued  in  that  condition  until 
1834.  when  it  was  rebuilt,  being  larger  and  more  convenient 
than  its  predecessor,  and  finished  and  furnished  for  a  model 
school.  It  was  opened  on  the  1st  of  November.  The  primary 
department  was  organized  at  that  time. 

The  succession  of  teachers  in  No.  2  was  somewhat  rapid  after 
Mr.  Missing  resigned  his  charge,  in  1822.  He  was  followed  by 
Nathaniel  C.  Hart,  who  vacated  on  the  15th  of  February,  1824, 
to  assume  the  charge  at  the  House  of  Refuge,  surrendering  his 
place  to  Henry  Hart.  He  continued  in  his  position  only  a  few 
months,  when  he  suddenly  resigned,  in  October,  much  to  the 
regret  of  the  trustees.  Jotham  Wilson,  a  monitor  in  No.  5,  and 
Thomas  P.  Okie,  monitor  in  No.  3  (and  subsequently  for  many 
years  the  principal  of  No.  6),  were  placed  in  charge  of  the 
school.  Early  in  1825,  Mr.  Thomas  Macy  entered  upon  duty  as 
teacher.  He  held  the  post  until  1832,  being  followed  by  A.  V. 
Stout,  afterward  President  of  the  Shoe  and  Leather  Bank,  who 
found  another  position  in  1833,  leaving  William  Belden,  Sr.,  in 
Jiis  place.  Henry  Kiddle  succeeded  Mr.  Belden  in  1849,  and 
continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  principalship  until  1856, 
when  he  was  elected  Assistant  City  Superintendant. 

In  the  female  department,  Miss  Eunice  Dean  followed  Miss 
Leggett,  in  1829.  She  was  removed  from  her  labors  during 
vacation  (1831)  by  death,  and  Mrs.  A.  C.  Halleck  succeeded. 
Margaret  L.  Miller,  in  1835  ;  in  1837,  Miss  M.  C.  Megie ;  in 
1838,  Charlotte  L.  Wykes,  who  became  Mrs.  Sam  mis,  in  1841, 
when  Miss  Sarah  A.  Olmsted  took  the  charge  until  1844,  when 
Miss  Martha  Macy  succeeded.  In  1849,  Hannah  G.  Barnes  fol- 
lowed Miss  Macy,  and,  in  1852,  resigned  her  charge  to  Miss  F. 
A.  Westervelt. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  James  B.  Brinsmade  entered  the 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL   NO.    3.  685 

Free  School  Society,  and  became  a  member  of  the  "  section  "  of 
trustees  having  charge  of  No.  2,  in  1826,  and  continued  to  serve 
in  that  capacity  until  1853,  a  period  of  twenty-seven  years,  and 
was  chosen  as  one  of  the  trustees  under  the  act  of  union  with 
the  Board  of  Education,  making  his  whole  term  of  service  until 
his  death  a  period  of  twenty-nine  years. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.   3. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  held  on  March  6, 
1818,  information  was  communicated  that  a  room  in  a  station- 
house,  owned  by  the  Corporation,  at  the  corner  of  Hudson  and 
Christopher  streets,  in  what  was  then  known  as  the  village  of 
Greenwhich,  could  probably  be  obtained  for  school  purposes, 
and  Thomas  C.  Taylor,  Najah  Taylor,  and  John  K.  Murray 
M-ere  appointed  to  make  the  inquiry.  The  committee  reported, 
in  April,  that  they  had  made  an  application  for  the  room,  which 
had  been  granted  for  two  years.  The  same  committee  was  au- 
thorized to  fit  up  the  premises  and  propose  a  teacher.  At  the 
meeting  in  May,  a  school  was  directed  to  be  opened  at  the 
earliest  period  possible,  and  Samuel  Boyd,  Najah  Taylor,  and 
Thomas  C.  Taylor  were  appointed  a  committee  of  No.  3  to 
organize  and  superintend  the  school.  The  school  was  opened 
on  the  25th  of  May,  with  51  children,  the  number  being  in- 
creased to  196  on  the  1st  of  June.  On  the  12th  of  June,  the 
s«hool  was  so  overcrowded  with  pupils,  that  a  special  committee, 
consisting  of  William  Torrey,  Lyman  Spalding,  and  Benjamin 
Marshall,  was  appointed  to  report  on  the  best  measures  to  be 
adopted.  The  committee  recommended  an  application  to  the 
Corporation  for  the  upper  floor  of  the  building,  which  was  ob- 
tained and  fitted  up,  and  87  new  scholars  admitted  up  to  the 
7th  of  August.  •  The  large  number  of  pupils  made  it  necessary 
to  relieve  the  school,  and  it  was  proposed  to  send  such  of  them 
as  resided  below  Spring  street  to  No.  1 ;  but  the  parents  objected 
so  strongly,  that  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  obtain  separate 
accommodations  for  the  girls'  school.  In  1819,  "  The  Eagle 
Factory  "  was  proposed  for  a  temporary  purpose,  and  "William 
Torrey,  Isaac  Collins,  Ezra  Weeks,  Leonard  Bleecker,  and  Oliver 


686  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 

H.  Hicks  wore  appointed  to  report  in  general  on  the  subject. 
The  report  recommended  the  erection  of  a  building  on  the  lots 
owned  by  the  Society,  deeded  by  Trinity  Church,  April,  11, 
1815,  which  report  was  adopted  by  the  board,  but  reconsidered 
at  the  next  meeting,  and  a  committee  appointed  to  confer  with 
the  vestry  of  Trinity  Church  relative  to  the  property,  certain 
conditions  of  the  transfer  being  an  impediment  to  the  plans  of 
the  Society.  In  1820,  the  conference  resulted  in  the  sale  of  the 
property  to  the  Society  unconditionally  for  $1,250. 

In  April,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  obtain  estimates, 
which  were  deemed  too  high,  and,  at  the  following  meeting  of 
the  board,  Stephen  P.  Britton,  Whitehead  Hicks,  and  William 
T.  Slocum  were  appointed  for  a  similar  purpose,  under  instruc- 
tions. The  committee  reported  a  plan,  which  was  adopted,  for 
a  house  45  by  80  feet,  the  whole  expense,  including  fences,  &c., 
not  to  exceed  $6,500.  The  report  was  adopted,  and  "William 
Torrey,  Najah  Taylor,  and  Samuel  Boyd  were  named  as  the 
Building  Committee. 

The  building  was  erected,  and  opened  for  boys  on  the  15th 
of  October.  The  pupils  assembled  in  the  old  rooms  at  9  o'clock, 
369  being  present,  were  transferred  to  the  new  house,  and  were 
all  engaged  at  their  usual  exercises  at  10  o'clock. 

On  the  following  Monday,  the  22d  of  the  month,  the  girls, 
under  Sarah  Field,  the  teacher  selected  for  the  purpose,  were 
transferred  to  their  apartments  in  the  building.  On  the  2d  of 
November,  2T9  female  pupils  were  on  the  register. 

The  work  having  been  completed  within  the  estimates,  and 
only  $217.50  of  extra  work,  the  excess  over  the  appropriation 
amounted  to  only  $109.94. 

In  September,  1821,  a  committee,  consisting  of  William  Tor- 
rey, William  T.  Slocum,  and  Edward  Kirby,  was  appointed  to 
have  the  basement  fitted  up  for  school  purposes. 

On  the  10th  of  September,  1824,  General  La  Fayette  visited 
No.  3,  and  witnessed  the  exercises  in  both  departments.  The 
Mayor,  some  of  the  Aldermen,  and  many  visitors  were  present. 
General  La  Fayette  witnessed  a  review  of  all  the  pupils  of  the 
public  schools  in  the  Park  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day. 
He  was  unanimously  elected  a  member  of  the  Society  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

Shepherd  Johnston  had  the  charge  of  the  school  until  March 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL   NO.    3.  687 

22,  1825,  when  he  left  it,  to  take  the  principalship  of  the  junior 
department  of  the  "  New  York  High  School,"  in  Crosby  street, 
between  Grand  and  Broome. 

Benjamin  F.  Hart  succeeded  Mr.  Johnston,  and  continued  in 
the  position  until  October  18,  1835,  when  lie  resigned.  Dr. 
David  Patterson  assumed  the  charge  of  the  school,  and  remained 
on  duty  through  the  whole  period  of  its  control  by  the  Society, 
and  passed  under  the  supervision  of  the  new  school  officers  at 
the  time  of  its  transfer  to  the  Board  of  Education. 

Miss  Sarah  Field,  in  the  girls'  school,  became  Mrs.  Bowron, 
in  May,  1821,  and  resigned  on  the  15th,  giving  way  to  her  sister, 
Maria  Field,  who  had  charge  until  1825,  when  Miss  Catharine 
R.  Dean  succeeded.  In  1827,  the  school  was  placed  under  the 
care  of  Miss  Frances  M.  Hart,  till  1831,  when  Miss  J.  F. 
McCormick  followed,  and  was  succeeded,  in  1832,  by  Isabella 
McCormick,  who  remained  until  transferred  under  the  new 
system. 

In  November,  1832,  Floyd  Smith  and  others  applied  for 
permission  to  use  No.  3  for  an^ evening  school,  to  be  taught 
gratuitously,  for  the  benefit  of  apprentices  and  others. 

Joseph  Lancaster  visited  the  school  on  the  17th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1838,  and  left  the  following  minute  on  the  visitors'  book  of 
the  boys'  school : 

Ninth  month,  17. — Joseph  Lancaster.  Much  pleased  with  the  order,  obe- 
dience, attention,  and  mental  interest  displayed  in  this  school.  He  can  only 
record  his  general  satisfaction,  being  too  much  exhausted  to  enter  now  into 
particulars ;  but  he  truly  rejoices  in  the  prosperity  which  he  has  seen,  and 
hopes  it  will  go  on  and  increase.  It  is  by  the  perfection  and  example  of  such 
schools  as  this  that  he  hopes  knowledge  and  civilization  will  extend  over 
the  world, 

Far  as  the  ocean  waters  roll, 

Wide  as  the  heavens  are  spread. 

The  entry  in  the  record  of  the  female  school  is  as  follows : 

Ninth  month,  17. — Joseph  Lancaster.  Highly  delighted  with  the  behav- 
ior of  the  excellent  pupils  in  this  school.  The  children  and  youth  in  the 
New  York  schools  may  be  called  the  children  of  attention.  Their  ears  and 
their  hearts  seem  generally,  if  not  universally,  open  to  instruction,  and  they 
eminently  distinguish  themselves  as  good  listeners.  The  pupils  in  this 
school  are  so  in  a  most  remarkable  degree.  I  find  so  much  to  congratulate 
the  public  and  the  friends  of  these  schools  respecting  their  condition,  that 


688  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

I  am  cautious  of  repeating  the  same  expressions  relative  to  "  the  soul's  calm 
sunshine,"  and  the  heartfelt  joy  which  I  have  experienced  in  every  school 
that  I  have  been  in ;  yet,  on  expressing  my  feelings  here,  and  my  satisfac- 
tion in  other  schools,  I  can  truly  say,  the  current  of  hopes  and  the  bright- 
ness of  blessings  in  prospective  from  the  schools,  for  the  people  of  another 
day,  have  flowed  on,  as  the  poet  expresses  himself,  repecting  other  and 
higher  themes,  "  One  tide  of  glory,  one  unclouded  blaze."  I  leave  my  best 
wishes  and  cheering  approbation  for  the  children,  youth,  monitors,  and 
teachers  of  this  school,  and  if  I  could  leave  as  many  blessings  as  good 
wishes,  they  would  be  abundant  indeed. 

Mr.  Johnston,  the  original  teacher  of  this  school,  after  an 
absence  of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  returned  to  visit  the  scene  of 
his  early  labors,  and  left  the  following  minute : 

June  12th,  1851. — With  feelings  of  pleasure  I  enter  this  room  in  which 
I  have  spent  so  many  delightful  days.  Things,  however,  I  found  much 
changed  ;  the  whole  appearance  of  the  room  was  altered  for  the  better,  and, 
by  the  liberality  of  the  present  board,  the  worthy  head  of  this  department 
enjoys  advantages  which  I  never  had  reason  to  suppose  would  be  extended 
to  the  public  schools.  However,  with  all  of  these  advantages,  I  still  remain 
strongly  attached  to  our  old  system. 

8.  JOHNSTON. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.  4. 

In  the  early  part  of  1817,  Adam  Brown,  Noah  Brown,  and 
Peter  Ogilvie  addressed  a  petition  to  the  Society,  and  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  report  the  measures  necessary  to  secure 
the  erection  of  a  new  school-house  in  the  neighborhood  of  what 
was  then  called  "  Manhattan  Island,"  Corlear's  Hook.  Thomas 
Eddy,  James  Palmer,  Henry  Eckford,  Noah  Brown,  and  White- 
head  Hicks  were  named  for  the  purpose.  They  reported  that 
Adam  Brown,  Noah  Brown,  Peter  Ogilvie,  and  Henry  Eckford 
would  give  two  lots,  and  that  another  could  be  purchased  for 
about  $400.  Lots  in  Columbia  street  were  selected,  but  after- 
ward rejected,  and  the  committee  discharged.  In  March,  1818, 
John  Murray,  Thomas  Taylor,  Samuel  Wood,  Whitehead  Hicks, 
and  Leonard  Bleecker  were  appointed  to  select  lots  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  city.  On  the  1st  of  May,  the  committee  re- 
ported the  purchase  of  three  lots  on  the  south  side  of  Kivington 
street,  between  Pitt  and  Eidge  streets,  for  $700  each.  The  report 
was  approved,  and  the  committee  directed  to  close  tho  purchase. 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL   NO.    4.  689 

John  Murray,  Jr.,  John  E.  Murray,  and  Thomas  C.  Taylor  were 
named  as  the  Building  Committee,  to  report  plans  and  estimates. 
The  report  not  being  satisfactory,  John  Pintard  was  added.  In 
September,  the  report  of  the  committee  was  submitted  and 
adopted,  and  the  same  gentlemen  were  continued  for  the  super- 
intendence of  the  new  building.  An  additional  committee  was 
subsequently  appointed  to  solicit  contributions  toward  the  build- 
ing, from  the  residents  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  city.  The 
upper  room  was  finished  for  occupancy,  and  opened  on  the  1st 
of  May,  1819,  with  133  scholars,  under  the  care  of  Charles  Pic- 
ton,  from  England — a  gentleman  sent  by  request  of  the  Society, 
as  one  specially  qualified  to  illustrate  the  Lancasterian  system 
as  there  perfected.  Dr.  Lyman  Spalding,  James  Palmer,  and 
George  T.  Trimble  composed  the  School  Committee.  On  the 
1st  of  June,  200  boys  and  156  girls  had  entered  the  school.  On 
Monday,  August  30th,  1819,  the  girls'  school  was  opened  with 
182  pupils,  under  the  care  of  Mrs.  Picton. 

In  1820,  the  basement  was  finished  and  furnished  for  school 
purposes,  and  occupied  by  the  lower  classes  of  the  boys'  school, 
in  November.  A  bell  was  put  up  in  1821. 

Charles  Picton  resigned,  in  1824,  to  return  to  England,  being 
succeeded  by  E.  Wheaton,  who  remained  only  until  the  follow- 
ing year,  when  he  accepted  an  appointment  in  the  Mechanics' 
School.  In  July,  he  resigned,  to  be  followed  by  Henry  A. 
Caoper. 

On  the  31st  of  October,  1828,  Mr.  Cooper  terminated  his 
services  in  No.  4,  and  Mr.  S.  Hammond  took  the  charge,  which 
he  continued  until  1834,  when  Seneca  Durand  became  principal, 
but  he  was  transferred  to  another  school,  and  was  succeeded  by 
John  Patterson,  who  resigned  on  the  5th  of  May,  1852,  when 
Charles  W.  Feeks  succeeded,  and  remained  on  duty  until  after 
the  transfer  of  the  schools  to  the  Board  of  Education. 

In  1820,  Mrs.  Picton  resigned  her  charge,  and  Eunice  Dean 
was  appointed  to  the  vacancy,  which  she  continued  to  fill  until 
1823,  when  Caroline  B.  Knapp  succeeded,  and  continued  to  dis- 
charge her  duties  until  1836,  when  Mary  Doane  took  charge, 
and  filled  the  position  until  1850.  Catharine  White  succeeded 
her,  under  whose  care  the  school  passed  to  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation. 

44  > 


690  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.   5. 

At  a  meeting  of  tlie  Board  of  Trustees,  held  on  May  11, 
1821,  a  committee,  consisting  of  Leonard  Bleecker  and  Najah 
Taylor,  was  appointed  to  procure  lots  from  Stephen  Van  Rens- 
selaer,  at  some  point  betweqn  Broadway  and  the  Bowery,  and 
below  Bleecker  street.  The  committee  were  unable  to  secure 
the  lots  desired.  On  the  13th  of  March,  1822,  the  Bethel  Bap- 
tist Church  having  taken  measures  to  secure  an  extraordinary 
proportion  of  the  school  moneys,  the  board  deemed  it  advisable 
to  anticipate  the  proposed  school  under  the  care  of  that  church, 
by  appointing  a  new  committee,  and  Isaac  Collins,  Rensselaer 
Havens,  William  T.  Slocum,  John  L.  Bowne,  and  James  Palmer 
were  directed  to  purchase  lots  near  the  Cathedral,  and  procure 
estimates  for  a  building.  On  the  18th  of  the  same  month,  at  a 
special  meeting,  the  committee  reported  the  purchase  of  three 
lots  on  Mott  street,  near  Prince,  for  $2,300,  which  was  approved, 
and  the  proper  authority  given  to  complete  the  conveyance. 

The  committee  were  authorized  to  erect  a  school-house,  at  a 
cost  of  $8,000,  on  these  lots,  Samuel  Boyd  being  added  to  the 
committee.  The  lots  cost  $2,295.94.  Contracts  were  made  with 
Rogers  &  Price,  masons,  and  "Woodruff  &  Thompson,  carpen- 
ters, for  the  work,  and  a  loan  of  $10,000,  secured  by  mortgage 
on  Nos.  4  and  5,  was  authorized  to  pay  for  the  structure.  The 
committee  were  directed  to  act  as  temporary  School  Committee 
for  the  organizing  and  opening  of  the  school,  and  Joseph  Belden 
..was  chosen  teacher  of  the  boys,  and  Mary  Otis  of  the  girls.  The 
building  was  erected  and  completed  at  a  cost  of  $9,591.09,  in- 
cluding the  furniture,  &c.,  making  the  whole  cost,  including  the 
land,  $11,887.03. 

The  school  was  opened  on  the  28th  of  October,  and,  on  the 
1st  of  December,  the  number  of  pupils  was  529 — 328  boys,  and 
201  girls. 

In  September,  1832,  Joseph  Brewster,  John  H.  Smith,  Charles 
Durfee,  and  others  applied  for  the  use  of  No.  5  for  a  free  evening 
school,  on  Friday  evenings,  for  colored  persons,  which  was 
granted. 

In  December,  1832,  Francis  D.  Allen  and  others  made  ap- 
plication for  the  use  of  No.  5,  three  evenings  each  week,  for  a 
free  school  for  apprentices,  &c.,  which  was  granted.  In.  October, 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL   NO.    6.  691 

1833,  the  section  organized  an  evening  school  under  their  own 
care,  the  average  attendance  weekly  being  from  75  to  103. 

In  1826,  at  the  time  of  reorganizing  the  school  system,  and 
the  appointment  of  "  sections  "  of  the  trustees,  the  section  for 
N.  5  consisted  of  Isaac  Collins,  Israel  Dean,  Dennis  McCarthy, 
J.  Smyth  Kogers,  Knowles  Taylor,  and  James  F.  Depeyster. 

Mr.  Joseph  Belden,  the  first  teacher,  filled  his  post  until 
September  16,  1828,  when  he  was  transferred  to  No.  11,  when 
Mr.  John  Tuomy  succeeded,  and  discharged  the  duties  until  lie 
surrendered  the  school  to  Monmouth  B.  Hart,  in  1832.  It  passed, 
in  1836,  into  the  hands  of  Joseph  McKeon,  who  was  afterward 
City  Superintendent,  and  who,  on  his  resignation  as  teacher,  was 
followed,  on  the  2d  of  November,  1846,  by  Michael  J.  O'Don- 
nell.  Mr.  O'Donnell  remained  until  the  transfer. 

At  the  close  of  1823,  Mary  Otis  resigned  her  post,  and  Miss 
Eliza  Covill  succeeded  her  in  the  early  part  of  1824,  but  re- 
mained on  duty  only  a  few  months,  when  Catharine  Dean  took 
charge  of  the  school.  Miss  Dean's  connection  with  the  school 
was  brief,  and,  in  1826,  Miss  Maria  M.  Field  took  her  place. 
She  became  Mrs.  Bowron,  and  remained  till  1834,  when  Sarah 
A.  Olmsted  succeeded  in  the  chair  till  1841,  and  was  followed 
by  Margaret  T.  Henratty,  who  yielded  her  place  to  Eliza  Ann 
Field,  in  1848.  In  1851,  Miss  Henrietta  C.  Shepard  took 
charge,  but  resigned,  the  following  year,  to  Charlotte  A.  Purdy. 

In  March,  1845,  the  Female  Association  surrendered  the 
school  they  conducted  in  the  basement  of  No.  5,  and  a  primary 
department  was  organized,  under  the  care  of  the  section. 

No.  5  was  used  as  the  depository  for  some  years,  until  the 
erection  of  the  Trustees'  Hall,  now  the  Hall  of  the  Board  of 
Education.  It  was  also  used  for  the  normal  school,  until  it  was 
removed  to  the  Trustees'  Hall. 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL  NO.   6. 


From  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  Society,  the 
children  of  the  Almshouse  department  had  been  educated  by 
the  Society,  until  1823,  at  which  time  that  establishment  was 
removed  from  the  City  Hall  Park  to  Bellevue,  the  premises  of 


692  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

which  were  at  the.  time  very  extensive,  but  which  have  eince 
been  much  reduced  by  the  extension  of  streets  to  the  river,  and 
the  erection  of  dwellings  and  other  buildings  on  the  new  high- 
ways. This  transfer  removed  the  children  from  the  care  of  the 
Society,  and  it  became  therefore  a  matter  of  anxiety  to  the  trus- 
tees to  afford  instruction  to  them  in  their  new  locality. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  June  6th,  1823,  a 
proposition  was  submitted  to  make  application  to  the  Corpo- 
ration for  permission  to  establish  a  school  at  "  Bellevue  Hospital " 
for  the  benefit  of  the  children  in  the  Almshouse  department. 
The  proposition  was  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of  Isaac 
Collins  and  Rensselaer  Havens.  The  committee  had  an  inter- 
view with  the  Mayor,  and  other  public  officers,  and  the  plan 
being  regarded  with  approbation,  a  memorial  was  reported  by 
the  committee  for  adoption  by  the  board,  to  be  laid  before  the 
Corporation.  The  recommendation  was  adopted,  and  the  ap- 
plication was  made.  The  Corporation  granted  the  authority, 
and,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society,  the  trustees  were  directed  to 
establish  the  said  school. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  trustees  on  the  12th  of  August,  Isaac 
Collins,  William  T.  Slocum,  John  R.  Hurd,  Lindley  Murray, 
and  Joseph  Grinnell  were  appointed  to  select  a  teacher.  Dr. 
Charles  Belden  was  chosen  for  the  position.  Rooms  were  pre- 
pared and  furnished  with  the  necessary  fixtures  and  apparatus, 
and  the  school  was  opened  on  the  27th  of  October,  with  270 
boys  and  girls,  under  the  temporary  charge  of  Shepherd  Johns- 
ton, of  No.  3,  and  monitors  drafted  from  other  schools. 

In  1826,  when  the  sections  were  organized,  Samuel  Wood, 
Heman  Averill,  Samuel  F.  Mott,  Arthur  Burtis,  and  N.  C. 
Everitt  were  appointed  as  the  first  section  for  No.  6.  There 
were  at  the  time  268  children  in  the  Almshouse,  with  13  pupils 
outside  of  the  institution. 

The  children  were  removed  from  Bellevue  to  the  "  Nursery  " 
at  the  "  Long  Island  Farms,"  in  August,  1842 ;  thence  to  Black- 
well's  Island,  in  April  1847,  and  were  finally  removed  to  Ran- 
dall's Island,  the  present  location,  April  25,  1848. 

In  August,  1825,  Dr.  Belden,  the  principal,  was  removed  by 
death,  and  Albert  De  Montfredy  succeeded.  Francis  Windsor 
took  charge  of  the  school  in  1826.  In  1829,  during  the  sickness 
of  Mr.  Windsor,  his  brother,  Lloyd  D.  Windsor,  had  temporary 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL  NO.    6.  693 

charge,  and  subsequently  William  Guest  supplied  for  Mr.  Wind- 
sor. Thomas  P.  Okie  succeeded  Mr.  Windsor,  May  1,  1831, 
and  continued  in  charge  of  the  school  until  the  transfer  of  the 
system. 

The  boys  and  girls  were  separated  into  two  departments,  in 
1839,  Miss  Jane  Steel  having  had  charge  of  the  primary  school. 
Miss  Anna  Balentine  was  appointed  principal  of  the  primary 
department,  in  1839 ;  she  became  Mrs.  Guest,  in  1840,  and  was 
followed  by  Miss  Susan  Jackson,  who  remained  until  the  close 
of  the  schools  under  the  Society. 

In  July,  1853,  the  .schools  passed  to  the  care  of  the  ward 
school  officers  of  the  Twelfth  Ward.  On  the  17th  of  August, 
the  school  officers  held  a  meeting,  at  which  the  "section "  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Society  were  present  by  invitation.  The  section 
consisted  of  Peter  Cooper,  Joseph  Curtis,  Linus  W.  Stevens, 
and  John  Davenport.  A  consultation  was  had,  the  schools  were 
visited,  addresses  made,  and  the  only  section  of  the  trustees  of 
the  Public  School  Society  which  then  remained  bade  farewell  in 
an  official  manner  to  their  interesting  charge,  and  surrendered 
the  schools  they  had  so  long  cherished  and  sustained  to  the  hands 
of  the  new  guardians. 

By  reference  to  the  minute-book,  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr. 
Lancaster  did  not  omit  this  school  in  his  examination  of  the  sys- 
tem. His  remarks  are  as  follows : 

Tenth  month  [October]  3,  1838. — Joseph  Lancaster  considers  this  school 
to  be  very  much  like  a  wire-drawing  machine,  which  can  draw  out  a  small 
quantity  of  silver  or  other  metal  to  great  fineness  and  amazing  extent. 

If  a  grain  of  gold  be  mixed  with  a  pound  of  silver,  it  is  said  that  the 
sign  of  the  gold  will  be  found  visible,  to  all  the  extent  of  wire-drawn  silver. 

Let  the  wisdom  of  human  knowledge  be  esteemed  as  silver ;  let  the 
knowledge  and  fear  of  God  be  as  gold.  Oh,  may  it  please  the  Giver  of 
every  good  and  perfect  gift  that  the  pure  gold  may  shine  on  all  the  silver  in 
this  school,  and  in  every  other  in  New  York.  The  effect  of  this  (figurative) 
mixture  in  this  school  has  been  very  precious  and  acceptable  to  my  mind. 
When  I  do  die,  I  think  it  will  be  in  more  peace  for  having  seen  the  poor, 
dear  children  of  this  school  so  happily  and  usefully  provided  for  in  regard 
to  order  and  learning. 

Delighted  with  the  school,  and  rendered  truly  happy  by  the  good  harvest 
springing  up  under  the  teacher's  judicious  care.  As  a  father  and  a  friend, 
I  wish  him  and  his  very  interesting  charge  "  Good  speed  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord."  Peace  be  with  all  his  exertions,  prosperity  with  all  his  labors,  and 
the  blessing  of  heaven  with  all  this  family  of  children. 


694  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

I  have  been  accompanied  in  this  visit  by  a  great-grandson,  Charles  Gay- 
lor,  who  seemed  as  much  pleased  as  myself. 

I  am  truly  pleased  to  see  the  lively,  active  attention  and  diligence  of  the 
monitors.  They  appear  to  me  like  the  tools  of  a  superior  -workman,  well 
kept,  clean,  acute,  polished,  and  in  good  condition  for  their  work.  The 
monitors  of  drafts  look  like  men  and  women,  and  do  their  work  in  a  work- 
manlike style.  I  am  richly  rewarded  with  pleasure  and  peace  for  the  time 
given  up  to  visit  this  school,  so  highly  creditable  to  all  concerned,  and  so 
honorable  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  its  humble,  praiseworthy,  benevo- 
lent institutions  and  public  spirit. 

The  following  noteworthy  memorial  is  found  in  the  minute- 
book,  under  date  of  April  12,  1852  : 

Eleven  years  ago  to-day  seven  trustees  assembled  at  the  Brick  Church, 
corner  of  Chatham  and  Nassau  streets,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  this  school, 
then  at  Long  Island  Farms.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  severest  snow- 
storms of  the  season.  It  had  already  fallen  eight  inches.  In  two  carriages 
we  crossed  the  Grand  street  ferry  to  Williamsburgh,  thence  up  East  River, 
crossing  the  toll-bridge  over  Newtown  Creek,  arriving  at  the  school  a  few 
minutes  after  3  p.  M.  We  found  every  thing  in  good  order,  and  had  an  ex- 
amination that  compensated  us  for  all  our  toil  and  expenses. 

We  returned  the  same  route  we  came.  Storm  still  continuing  and  un 
abated.  We  did  not  arrive  at  our  homes  until  quite  dark.  I  allude  to  this 
circumstance  (it  being  its  eleventh  anniversary),  trusting  that  some  who 
come  after  us  will  read  this  and  be  inspired  with  the  zeal  that  impelled  such 
men  as  Samuel  Demilt  and  others  to  pursue  and  persevere  in  a  cause  with 
an  ardor  that  nothing  but  duty  and  public  good  could  have  induced  to  leave 
their  comfortable  firesides  in  such  a  storm  as  prevailed  on  the  12th  of  April, 
1841. 

The  trustees  present  on  the  occassion  alluded  to,  were  Samuel 
Demilt,  Heman  Averill,  Timothy  Hedges,  Frederic  De  Peyster, 
Samuel  W.  Seton,  William  Kockwell,  M.D.,  and  Burritt  Sher- 
wood, M.D. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.   7. 


The  great  controversy,  growing  out  of  the  action  of  the  trus- 
tees of  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church  respecting  the  school  fund, 
heing  terminated,  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  were 
prepared  to  press  forward  with  greater  energy  and  usefulness, 
the  integrity  of  the  common  school  fund  having  been  secured  by 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL   NO.    7.  695 

the  law  of  1825.  At  the  meeting  of  the  trustees,  held  May  6th 
of  that  year,  a  committee  of  five  was  appointed  to  report  on  the 
expediency  of  hiring,  purchasing,  or  erecting  buildings  for  addi- 
tional schools,  and  to  select  locations.  James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr., 
J.  F.  Depeyster,  George  T.  Trimble,  E.  0.  Cornell,  and  Stephen 
Allen  were  chosen  as  the  committee.  A  location  was  selected 
and  reported  upon  in  Anthony  street,  and,  on  the  16th  of  Sep- 
tember, a  location  in  Chrystie  street,  between  Hester  and  Pump 
streets,  the  name  of  the  latter  being  afterward  changed  to  "Walker, 
and  now  known  as  Canal  street.  The  report  was  adopted,  and 
"William  "W.  Fox,  James  Palmer,  and  Isaac  Collins  were  named 
as  the  Building  Committee.  Plans  and  estimates  were  submitted 
at  a  special  meeting,  held  on  the  23d  of  the  same  month,  which 
were  adopted,  and  the  committee  authorized  to  proceed,  Stephen 
Allen  being  added  to  the  committee.  On  the  6th  of  January, 
1826,  Leonard  Bleecker,  George  T.  Trimble,  and  Lindley  Mur- 
ray were  appointed  a  committee  to  select  a  teacher  for  the  new 
school.  On  the  3d  of  February,  Stephen  R.  Kirby  was  reported 
as  the  choice  of  the  committee.  Frances  C.  Coit  was  subse- 
quently appointed  to  take  charge  of  the  female  department. 

On  the  7th  of  April,  the  Building  Committee  reported  that 
the  house  would  be  ready  for  early  occupancy,  and  Najah  Taylor 
and  George  T.  Trimble%  were  assigned  to  take  charge  of  the 
opening  and  organization  of  the  school. 

The  school  was  opened  on  the  1st  of  May,  1826,  with  87 
pupils.  The  house  was  erected  by  J.  &  J.  Bunting,  masons,  for 
$4,500,  and  Isaiah  Macey,  carpenter,  for  $5,886.62.  The  total 
cost,  including  a  few  items  for  extra  work,  was  $10,761.20. 

In  October,  Messrs.  Joseph  Belden  and  Stephen  R.  Kirby 
applied  for  permission  to  use  No.  7  for  an  evening  school,  to  be 
under  their  care.  This  appears  to  be  the  earliest  effort  to  estab- 
lish an  evening  school  under  the  supervision  of  the  Society. 
The  teachers  were  to  receive  compensation  from  the  pupils,  as  a 
private  remuneration ;  but  they  desired  the  use  of  the  school- 
house  OIL  account  of  their  own  relations  to  the  Society,  as  well 
as  the  convenience  of  the  building. 

In  1830,  Andrew  V.  Stout,  who  afterward  became  principal 
of  No.  13,  in  Madison  street,  was  appointed  monitor  general. 
During  a  period  of  temporary  absence  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Kirby, 
he  had  the  charge  of  the  school,  and  the  "  section  "  remark  in 


696  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  minute-book,  "  The  school  has  been  satisfactorily  kept  up 
by  Andrew  V.  Stout,  the  monitor  general  of  the  school."  On 
the  1st  of  February,  he  left  No.  7  to  go  to  a  private  school  as 
teacher.  Thomas  P.  Okie,  then  of  No.  12,  succeeded  him  for  a 
short  time,  when  he  returned  to  his  former  post,  and  Robert  S. 
Mills  took  his  place. 

Mr.  Kirby  resigned,  in  1833,  and  was  succeeded,  on  the  1st 
of  April,  by  William  P.  Lyon,  who  surrendered  his  post  in  May, 
1835,  and,  on  the  llth  of  that  month,  John  W.  Ketchum,  the 
present  Superintendent  of  the  House  of  Refuge,  took  charge  of 
the  school.  Mr.  Lyon  gave  full  satisfaction  to  the  trustees,  but 
he  did  not  like  the  requisition  of  the  extra  service  in  the  evening 
schools,  and  preferred  resigning  his  position  to  a  compulsory  sac- 
rifice of  his  evenings  to  school  duties,  which  conflicted  with  other 
arrangements.  Mr.  Ketchum  remained  in  the  school  until  May, 
1846,  when  he  assumed  the  care  of  the  House  of  Refuge,  and 
William  H.  Reuck  followed,  and  filled  the  post  until  after  the 
transfer  of  the  schools  to  the  Board  of  Education. 

Frances  C.  Coit  resigned  the  charge  of  the  girls'  school,  Sep- 
tember 1,  1836,  and  Mary  A.  Belden  was  appointed  to  the  suc- 
cession. Much  to  the  regret  of  the  Society  and  to  the  friends 
of  the  school,  she  was  compelled  by  ill  health  to  resign  on  the 
20th  of  March,  1839,  and  was  called  to  rest  from  earthly  labors 
on  the  28th  of  the  same  month.  The  following  tribute  to  her 
memory  appears  in  the  annual  report  of  that  year : 

When  the  excellent  of  the  earth  are  removed  from  time  to  eternity,  some 
notice  of  the  fact  seems  due  as  a  record  of  the  feelings  of  those  who  knew 
and  appreciated  the  worth  of  the  departed ;  and  the  trustees  cannot  close 
this  report  without  expressing  the  regret  they  feel  at  the  loss  this  institution 
and  the  public  have  sustained  in  the  recent  decease  of  Mrs.  MARY  ANK  BEL- 
DEN,  late  principal  of  Girls'  School  No.  7.  Her  peculiar  skill  in  governing 
children  with  mildness,  and  her  success  in  communicating  information  to 
them,  were  conspicious  and  gratifying  to  the  trustees  through  the  long 
course  of  years  she  was  in  their  employ.  Early  imbued  with  the  principles 
of  piety,  the  moral  and  religious  influences  exerted  by  her  over  the  three 
hundred  girls  daily  attending  her  school,  cannot  but  have  a  lasting  effect  on 
many  of  their  susceptible  minds ;  and  in  reference  to  the  whole  character 
and  course  of  Mary  Ann  Belden  as  a  public  school  teacher,  the  trustees  may 
say,  "  Many  teachers  have  done  well,  but  thou  excellest  them  all." 

Hannah  N.  Collins  succeeded  Mrs.  Belden,  but  held  the 
position  only  till  1842,  in  the  early  part  of  which  year  she  was 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL   NO.    7.  697 

followed  by  Miss  Sarah  Ann  Bunker,  who  remained  until  the 
schools  were  transferred. 

On  the  7th  of  September,  1837,  N.  P.  Beers  entered  on  duty 
as  assistant  monitor,  and,  by  promotion,  became  principal  of  No. 
15,  in  Fifth  street,  which  position  he  now  holds. 

On  May  6,  1847,  Thomas  Palmer,  first  monitor,  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  First  "Ward  school,  and  Lafayette  Obey,  present 
principal  of  No.  14,  succeeded  him. 

On  the  22d  of  July,  1853,  the  section  of  the  trustees  met 
officially  to  bid  farewell  to  their  charge.  The  gentlemen  present 
were  William  H.  Macy,  John  T.  Adams,  and  George  T.  Trimble. 
They  distributed  sixty-eight  certificates  in  the  boys'  school,  and 
fifty-four  in  the  girls'  school.  Mr.  Trimble  made  the  following 
entry  in  the  minute-book  : 

This  act,  with  some  valedictory  remarks,  closes  the  official  connection 
of  the  section  with  this  school.  The  writer  of  this  minute  having  been 
attached  to  it  since  it  was-  opened,  on  the  1st  of  May,  1826,  and  made  the 
opening  minute  on  that  day.  William  H.  Macy  has  been  in  this  section 
since  1837,  and  John  T.  Adams  since  1840.  The  other  members  for  shorter 
periods.  Some  much  respected  members  of  this  section  only  closed  their 
labors  with  their  lives.  These  recollections,  with  the  reflections  arising 
therefrom,  cause  the  events  of  this  occasion  to  impress  our  minds  with  great 
seriousness,  accompanied  by  the  hope  that  our  labors  have  not  been  in  vain. 

Mr.  Lancaster  visited  this  school  several  times,  and  it  was 
on  his  way  from  No.  7,  which  he  had  just  left,  that  he  met  with 
the  casualty  which  resulted  in  his  death  a  day  or  two  afterward. 
The  following  are  the  memoranda  he  left  on  the  records  of  the 
school : 

Ninth  month,  6.— Joseph  Lancaster  visited  this  school,  and  was  most 
highly  pleased  with  the  exemplary  behavior  and  order  of  the  very  interest- 
ing boys  and  youth  who  assemble  here  for  instruction.  In  this  school  he 
has  found,  felt,  and  seen  abundance  to  delight  a  father's  eye  and  gratify  the 
best  feeling  of  a  father's  heart.  If  ie  is  to  take  youth  like  these  as  a  speci- 
men of  American  native  character,  truly  he  may  congratulate  the  citizens 
of  New  York  and  the  American  nation,  that  they  possess  youth  of  such  high 
hopes  and  favorable  capacity.  May  they  ever  do  the  same  honor  to  their 
teachers  and  parents,  and  the  same  credit  to  these  schools,  and  may  the  love 
and  peace  of  God  dwell  with  them,  and  they  all  become  as  diamonds  of  the 
purest  water,  enclosed  within  the  pearl  of  greatest  price. 

Ninth  month,  6.— Joseph  Lancaster.  The  most  delightful  conduct  and 
mental  attention,  good  behavior  and  wise  deportment  of  the  highly  esti- 


698  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

rnable  children  and  youth  in  this  school,  merit  from  me  a  tribute  of  respect 
which  seems  almost  inexpressible.  I  have  often  been  highly  delighted  and 
gratified  with  schools,  but  never  more  so  than  in  my  visits  to  this  school. 
I  congratulate  their  parents,  friends,  and  teachers  on  the  principles  of  good 
conduct,  the  love  of  learning,  and  also  rectitude  and  virtue  which  I  am  sat- 
isfied are  among  them.  There  now  are  children  and  youth  in  this  school 
who  do  the  highest  credit  to  themselves,  to  their  teachers,  and  to  these  in- 
stitutions that  the  most  excellent  conduct  can  do.  May  they  go  on  and 
increase  and  prosper,  till  heaven  shall  rejoice  and  earth  be  glad  for  them  ; 
till  knowledge  shall  abound  in  perfection  among  them,  and  they  grow  "up 
to  maturity,  like  their  Reedemer,  in  favor  with  God  and  man. 

Ninth  month,  25. — Joseph  Lancaster.  School  much  increased.  We  love 
to  see  bees  in  swarms ;  it  is  a  sure  sign  there  will  be  more  honey.  Found 
the  pupils  as  busy  as  bees  at  their  writing)  with  minds  intent  on  working 
up  as  much  improvement  as  possible. 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL  NO.   8. 

The  Committee  on  Locations  for  new  schools,  appointed  in 
1825,  continued  their  labors,  and,  in  April,  1826,  recommended 
the  purchase  of  lots  in  Grand  street,  between  Laurens  and 
Wooster  streets,  75  by  100  feet.  On  the  19th,  the  committee 
reported  that  the  purchase  had  been  made  for  $5,000,  where- 
upon Isaac  Collins,  George  T.  Trimble,  William  W.  Fox,  and 
Robert  C.  Cornell  were  appointed  to  report  plans  and  estimates 
for  a  building  to  be  erected  thereon.  On  the  29th,  the  report 
was  laid  before  the  board,  adopted,  and  William  W.  Fox,  Isaac 
Collins,  and  James  Palmer  were  constituted  a  Building  Com- 
mittee. On  the  6th  of  October,  Messrs.  Isaac  Collins,  Stephen 
Hasbrouck,  Daniel  Lord,  Eleazar  Lord,  and  Samuel  Boyd  were 
appointed  section  for  No.  8.  The  school  was  opened  on  the  1st 
of  November,  and  during  the  first  quarter  there  were  admitted, 
in  the  boys'  department,  144:  pay, and  159  free  scholars — total, 
303  ;  in  the  girls'  department,  132  pay  and  44  free  scholars — 
total,  176.  The  school  opened  under  the  care  of  C.  B.  Sherman, 
in  the  male,  and  Eunice  Dean,  in  the  female  department. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1827,  the  building  was  considerably 
injured  by  fire,  but  the  repairs  were  promptly  made,  and  the 
school  reopened  on  the  3d  of  May  following. 

Mrs.  Joanna  Bethune,  on  behalf  of  herself  and  other  ladies, 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL  NO.    9.  699 

applied,  in.  May,  1827,  for  the  use  of  the  basement  for  an  "  in- 
fant school,"  under  their  care.  The  application  was  referred  to 
the  Executive  Committee.  The  important  improvements  in  the 
system  growing  out  of  this  effort,  are  detailed  in  the  chapter 
devoted  to  that  subject.  The  "junior  department"  was  organ- 
ized on  June  4th,  by  the  section.  On  the  llth  of  May,  1829, 
the  section  adopted  a  resolution  declaring  it  expedient  to  discon- 
tinue the  "junior  department,"  and  establish  an  "  infant  school." 
The  organization  was  found  to  be  inefficient,  and,  in  December, 
1830,  it  was  changed  into  a  "  primary  school,"  in  compliance 
with  the  new  plans  of  the  board. 

In  May,  1831,  there  were  on  register  236  boys,  270  girls,  and 
239  in  the  primary  department. 

Mr.  C.  B.  Sherman,  the  first  principal,  resigned  in  Septem- 
ber, 1841,  and  was  followed  by  Charles  S.  Pell,'  who  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Cornelius  A.  Cooper,  on  the  1st  of  March,  1852,  who 
remained  in  the  school  and  passed  with  it  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Board  of  Education. 

Eunice  Dean,  the  first  teacher  of  the  girls'  school,  remained 
until  1830,  when  she  was  followed  by  Elizabeth  Dean,  who  re- 
mained untill  1833,  when  Elizabeth  Winans  took  the  charge  of 
the  school.  In  1834,  Miss  Harriet  Bartine  was  appointed  to  the 
vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  Miss  Winans,  and  con- 
tinued in  her  position  until  the  transfer  of  the  school  to  the  ward 
officers. 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL  NO.   9 


This  school  was  organized  by  the  vestry  of.  St.  Michael's 
Church  (Episcopal),  at  Bloomingdale,  and  was  continued  under 
their  care  until  the  enactment  of  the  law  excluding  church 
schools  from  participating  in  the  school  fund,  passed  November, 
19,  1824,  when  it  was  about  to  be  abandoned- for  want  of  suffi- 
cient income.  At  the  solicitation  of  the  rector,  Rev.  William 
Richmond,  the  situation  of  the  school  was  laid  before  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Society,  by  James  F.  Depeyster  and  Stephen 
Allen,  on  May  5,  1826,  and  a  committee  was  appointed,  consist- 
ing of  Stephen  Allen,  James  F.  Depeyster,  and  George  T.  Trim- 


700  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

ble,  to  examine  and  report  on  the  expediency  of  establishing 
schools  in  the  Twelfth  Ward.  The  committee  reported,  at,  the 
meeting  on  the  12th  of  the  same  month,  that  they  found  48  chil- 
dren in  school  (22  boys  and  26  girls),  who  were  taught  by  Mr. 
Thomas  C.  Richmond,  son  of  the  rector,  who  had  volunteered 
his  services  gratuitously  since  the  withdrawal  of  the  school  fund. 
The  committee  recommended  the  employment  of  a  teacher  for 
not  more  than  six  months,  at  a  salary  of  $30  a  month,  and  the 
adoption  of  the  school  as  one  of  the  charges  of  the  Public  School 
Society.  Jotharn  "Wilson  was  appointed  teacher,  and  entered  on 
duty  on  the  22d  of  May.  Stephen  Allen  and  James  F.  Depeys- 
ter  were  appointed  section  for  No.  9. 

The  negotiations  relative  to  the  other  schools  in  the  ward 
never  resulted  in  any  change  or  transfer,  and  the  action  in  the 
case  is  not  important  to  the  reader. 

In  July,  1827,  the  committee  were  directed  to  ascertain 
whether  a  donation  of  land  for  a  school  site  could  be  obtained ; 
and  if  not,  to  purchase  a  suitable  location  at  a  cost  of  not  over 
$500,  and  the  Building  Committee  were  directed  to  erect  thereon 
a  house  not  to  cost  more  than  $2.600.  A  plot  of  ground,  100 
feet  square,  was  purchased  for  $250,  on  Eighty-second  street, 
between  Tenth  and  Eleventh  avenues.  A  difficulty  arising,  the 
Building  Committee  did  not  immediately  proceed  with  their 
work,  and  new  apartments  were  hired,  which  afforded  better  ac- 
commodations, until  the  impediments  were  removed.  In  1830, 
a  committee  on  the  state  of  No.  9  recommended  the  erection  of 
the  school-house,  and  the  Building  Committee  were  directed  to 
proceed  and  put  up  a  house  not  to  cost  more  than  $1,500.  The 
instructions  were  obeyed,  and  the  house  was  finished  and  occu- 
pied on  the  19th  of  July. 

On  the  19th  of  March,  1830,  Dr.  Abraham  V.  Williams  was 
elected  a  trustee  of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  being  a  resi- 
dent of  Bloorningdale,  he  was  able  to  give  the  personal  super- 
vision required,  and  which  the  other  members  of  the  section 
could  not  give.  Dr.  Williams  was  immediately  placed  on  the 
section  of  No.  9.  Robert  Sedgwick  was  also  soon  afterward 
added  to  the  section,  so  that  it  consisted  of  Messrs.  Allen,  De- 
peyster,  Williams,  and  Sedgwick. 

Mr.  Wilson  resigned  his  post  as  teacher  on  the  1st  of  May, 
1832,  and  was  succeeded  by  Seneca  Durand.  On  February  5, 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL   NO.    10.  701 

1833,  the  school  had  increased  to  69,  and  Dr.  Williams,  in  his 
minute  made  that  day,  remarks  the  pleasing  and  unusual  cir- 
cumstance that  every  scholar  on  the  register  was  in  attendance. 

In  June,  1834,  Mr.  Durand  was  transferred  to  No.  4,  and 
succeeded  by  Mr.  J.  P.  Hoyt  on  the  24th  of  that  month.  He 
remained  in  charge  until  August,  1844,  when  Benjamin  G.  Bruce, 
who  had  been  his  assistant  for  several  years,  was  promoted  to 
the  post  of  principal. 

In  1850,  the  female  department  was  organized,  and  Miss 
Mary  Kelly,  who  had  been  assistant  in  the  school,  was  appointed 
principal. 

Under  the  care  of  Mr.  Bruce  and  Miss  Kelly,  the  school 
passed  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Board  of  Education,  July,  1853. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.   10. 

The  Committee  on  NeV  Schools,  appointed  May  6,  1825,  con- 
sisted of  James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  James  F.  Depeyster,  George 
T.  Trimble,  E.  C.  Cornell,  and  Stephen  Allen.  Previous  to 
making  the  report  in  favor  of  'No.  7,  in  Chrystie  street,  they  had 
selected  a  location  in  Anthony  street,  but  the  negotiations  were 
of  a  protracted  nature.  In  September,  1826,  the  same  recom- 
mendation was  repeated,  and  a  conditional  resolution,  authoriz- 
ing the  erection  of  a  house,  was  adopted.  In  November  follow- 
ing, a  location  in  Church  street,  between  Duane  and  Thomas 
streets,  was  suggested  and  approved.  In  January,  1827,  the 
committee  reported  that  they  had  not  been  able  to  obtain  the 
lots,  but  that  three  lots  in  Duane  street,  75  by  100  feet,  could  be 
purchased  for  a  site  for  the  new  school.  The  committee  were 
authorized  to  make  the  purchase,  the  price  being  $8,300,  and  a 
right  of  dower  of  $50  per  annum.  The  Building  Committee  was 
directed  to  make  contracts  for  the  erection  of  a  house  on  the  lots, 
similar  to  No.  8,  with  such  improvements  as  might  be  deemed 
expedient.  The  contracts  were  made  with  J.  &  J.  Bunting,  ma- 
sons, and  Israel  Macy,  carpenter,  the  whole  cost,  including  fix- 
tures, &c.,  being  $12,488.50.  On  the  13th  of  October,  Benjamin 
L.  Swan,  J.  Groshon,  Thomas  E.  Mercein,  and  J.  H.  Taylor 
were  appointed  as  the  school  section  ;  and  on  the  1st  of  Novem- 


702  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

ber,  1827,  Ko.  10  was  opened  for  the  reception  of  pupils,  under 
the  care  of  Albert  De  Montfredy,  in  the  boys'  department,  and 
Eliza  J.  Cox,  in  the  girls'  department. 

In  1832,  Messrs.  W.  D.  Coit,  J.  H.  Taylor,  and  others  ap- 
plied for  the  use  of  ~No.  10  two  evenings  a  week,  for  a  free  even- 
ing school  for  apprentices  and  others.  The  application  was 
referred  to  the  section,  with  power. 

In  1853,  the  debts  of  the  Society  being  considerable  in 
amount,  and  a  large  school  under  the  care  of  the  ward  officers 
having  been  erected  in  the  neighborhood,  the  Board  of  Trustees 
were  induced  to  consider  the  expediency  of  selling  No.  10.  This 
was  rendered  the  more  advisable  in  consequence  of  the  change 
that  had  taken  place  in  the  vicinity,  many  of  the  dwellings  hav- 
ing given  place  to  business  establishments  of  various  kinds,  and 
the  resident  population  removed  to  other  portions  of  the  city. 

At  this  time,  the  bill  for  the  union  of  the  two  systems  of 
education — the  Public  School  Society  and  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion— was  pending  in  the  Legislature,  and,  after  a  full  discussion, 
it  was  deemed  necessary  to  sell  the  property.  The  Board  of 
Education  had  failed  to  appropriate  all  that  the  Society  required, 
^and  tUe  floating  debt  was  on  the  increase,  and  the  ultimate  ex- 
tinction of  the  Society  was  a  matter  of  discussion  and  anticipa- 
tion. The  Finance  Committee  were  therefore  to  take  steps 
toward  the  sale,  provided  the  bill  did  not  become  a  law.  If  the 
bill  passed,  and  received  the  Executive  signature,  the  property 
would  be  transferred  to  the  Board  of  Education.  The  bill  failed 
of  its  final  reading,  and  the  committee  sold  the  premises  to 
Thomas.  Hope  for  $39,900,  on  the  31st  of  May,  at  auction.  At 
an  extra  session  of  the  Legislature,  held  a  few  weeks  after  the 
sale,  the  school  bill  became  a  law,  but  too  late  to  reverse  the 
sale.  • 

Teachers :  Mr.  Albert  De  Montfredy  conducted  the  school 
until  1836,  when  K.  "W.  Starr  succeeded  him  ;  and,  in  1852, 
Charles  B.  Stout  became  principal,  under  whom  the  school  was 
transferred  to  the  Board  of  Education. 

Miss  Eliza  J.  Cox  remained  in  the  girls'  department  until 
183i.  She  was  succeeded  by  Harriet  E.  Phelps  ;  and  the  teach- 
ers of  this  school  successively  were  Angeline  Slater,  1837 ; 
Maria  G.  Balsh,  1838  ;'  and  Maria  F.  Savage,  1851. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.    11.  703 

PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.   11.* 

The  Committee  on  New  Schools  recommended,  on  the  8th  of 
September,  1826,  in  connection  with  No.  10,  the  purchase  of  lots 
in  Wooster  street,  between  Houston  and  Bleecker  streets.  The 
recommendation  was  adopted,  and  the  lots  purchased. 

On  the  1st  of  June,  1827,  the  Building  Committee  was  in 
structed  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  house  similar  to  No.  10,  on 
these  lots.  At  the  meeting  on  the  6th  of  July,  the  committee 
reported  the  work  commenced.  Contracts  were  made  with  the 
builders  of  No.  10,  and  the  house  completed  and  occupied  on  the 
15th  of  September,  1828.  The  total  cost  of  the  house  and  ap- 
pointments was  $12,400. 

On  the  1st  of  August,  Eobert  C.  Cornell,  Eensselaer  Havens, 
and  George  T.  Trimble  were  appointed  a  temporary  section  for 
No.  11.  The  school  was  organized  under  the  care  of  Joseph 
Belden,  of  No.  5,  with  40  boys,  and  31  girls  in  charge  of  Mary 
Shourt.  On  the  1st  of  November,  the  number  had  increased  to 
82  boys  and  92  girls,  all  "  pay  scholars." 

Mr.  Belden  died  on  September  12,  1834,  and  William  H. 
Brownne  became  principal,  and  remained  in  his  post  until  his 
death,  March  31,  1844,  when  Michael  J.  O'Donnell  succeeded. 
During  the  early  part  of  1847,  Mr.  O'Donnell  was  transferred 
to  No.  5,  and  George  Moore  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
He  served  during  the  remaining  period  of  the  existence  of  the 
Society. 

Miss  Shourt,  in  the  girls'  school,  was  succeeded,  in  1833,  by 
Caroline  Carpenter,  who  resigned  in  1840,  when  Sophia  Carpen- 
ter temporarily  filled  the  position,  giving  way,  in  a  few  months, 
to  Anna  M.  Bussell.  Miss  Bussell  was  followed,  in  1843,  by 
Sarah  Field,  who  had  long  been  an  assistant  in  the  school,  and 
who  was  on  duty  until  the  Society  and  its  schools  were  merged 
into  the  ward  school  system. 

The  primary  department  was  organized  in  the  early  part  of 
1832. 

The  following  entry,  by  Hon.  J.  S.  Buckingham,  is  on  the 
minute-book : 

Friday,  December  8,  1837.— I  have  had  the  pleasure  to  visit,  to-day,  in 

*  Subsequent  to  the  sale  of  No.  10,  the  numbers  of  the  schools  were  altered— 
No.  11  became  No.  10.     No.  18  (the  last)  became  No.  17. 


704:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

company  with  my  friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mott,  the  Public  School  No.  11, 
and,  after  examining  the  four  departments  of  the  male  and  female  infant 
classes,  and  the  two  mor»4idvanced,  my  gratification  has  been  of  the  high- 
est kind.  The  accuracy  of  reading  and  the  knowledge  of  geography  were 
peculiarly  striking,  as  evinced  in  both  boys  and  girls,  and  in  an  equal  degree 
of  perfection  with  each.  The  specimens  of  writing  were  such  as  surpassed 
any  thing  I  have  ever  before  seen  of  the  kind ;  and,  on  the  whole,  I  think 
the  schools  highly  creditable  to  both  pupils  and  teachers,  an  honor  to  the 
city,  and  a  blessing  to  the  nation.  J.  S.  BUCKINGHAM. 

A  deputation  of  clergymen  from  England  to  the  United 
States,  on  a  special  mission,  also  visited  the  school,  and  left  the 
following  note  in  the  minute-book  : 

April  16,   1834. — Revs.  Reed  and  Mattheson,  from  England.      Much 
gratified  with  the  examination. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.    12. 

On  the  5th  of  February,  1830,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  a  communication  was  received  from  a  committee  ap- 
pointed at  a  meeting  of  citizens  residing  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Eighth  avenue  and  Twenty-first  street,  representing  the  demand 
for  a  school  in  that  section  of  the  city.  In  connection  with  the 
communication,  a  letter  was  read  from  Gideon  Lee,  Esq.,  Alder- 
man, and  afterward  Mayor,  urging  the  application,  and  pledging 
a  contribution  of  $500  toward  building  the  house.  He  also 
recommended  the  erection  of  a  school  in  the  vicinity  of  Third 
avenue  and  Twenty-eighth  street,  endorsing  his  proposition  with 
a  subscription  of  $500  when  it  should  be  built.  The  whole 
subject  was  referred  to  Messrs.  Charles  Oakley,  Ovid  P.  Wells, 
R.  C.  Cornell,  and  Samuel  F.  Mott.  On  the  17th  of  March, 
the  committee  reported  in  favor  of  locating  a  school  in  that 
vicinity,  and  also  a  new  school  between  Nos.  2  and  4,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  city.  The  report  was  accepted,  and  the  recommen- 
dations recommitted,  with  the  addition  of  Messrs.  Underbill, 
Fox,  and  Brinsmade  to  the  committee.  On  the  25th  of  June, 
the 'committee  was  discharged,  and  Messrs.  Oakley,  Cornell,  and 
Mott  were  appointed  as  the  committee.  A  report  was  submitted 
by  these  gentlemen  at  the  same  meeting  in  favor  of  a  location  in 
or  near  Seventeenth  or  Eighteenth  street  and  the  Eighth  ave- 


PUBLIC    SCHOOL    NO.    12.  705 

nue.  A  subsequent  recommendation,  on  the  19th  of  July,  of 
four  lots  on  Seventeenth  street,  at  $675  each,  was  approved  by 
the  board,  and  the  purchase  was  ordered.  The  Property  Com- 
mittee was  directed  to  report  plans  and  estimates  for  a  building. 
A  donation  of  $200  was  made  by  George  Rapelye,  Esq.,  on  the 
price  of  the  lots.  The  plans  and  estimates  were  submitted  on 
the  28th  of  July,  and  the  committee  authorized  to  contract  for 
the  building.  The  contracts  were  made  with  J.  &  J.  Bunting, 
masons,  and  James  Russell,  carpenter,  and  the  house  built  and 
furnished  with  books,  apparatus,  &c.,  as  in  the  case  of  other 
houses,  at  a  total  cost  of  $10,878.85.  The  school  was  opened 
-with  appropriate  exercises  on  the  17th  of  January,  1831,  in  pres- 
ence of  a  number  of  members  of  the  Common  Council  and  other 
citizens,  and  daily  sessions  were  held  in  it  until  the  22d,  when  it 
was  destroyed  by  fire.  An  insurance  had  been  effected  on  the 
building  and  its  fixtures,  &c.,  so  that  the  loss  to  the  Society  was 
only  about  $3,000.  On  the  4th  of  February,  the  Building  Com- 
mittee reported  the  completion  of  their  duties,  together  with  the 
fact  of  the  fire,  and  recommended  the  immediate  rebuilding  of 
the  house.  The  board  approved  the  report,  and  temporary  ac- 
commodations were  provided  for  the  schools.  Jacob  P.  Bunt- 
ing, mason,  and  James  Russell,  carpenter,  rebuilt  the  house, 
which  was  completed  and  opened  on  the  29th  of  August  follow- 
ing. 

Mr.  George  Everett,  the  first  principal,  resigned  in  1834,  and 
was  followed  by  Benjamin  Wightman,  who  resigned  November 
1,  1841,  Asa  Smith  being  his  successor,  assisted  by  William  H. 
Reuck,  afterward  principal  of  No.  7,  in  Chrystie  street.  Mr. 
Smith  had  been  in  the  school  several  years  as  an  assistant,  and 
held  his  post  until  the  dissolution  of  the  Society. 

Miss  Fanny  F.  Greenoak,  principal  of  the  girls'  school,  was 
succeeded,  in  1836,  by  Elizabeth  Lindon,  who  resigned  in  1849, 
at  which  time  Miss  Susan  Wright  took  the  charge  of  the  school, 
in  whose  hands  it  was  transferred  to  the  Board  of  Education,  in 
1853. 

The  primary  department  was  organized  July  2,  1832,  under 
the  care  of  Caroline  Carpenter. 
45 


706  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.    13. 

The  Committee  on  Locations  (1830)  recommended  one  on  the 
east  side  of  the  city,  between  No.  2,  in  Henry  street,  and  No.  4, 
in  Rivington  street.  No  further  action  was  had  at  that  time ; 
but  in  1832,  at  the  meeting  of  the  trustees  held  on  June  8,  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  review  the  question,  and  Messrs. 
James  Heard,  Swan,  Oakley,  Mott,  Fox,  and  Cornell  were 
named  for  that  duty.  In  November,  the  committee  reported  the 
purchase  of  a  location  in  Madison  street,  at  the  cost  of  $8,000 
for  four  lots  of  ground.  The  Property  Committee  also  reported 
that  contracts  had  been  made  for  the  building.  In  May,  1833, 
Dr.  Samuel  K.  Childs,  W.  "W.  Chester,  and  S.  Haff  were  ap- 
pointed section  for  No.  13,  which  was  opened  on  the  21st  of  that 
month.  The  school  was  organized  with  143  boys,  58  girls,  and 
156  boys  and  girls*  in  the  primary  department.  At  the  public 
exercises  in  the  afternoon,  Hon.  Gideon  Lee,  the  Mayor,  a  portion 
of  the  Common  Council,  the  School  Commissioners,  a  portion  of 
the  trustees,  and  many  visitors,  were  present.  The  attendance 
rapidly  increased,  so  that,  when  the  school  closed  for  vacation, 
there  were  on  register  275  boys  and  204  girls. 

The  school  was  placed  under  the  care  of  Andrew  Y.  Stout, 
who  resigned  on  the  1st  of  May,  1844,  when  John  H.  Fanning 
entered  upon  duty,  and  filled  the  post  until  transferred  to  the 
ward  school  officers. 

Miss  Martha  Grier  was  the  first  principal  of  the  girls'  school, 
and  was  followed  by  Miss  Sophia  S.  Cornell,  hi  1836,  who  re- 
signed in  1844,  and  Mary  E.  Vail  assumed  the  post.  In  1846, 
Miss  A.  Harrison  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned 
by  the  withdrawal  of  Miss  Vail,  and  Mary  F.  English  followed 
Miss  Harrison,  in  1848.  In  1851,  Anna  M.  Marsh  entered  upon 
duty,  and  in  her  charge  the  school  was  transferred  to  its  new 
guardians,  July  29,  1853. 

Miss  Catharine  King  was  the  first  teacher  of  the  primary  de- 
partment. 


PUBLIC    SCHOOL   NO.    14:.  707 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.   14. 

The  Committee  on  Lots  and  Locations,  appointed  June  8, 
1832,  reported,  on  the  14th  of  December,  that  they  had  pur- 
chased four  lots  of  ground  in  North  (now  Houston)  street,  near 
Norfolk,  for  $6,000.  On  the  1st  of  February,  1833,  the  Prop- 
erty Committee  reported  that  contracts  had  been  made  for  u 
building.  On  November  1,  Messrs.  Brinsmade,  B.  S.  Collins, 
and  Timothy  Hedges  were  appointed  a  temporary  section  for 
No.  14r.  The  building  was  opened  on  November  4,  1833,  with 
appropriate  exercises.  A  large  number  of  citizens  were  present, 
and  addresses  were  made  by  Hon.  Peter  Augustus  Jay,  and  His 
Honor  Gideon  Lee,  Mayor,  and  others.  On  the  8th  of  Novem- 
ber, the  pupils  numbered,  boys,  180 ;  girls,  125 ;  primary  depart- 
ment, 168  ;  the  attendance  on.  tha.t  day  being  171  boys,  96  girls, 
and  64  boys  and  76  girls  in  the  primary  school. 

Dr.  Samuel  L.  Kennedy,  Hiram  N.  Peck,  Matthias  O.  Hal- 
sted,  William  Beach  Lawrence,  and  Thomas  McElrath  were 
appointed  permanent  section  for  No.  14.  At  the  annual  meet- 
ing in  May,  1835,  Mr.  Lawrence  was  transferred  to  another  sec- 
tion, and  Hamilton  Fish,  afterward  Governor  of  the  State  and 
United  States  Senator,  was  placed  on  the  section  to  fill  the 
vacancy. 

Mr.  Auson  Willis  was  the  first  principal  of  the  boys'  depart- 
ment. He  filled  the  post  two  years,  until  1835,  when  Leonard 
Hazeltine  succeeded,  and  continued  in  charge  until  the  schools 
passed  to  the  care  of  the  Board  of  Education. 

Miss  C.  Wynans  was  appointed  to  the  girls'  department  at 
the  organization  of  the  school,  and  discharged  her  duties  until 
1837,  when  she  was  followed  by  Mrs.  J.  M.  Wheaton.  This  lady 
died  in  January,  1841,  and  Sarah  A.  Bunker  succeeded  for  a  few 
months,  when,  in  July  of  the  same  year,  Miss  Jane  W.  Miller 
was  placed  in  the  chair.  In  1845,  Miss  Miller  resigned,  to  take 
charge  of  Ward  School  No.  45,  in  Twenty-fourth  street,  and 
Miss  Georgian  a  Watson  became  principal.  The  school  was  in 
her  charge  at  the  time  of  the  transfer  to  the  ward  school  officers. 

The  primary  department  was  organized  under  the  care  of 
Miss  A.  Hanks. 


708  THE  PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.    15. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  held  September  24, 
1833,  a  memorial  was  presented  from  about  forty  residents  of 
that  part  of  the  city  near  the  Third  avenue  and  between  Four- 
teenth and  Twenty-eighth  streets,  asking  for  a  school  in  that  dis- 
trict. This  was  the  location  which  Hon.  Gideon  Lee  had  pre- 
viously indicated,  and  who  also  repeated  his  request  in  a  letter 
accompanying  the  memorial.  A  Committee  on  Locations  was 
appointed,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Charles  Oakley,  James  Heard, 
B.  S.  Collins,  B.  L.  Swan,  and  J.  N.  Wells ;  William  W.  Fox 
was  subsequently  added  to  the  committee.  The  report  was  laid 
before  the  board  on  October  3,  in  favor  of  the  measure  ;  the 
committee  was  authorized  to  purchase  suitable  lots,  and  the 
Property  Committee  was  directed  to  erect  a  house  similar  to  No. 
14,  in  Houston  street.  Four  lots  in  Twenty-seventh  street,  be- 
tween Second  and  Third  avenues,  were  purchased  for  $800  each. 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  May,  1834,  the  following  gentle- 
men were  appointed  section  for  No.  15  :  Dr.  Samuel  R.  Childs, 
Anson  G.  Phelps,  Samuel  Demilt,  Robert  C.  Cornell,  and  Sam- 
uel F.  Mott. 

Daniel  F.  Tieman  and  Peter  Cooper  were  members  of  the 
section  for  No.  15  for  a  number  of  years. 

The  house  was  put  under  contract,  finished,  and  dedicated  on 
the  4th  of  May,  1835.  The  following-named  members  of  the 
board  were  present  on  the  occasion :  Messrs.  Oakley,  Murray, 
Demilt,  Childs,  Collins,  Phelps,  Baldwin,  Whitmore,  Day,  Hal- 
sey,  Seton,  Depeyster,  James  Heard,  and  Peck.  Appropriate 
exercises  by  pupils  of  other  schools  formed  the  principal  feature 
of  the  occasion,  with  an  address  by  Samuel  W.  Seton. 

On  the  18th  of  November,  1848,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  ex- 
tensive stables  corner  of  Third  avenue  and  Twenty-seventh 
street,  belonging  to  the  omnibus  company,  when  the  buildings 
were  all  destroyed,  together  with  the  Methodist  church,  the  par- 
sonage, and  the  school-house.  The  loss  of  property  was  almost 
total,  only  a  portion  of  the  books,  furniture,  &c.,  being  saved. 
The  building  was  destroyed.  The  amount  of  insurance  was 
$7,500,  making  a  loss  of  $2,887.81. 

Arrangements  were  immediately  made  to  secure  temporary 
premises,  and  apartments  in  the  Alinshouse  buildings,  on  First 


PDBLIC   SCHOOL  NO.    16.  709 

avenue  and  Twenty-sixth  street,  were  secured  and  fitted  up. 
The  schools  went  into  operation  on  the  4th  of  December.  The 
new  building  was  erected,  and  school  resumed  therein  on  the  4th 
of  June,  1849. 

William  A.  Walker,  afterward  School  Superintendent,  was 
the  first  principal  of  No.  15,  and  held  the  office  until  1840,  when 
lie  was  succeeded  by  William  H.  Wood,  who  remained  in  charge 
of  the  school  until  after  its  transfer  to  the  Board  of  Education. 

Miss  Elizabeth  Cox  organized  the  girls'  school,  but  remained 
only  a  short  time,  being  succeeded,  in  1836,  by  Caroline  T. 
Whiting,  who  was  on  duty,  and  in  whose  care  the  school  was 
transferred,  in  1853. 

The.  primary  department  was  organized  in  1838,  under  the 
care  of  Miss  Louisa  Lynch. 

The  autograph  of  William  Cullen  Bryant  appears  in  the  vis- 
itors' book,  under  date  of  January  5,  1854. 


PUBLIC   SCHOOL  NO.    16. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  held  September  24, 
1833,  a  committee  of  five,  consisting  of  Charles  Oakley,  James 
Heard,  B.  S.  Collins,  B.  L.  Swan,  and  J.  N.  Wells,  was  appoint- 
ed to  select  locations  for  new  schools.  At  the  meeting  in  Octo- 
ber, William  W.  Fox  was  added  to  the  number,  and  they  were 
directed  to  select  a  location  near  the  -Dry  Dock.  In  1834,  the 
same  committee  was  continued,  and  on  the  Cth  of  February, 
1835,  they  reported  progress,  and  were  authorized  to  purchase 
lots  in  that  part  of  the  city.  At  a  special  meeting  held  at 
School  No.  5,  at  the  examination  of  that  school,  the  committee 
again  reported  progress  ;  and  on  May  1st,  a  diversity  of  opinion 
respecting  the  location  having  retarded  the  action  of  the  com- 
mittee, the  chairman  submitted  a  report  in  favor  of  a  site  in 
Fifth  street,  and  recommending  the  purchase  of  the  lots  selected, 
at  the  price  of  $1,500  each.  The  board  adopted  the  resolution 
so  reported. 

The  negotiations  for  the  purchase  were  interrupted  for  some 
time,  and  the  lots  were  sold  at  auction  for  $1,700  each.  The 
purchaser  held  them  at  $2,000  ;  and,  on  the  6th  of  November, 


710  THE   PUBLIC    SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  chairman  of  the  committee  reported  the  facts,  requesting 
final  instructions  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued.  The  board 
directed  the  purchase;  and  on  the  6th  of  May,  1836,  it  was 
reported  as  having  been  made.  On  the  5th  of  August,  the 
Property  Committee  was  authorized  to  erect  a  building.  On 
the  4rth  of  August,  1837,  the  committee  reported  that  contracts 
had  been  made  with  James  Russell,  carpenter,  and  Lorenzo 
Moses,  mason,  and  that-  the  building  was  commenced.  The 
house  was  completed,  and  opened  with  appropriate  exercises  on 
the  27th  of  April,  1838,  Messrs.  Charles  Oakley,  J.  B.  Collins, 
II.  W.  Field,  and  S.  W.  Seton  being  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments. The  Mayor  of  the  city,  Hon.  Cornelius  W.  Lawrence, 
was  present,  with  Isaac  L.  Yarian,  and  other  citizens,  the  au- 
dience being  addressed  by  the  Mayor,  and  James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr. 

The  school  was  organized  on  the  7th  of  May,  with  84  boys, 
72  girls,  and  233  boys  and  girls  in  the  primary  department. 
During  the  first  quarter,  the  number  rapidly  increased,  and  the 
first  returns  made  were  as  follows :  270  boys,  181  girls,  and  in 
the  primary  department,  236  boys  and  215  girls.  The  average 
attendance  was  166  boys,  115  girls,  and  in  the  primary  school, 
264  boys  and  223  girls. 

The  .section  originally  appointed  for  No.  16  consisted  of  the 
following  gentlemen :  George  T.  Trimble,  Samuel  Demilt,  Wil- 
liam Smith,  James  H.  Blaisdell,  Joseph  Washburn,  Meigs  D. 
Benjamin,  and  Peter  Stuyvesant. 

JOSEPH  CUKTIS  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  section  in 
1839,  and  so  remained  until  May,  1847,  when  he  was  transferred 
to  No.  6  (Randall's  Island),  and  Colored  School  No.  2.  The  sec- 
tion adopted  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  we  have  heard  with  regret  of  the  transfer  of  Mr.  Joseph 
Curtis  from  this  section.  His  efficient  and  interesting  labors,  and  his  exten- 
sive information  in  affairs  of  public  education,  have  made  him  extensively 
useful,  and  placed  us  and  the  public  under  lasting  obligations  to  him. 
Though  he  will  be  lost  to  our  section,  we  are  gratified  with  the  fact  that  his 
services  will  not  be  lost  to  the  Society  and  the  public,  and  congratulate  the 
section  to  which  he  is  transferred  on  the  acquisition  of  his  valuable  services. 

The  section  for  1844-'45  adopted  the  following  resolution  : 

In  the  opinion  of  the  section,  the  time  has  arrived  that  vocal  music  be 
taught  in  our  schools,  and  that  this  our  wish  be  made  known  to  the  Execu- 
tive Committee,  and  through  them  to  the  board. 


PUBLIC-  8C1IOOL   NO.    17.  711 

Abraham  K.  Van  Vleck  organized  the  boys'  school,  and  con- 
ducted it  with  great  fidelity  and  success,  until  he  was  called  from 
his  labors  by  death,  in  March,  1850.  On  the  1st  of  April,  Mr. 
1ST.  P.  Beers,  assistant  in  No.  7,  Chrystie  street,  took  charge  of 
the  school,  and  passed  with  it  to  the  supervision  of  the  ward 
school  officers,  in  1853,  when  the  change  of  system  took  place. 

Miss  Mary  McKay  was  the  .first  principal  of  the  girls'  school, 
who  remained  only  till  1840,  when  her  successor,  Miss  Fezzan 
T.  Bobbins,  followed.  Miss  Bobbins  became  Mrs.  Stiles,  and 
resigned  in  1848,  when  the  vacancy  was  supplied  by  Miss  S.  J. 
Hatfield,  who  retired  in  1851,  to  be  succeeded  by  Miss  Urania 
Downs,  who  remained  in  the  school  at  the  time  of  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Society. 

The  primary  department  was  organized  by  Miss  Sarah  C. 
Glover  at  the  time  of  opening  the  school  in  1838. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.   17. 

The  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  the  exami- 
nation of  No.  4  was  held  April  10,  1838.  After  the  exercises 
were  concluded,  the  board  held  a  meeting  to  consider  a  recom- 
mendation of  the  Executive  Committee  relative  to  the  purchase 
of  lots  for  a  new  school  in  Thirteenth  street,  near  the  Sixth  ave- 
nue, to  relieve  the  pressure  upon  No.  3,  in  Hudson  street,  and 
No.  12,  in  Seventeenth  street.  The  Committee  on  Locations 
were  directed  to  purchase  the  lots  recommended,  but  in  conse- 
quence of  a  defect  in  the  title,  the  negotiations  were  suspended. 

In  February,  1843,  the  sections  of  Nos.  3  and  12  reported 
that  there  was  an  urgent  necessity  for  a  new  building  to  relieve 
their  overcrowded  condition  ;  and  the  board,  at  the  meeting  held 
on  the  5th  of  May,  referred  the  matter  to  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, with  power.  A  sub-committee  was  immediately  appoint- 
ed, and  after  examining  a  number  of  locations,  the  report 
recommended  the  purchase  of  four  lots  in  Thirteenth  street,  near 
Seventh  avenue,  each  25  feet  by  103  ft.  3  in.  The  report  was 
accepted  and  adopted,  and  the  Property  Committee  reported 
plans  and  estimates  for  the  house,  which  were  also  adopted. 
The  committee  were  authorized  to  close  the  contracts  with 


712  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL    SOCIETY. 

James  Russell,  carpenter,  and  Lorenzo  Moses,  rnason.  The 
Building  Committee  consisted  of  Linus  W.  Stevens,  B.  R.  Win- 
tbrop,  and  Thompson  Price. 

On  the  20th  of  November,  the  following  gentlemen  organ- 
ized as  section  No.  17 :  Floyd  Smith,  Hamilton  Murray,  Fred- 
erick Havemeyer,  Benjamin  Ellis,  and  John  R.  Hurd.  The  first 
three  named  were  elected  to  the  board  on  the  3d  of  November, 
and  assigned  to  that  section. 

Benjamin  Ellis  and  John  R.  Hurd  were  appointed  the  Com- 
mittee on  Opening,  and  the  arrangements  were  accordingly 
made.  The  house  was  completed  at  the  close  of  the  year,  and 
the  boys'  school  was  organized,  and  the  building  appropriately 
dedicated  on  the  4th  of  January,  1844.  Col.  William  L.  Stone 
and  Benjamin  Ellis  made  addresses  on  the  occasion.  The  girls' 
school  was  opened  for  the  reception  of  pupils  on  the  next  day, 
and  organized  and  went  into  operation  on  the  8th  of  the  month. 
On  the  1st  of  February  there  were  in  attendance  242  boys  and 
220  girls. 

Mr.  Marvin  W.  Fox  organized  the  boys'  school,  and  sus- 
tained it  until  the  time  of  his  resignation,  August  1,  1852,  when 
Arthur  Murphy  succeeded,  and  continued  it  until  the  change  of 
system  was  made. 

Miss  Mary  C.  Kiersted  was  appointed  principal  of  the  girls' 
department,  where  she  remained  till  1845,  when  she  resigned, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Miss  H.  M.  Mackenzie,  in  whose  charge 
it  passed  to  the  care  of  the  ward  school  officers. 

The  following  entry,  by  John  Inman,  appears  on  the  minute- 
book  of  the  primary  department : 

i 

January  27,  1845. — Visited  the  school  for  the  first  time,  and  derived  par- 
ticular gratification  from  seeing  the  neatness  of  appearance  and  apparent 
enjoyment  of  the  little  ones  in  their  exercises.  The  school  appears  to  be 
admirably  conducted.  JOHN 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.    18. 


The  extreme  northwestern  part  of  the  city,  in  1840,  was 
thinly  settled,  and  the  wants  of  the  district  were  supplied  by 
Primary  School  No.  21,  which  was  provided  with  accommoda- 
tions in  the  basement  of  the  Methodist  church  in  Forty-first 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL  NO.    18.  713 

street.  The  population,  however,  increased  with  great  rapidity, 
and  the  necessity  for  increased  facilities,  and  adapted  to  a  more 
advanced  class  of  children,  became  apparent.  The  section  of 
No.  12,  in  Seventeenth  street,  had  some  discussion  on  the  expe- 
diency of  opening  a  new  school  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fortieth 
street.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  board, 
held  September  7,  1843,  an  extract  from  the  minutes  of  section 
No.  12  was  read,  asking  for  the  opening  of  a  school  of  a  higher 
grade  than  a  primary.  The  matter  was  referred  to  a  committee1, 
consisting  of  Messrs.  Murray,  Hurd,  and  Demilt.  The  commit- 
tee reported  in  October,  recommending  that  the  basement  of  the 
church  corner  of  Eighth  avenue  and  Forty-third  street,  then 
building,  and  which  had  been  hired  by  the  Primary  School  Com- 
mittee, be  hired  by  the  Executive  Committee ;  that  a  girls'  school 
be  opened  therein,  under  a  suitable  teacher  and  assistants  ;  that 
Primary  No.  21,  in  Forty-first  street,  be  changed  to  a  school  for 
boys,  and  regularly  organized  ;  that  they  be  known  as  Public 
School  No.  18,  and  that  a  special  committee  be  appointed  for  the 
purpose. 

These  recommendations  were  adopted,  and  Messrs.  John  R. 
Hurd,  J.  W.  Howe,  Joseph  Curtis,  and  Linus  W.  Stevens  were 
appointed  said  committee.  The  proper  arrangements  were 
made,  and  the  schools  were  opened  for  the  reception  of  scholars 
early  in  the  month  of  May. 

The  boys'  school  was  organized  on  the  14th  of  May,  under 
James  A.  Ferguson,  in  the  Methodist  church  in  Forty-first  street, 
near  Seventh  avenue.  The  girls'  school  was  organized  the  same 
day,  in  the  Baptist  church  corner  of  Eighth  avenue  and  Forty- 
third  street,  under  Amelia  Kiersted.  Mr.  Samuel  "W.  Seton 
made  an  address  on  the  occasion. 

In  the  early  part  of  1845,  the  demand  for  increased  school 
accommodations  became  so  urgent,  that  the  section  pressed  upon 
the  Board  of  Trustees  the  inevitable  duty  of  erecting  a  school- 
building.  At  the  meeting  of  the  section  held  on  May  12,  a  reso- 
lution was  adopted  authorizing  an  application  to  the  board  ;  and 
one  of  the  section  reported  that  he  had  secured  the  refusal  of 
four  lots  of  ground  in  Forty-seventh  street,  until  the  1st  of  June 
following,  at  the  price  of  $1,900. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  approved  of  the  measure,  but  as  the 
state  of  the  funds  made  it  of  doubtful  expediency  to  appropriate 


714:  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOL   SOCIETY. 

the  money  at  that  time,  a  committee  was  appointed,  who  report- 
ed in  favor  of  raising  $25,000  by  mortgage  of  property  of  the 
Society.  This  course  was  adopted,  and  the  means  provided. 
On  the  5th  of  February,  1846,  the  Executive  Committee  author- 
ized the  Property  Committee  to  issue  proposals  for  estimates, 
and  close  contracts  for  the  house  as  soon  as  they  should  be  in- 
formed by  the  treasurer  that  the  money  had  been  secured. 

The  building  was  opened  for  the  registry  of  pupils  on  Mon- 
day, November  9,  1846  ;  and  on  the  16th,  the  public  dedicatory 
exercises  were  held  in  the  primary  department.  Addresses  were 
delivered  by  Samuel  "W.  Seton  and  William  Oland  Bourne. 

The  erection  of  this  edifice  gave  rise  to  the  question  relative 
to  the  power  of  the  Public  School  Society  to  erect  new  houses, 
and  it  occasioned  much  anxiety ;  for  it  was  a  test  question  which 
vitally  affected  its  existence  as  an  institution.  When  its  power 
of  expansion  ceased  and  its  limits  became  circumscribed,  another 
and  contemporaneous  system  could  not  fail  to  absorb  it  by  its 
overshadowing  growth  and  patronage.  The  question  was  de- 
cided in  favor  of  the  right  of  the  Society  to  Public  School  No. 
18,  but*  further  expansion  was  denied.  This  was,  therefore,  the 
last  school-building  erected  by  the  Society. 

On  the  5th  of  October,  1847,  the  primary  department  in  this 
school  was  organized  with  117  pupils  of  both  sexes,  withdrawn 
from  the  upper  departments.  In  October,  1848,  the  number  of 
pupils  had  increased  to  177,  and  in  October,  1851,  there  were 
436  hi  attendance. 

Mr.  James  A.  Ferguson,  the  first  principal  in  the  boys' 
school,  remained  until  the  1st  of  February,  1851,  when  he  was 
succeeded  by  William  T.  Graff,  in  whose  care  the  school  contin- 
ued until  transferred  to  the  Board  of  Education. 

Miss  Amelia  Kiersted,  who  organized  the  girls'  department 
at  the  original  location  in  the  church,  continued  in  uninterrupted 
service  until  the  change  of  system  took  place,  by  which  the  Board 
of  Education  became  the  guardian  of  the  schools  of  the  city. 

Miss  C.  C.  Cowen  was  the  first  principal  of  the  primary  de- 
partment. 

[NOTE. — The  original  numbers  of  the  schools  are  retained  in  this  chapter.  By  the 
sale  of  No.  10,  in  Duane  Street,  the  numbers  of  the  remaining  schools  were  changed, 
and  No.  18  became  No.  17,  under  which  enumeration  the  schools  passed  to  the  Board 
of  Education.  After  the  transfer  the  numbers  of  the  Ward  Schools  were  also  changed 
as  required  by  the  law,  and  Ward  School  No.  1  became  No.  18,  and  others  followed  in 
their  proper  succession. 


APPENDIX 


A. 

REPORT 

Of  the  Law  Committee  of  the  Common  Council,  to  whom  were  referred  the 
Petitions  of  Trustees  of  Church  Schools  for  Participation  in  the  Distri- 
bution of  the  School  Fund. 

[The  law  of  November  19,  1824,  gave  to  the  Common  Council  the  power 
to  appoint  ten  commissioners  of  common  schools,  and  to  designate  the  insti- 
tutions which  should  be  the  recipients  of  the  school  money.  The  trustees 
of  St.  Patrick's  and  St.  Peter's  Roman  Catholic  schools,  the  Methodist,  and 
other  church  schools,  submitted  their  petitions  for  a  continuance  of  the  ap- 
portionment to  these  schools,  which  were  referred  to  the  Law  Committee, 
together  with  the  fourth  section  of  the  law.  On  the  28th  of  April,  1825, 
the  committee  submitted  their  report.] 

The  Committee  on  Laws,  to  whom  were  referred  the  fourth  section  of 
the  act  of  the  Legislature  of  this  State,  relating  to  common  schools  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  passed  the  19th  of  November,  1824 ;  the  memorials  of 
the  trustees  of  the  charity  schools  attached  to  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church 
of  the  city  of  New  York  ;  of  the  trustees  of  the  First  Protestant  Episcopal 
charity  school  in  the  city  of  New  York ;  and  of  the  trustees  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  praying  respectively  for  a  participation  in  the  com- 
mon school  fund  ;  and  also  the  report  of  a  committee  of  the  trustees  of  the 
Free-School  Society,  on  the  distribution  of  the  said  fund,  proposing  a 
change  in  the  constitution  of  that  Society,  so  as  to  admit  children  of  all 
classes  to  their  schools,  for  a  compensation  not  exceeding  fifty  cents  per 
quarter,  with  power  to  remit  in  proper  cases,  REPORT  : 

That  the  subject  referred  to  them  is  one  of  vital  importance  to  this  com- 
munity, involving,  as  it  does,  the  high  and  essential  interests  of  education 
and  of  public  benevolence  in  their  application  to  the  numerous  poor  chil- 
dren of  our  city.  The  various  institutions  which  have  been  established  for, 
or  have  undertaken  from  the  best  of  motives  the  relief  of  this  portion  of 
our  inhabitants,  have  been  represented  before  your  committee ;  and  their 
respective  claims  to  a  participation  respectively  in  the  public  bounty  have 
been  urged,  on  the  part  of  their  delegates,  by  all  the  obligations  and  motives 


716  APPENDIX. 

which  could  be  drawn  from  the  sources  of  piety  and  philanthropy,  and  with 
all  the  force  and  energy  of  the  most  persuasive  eloquence  and  the  most 
cogent  argument. 

These  discussions  have  instructed  your  committee,  and  have,  at  the  same 
time,  proved  the  depth  of  talent,  the  eminent  virtue,  and  the  laudable  pub- 
lic spirit  which  distinguish  those  of  our  fellow-citizens  who  deservedly  take 
the  lead  in  meliorating  the  condition  of  the  human  race,  and  especially  that 
of  the  poor  and  destitute  among  the  rising  generation. 

These  institutions  consist,  on  the  one  hand,  of  the  churches  and  religious 
societies,  many  of  which  maintain  charity  schools ;  and,  on  the  other,  of 
societies  whose  members  are  of  different  religious  persuasions,  and  whose 
exclusive  object  is  the  gratuitous  instruction  of  the  poor. 

On  the  part  of  the  churches,  it  has  been  maintained  that  the  charity 
schools  are  of  long  standing,  and  have  heretofore  received  the  fostering  care 
of  the  Legislature ;  that  the  children  are  taught  in  them  the  branches  of  a 
plain,  ordinary  education,  with  little  or  no  difference  as  to  efficiency  when 
compared  with  the  other  institutions,  and  in  support  of  this,  they  offer  to 
submit  them  to  a  fair  examination  ;  and  it  is  superadded,  with  much  empha- 
sis, that,  in  these  schools,  the  children  receive  also  the  advantages  of  re- 
ligious instruction. 

On  this  latter  subject  it  is  urged,  in  the  first  place,  by  the  advocates  of 
the  churches,  that  for  this  they  receive  no  compensation;  and,  in  the  second, 
that  religion  is  the  best  and  only  foundation  of  all  private  happiness,  of  all 
sound  morality,  and  of  all  capacity  for  public  usefulness ;  and,  in  answer  to 
the  charge  of  efforts  on  their  part  to  promote  sectarian  influence,  they  deny 
that  such  is  their  intended  object;  and  they  further  reply  and  explain,  that 
religion  cannot  exist  but  according  to  some  specific  form  and  system  ;  that 
no  religious  sentiment  can  be  advanced  except  of  the  most  general  nature, 
about  which  professing  Christians  will  not  differ ;  and  that  the  objection 
would  exclude  all  practical  religious  instruction  whatsoever,  since  religion 
must  be  presented  in  some  definite  shape,  or  it  can  hardly  find  access  to  the 
heart  and  become  influential  on  the  conduct.  And  it  has,  in  turn,  been 
argued,  "  Show  me  a  man  of  no  sect,  and  I  will  show  you  a  man  of  no 
religion"  and  that  it  is  better  to  have  a  community  of  conscientious  secta- 
rians, than  a  community  of  nothingarians.  And  it  is  further  added,  that 
the  children  attached  to  the  charity  schools  are  habitually  instructed  in  the 
observance  of  Sunday,  not  only  by  causing  them  to  be  kept  out  of  the 
streets,  and  to  be  removed  from  the  temptations  and  dangers  to  which  they 
would  be  there  exposed,  but  by  causing  them  to  go  to  church,  and  to  engage 
in  the  duties  of  that  sacred  day. 

It  is  further  insisted  by  the  churches,  that  they  and  tbe  lay  corporations 
together  are  the  only  associations  for  the  benevolent  -purpose  of  instructing/ 
the  poor  of  this  city  ;  and  that,  under  the  act  of  the  Legislature  as  it  now 
stands,  each  will  alike  be  subject  to  a  constant  and  wholesome  supervision 
on  the  part  of  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Common  Council.  They 
further  contend  that  there  can  be  no  danger  of  a  church  establishment  grow- 
ing out  of  the  assistance  they  wish  to  receive  from  this  fund,  which  will  fall 


REPORT   OF   THE    LAW  COMMITTEE.  717 

far  short  of  a  support,  and  that  the  rendering  of  such  assistance  only  is  differ- 
ent altogether  from  endowing  or  entrusting  them  with  public  funds,  without 
a  definite  and  specified  object.  Under  this  head,  it  is  maintained  that  no 
danger  is  felt  by  the  General  or  State  Government  from  the  growth  of  cleri- 
cal influence,  or  of  its  tendency  to  church  establishments,  as  the  employment 
of  chaplains  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  in  the  Army  and  Navy, 
and  also  in  the  State  Legislatures,  is  still  continued  with  the  general  appro- 
bation. The  instance  of  the  employment  of  a  chaplain  by  this  board  is  also 
mentioned,  to  prove  that  no  such  apprehension  is  here  entertained.  It  is 
urged,  further,  that  the  State  has  heretofore  directed  the  division  of  this 
fund  among  the  churches  maintaining  charity  schools,  and  the  other  lay" 
corporations,  as  the  former  wish  it  still  to  continue  to  be  divided.  That  the 
Legislature  of  this  State  has  heretofore  made  to  churches  considerable 
grants,  and  a  prominent  instance  is  mentioned  of  a  donation  of  $4,000  to 
one  of  the  churches  of  this  city  (sec.  37,  p.  144) ;  and  a  further  and  general 
argument  is  drawn,  favorable  to  the  high  literary  and  intellectual  qualifica- 
tions of  the  clergy  of  our  country,  from  the  fact  that  in  very  many,  if  not  in 
the  large  majority  of  instances,  the  presidents  of  colleges  and  seminaries  of 
learning  are  chosen  from  that  body  by  the  general  consent  and  approbation 
of  the  community  at  large. 

In  regard  to  the  argument  that  children  ought  to  be  instructed  in  cate- 
chisms and  forms  of  religion  at  home,  as  is  the  case  with  those  taught  in  the 
ordinary  pay  schools,  they  insist  that  the  situation  of  poor  children,  such  as 
are  taught  in  the  free  and  charity  schools,  does  not  admit  of  instruction  at 
home  on  any  subject  that  is  useful,  much  less  that  of  religion  in  any  form  ; 
and  they  say  that  the  trustees  of  the  free  schools,  conscious  of  this,  do  teach 
the  children  under  their  care  some  religion,  but  of  that  kind  and  in  that 
degree  which  is  calculated  to  meet  the  views  of  numerous  and  influential 
sects  of  Christians.  And  on  the  subject  of  the  prevalence  of  sectarianism, 
and  the  common  anxiety  to  extirpate  it,  it  has  been  very  strenuously  insisted 
that,  should  either  of  the  lay  corporations  have  the  entire  benefit  of  this 
fund,  the  so  much  apprehended  effects  of  sectarian  jealousy  and  animosity 
would  soon  be  experienced  by  that  body,  and  that  its  members  would  be- 
come the  subjects,  and  its  place  of  meeting  be  transformed  into  the  arena, 
of  their  baneful  operations.  Assuming,  therefore,  what  is  predicted  of 
them,  the  delegates  of  the  churches  contend  that  this  sectarian  tendency,  if 
it  be  an  evil,  is  now  kept  within  reasonable  limits  by  encouraging  all 
religious  denominations ;  whereas,  by  placing  its  now  divided  forces  into  a 
more  concentrated  form,  its  native  intensity  would  be  excited,  and  the  con- 
sequences would  be  fatal  to  the  body  or  the  association  which  it  might 
infect. 

These  are  some  of  the  most  prominent  reasons  on  which  the  claims  of 
the  churches  are  rested  for  a  participation  in  this  fund. 

On  the  other  hand,  and  in  behalf  of  those  institutions  not  of  an  ecclesi- 
astical description,  but  formed  out  of  all  religious  persuasions  indiscrimi- 
nately, it  is  insisted  that  the  common  school  fund  will  soon  become  of  very- 
large  amount,  and  the  annual  distribution  be  consequently  greatly  increased. 


718  APPENDIX. 

And  it  is  asked,  Shall  such  a  portion  of  the  public  moneys  be  placed  in  any 
degree  under  clerical  influence  ?  A  proposition  to  tax  the  people  for  the 
support  of  religion,  it  is  said,  would  never  have  been  sustained  .by  the  Con- 
vention of  1777,  nor  by  that  of  1821 ;  and  the  Common  Council  is  now 
called  upon  officially  to  act,  as  those  bodies  would  have  acted  had  they  been 
called  upon  to  settle  this  question.  The  churches,  it  is  alleged,  ought  not 
to  participate  in  this  fund,  because  it  would  be  in  violation  of  that  rule  of 
civil  policy  admitted  to  be  prevalent,  which  forbids  all  connection  between 
matters  of  Church  and  those  of  State,  and  upon  which  the  fourth  section  of 
the  seventh  article  of  the  present  Constitution,  and  which  is.  reenacted  from 
the  old,  is  founded,  forbidding  any  minister  of  the  gospel  from  holding  any 
civil  or  military  office. 

It  is  strongly  contended  that  the  trustees  of  churches  are  irresponsible 
to,  and  independent  of,  any  civil  authority,  being  appointed  not  by  a  spe- 
cial law  of  the  Legislature,  but  by  their  own  act,  under  the  general  law  for 
the  incorporation  of  religious  societies.  That  this  state  of  irresponsibility 
and  independence  is  calculated  to  produce  relaxation  in  discipline,  and  an 
enfeebled  attention  on  their  part  to  the  minute  and  perplexing  business  of 
education ;  and  that,  as  to  this  branch  of  their  duties,  there  is  no  control 
over  them  whatsoever. 

That  part  of  this  fund  is  raised  by  tax,  and  to  devote  any  portion  of  it, 
so  that  by  possibility  it  may  be  turned  into  sectarian  channels,  would  be  to 
compel  one  portion  of  the  community,  without  their  consent,  to  become  the 
supporters  of  the  religious  opinions  of  others.  That  to  pay  teachers  of  sec- 
tarian schools  out  of  this  fund,  is  the  same  thing,  in  effect,  as  to  pay  the 
clergymen  of  the  congregations ;  and  that  sectarian  purposes  may  be  equally 
promoted  by  teaching  children  as  by  maintaining  clergymen. 

That,  when  it  is  maintained  that  religion  is  taught  in  the  charity  schools, 
it  must  be  understood  that  the  catechisms  and  confessions  of  the  churches 
are  taught,  and  that,  though  religious  creeds  and  dogmas  are  equally  toler- 
ated by  the  law,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  all  are  equally  true  and  equally 
entitled  to  support ;  and  that  it  is  impossible  they  should  all  be  true  and 
equally  entitled  to  support,  since  some  are  directly  opposed  and  contradic- 
tory to  the  others.  It  is  further  maintained,  that  one  system  or  the  other 
must  be  the  best,  and  entitled  to  a  preference ;  and  that,  therefore,  if  a 
religious  education  be  the  best,  and  entitled  to  such  preference  as  relates  to 
this  fund,  the  institutions  promoting  and  inculcating  it  ought  to  be  estab- 
lished, and  every  other  prostrated  and  condemned. 

That  churches  and  religious  societies  have  no  common  standard,  no  com- 
mon principle,  and  can  be  subjected  to  no  common  superintendence  or 
inspection ;  and  that  the  school  fund,  which  is  founded  on  taxation  and 
public  income,  shall  be  applied  indiscriminately  to  the  support  of  all  hold- 
ing such  conflicting  and  irreconcilable  tenets,  it  will  follow,  not  only  that 
error  will  be  placed  on  the  same  ground  with  truth,  and  receive  at  least  an 
equal  share  of  support  with  it,  but  that  it  will  produce  an  unequal,  and 
consequently  unjust  bearing  on  different  members  of  the  same  community, 


EEPORT   OF   THE   LAW   COMMITTEE.  719 

who  contribute  in  the  same  proportion  to  this  as  to  the  other  public  bur- 
dens. 

It  is  maintained  that  religious  societies  do  not  admit  of  visitations  as 
such  ;  and  in  reply  to  any  proposed  discrimination  between  the  churches  or 
their  schools,  it  is  said  that  any  pi-ovision  in  favor  of  one  must  be  founded 
on  a  principle  which,  in  its  operation,  will  admit  all  alike— the  long-estab- 
lished with  the  one  of  yesterday — the  one  venerable  for  its  antiquity  and  its 
well-acquired  reputation  for  piety  and  usefulness,  with  another  which  may 
be  the  offspring  of  cupidity  and  speculation,  and  under  the  direction  of  an 
individual  of  questionable  morality,  and  set  up  for  the  very  purpose  of  dep- 
redating on  the  public  charity  and  munificence,  and,  consequently,  on  the 
hard  earnings  of  the  people,  which  are  the  sources  of  that  charity  and  mu- 
nificence. On  the  subject  of  aiding  in  the  support  of  churches,  which,  it  is 
contended,  results  from  the  late  law,  and  the  practice  under  it,  it  is  strongly 
urged  that  true  religion  requires  and  admits  of  no  aid  from  the  secular 
power ;  that  her  only  resources  are  from  heaven,  and  the  contributions  of 
willing  hearts ;  that  she  seeks  only  for  protection,  and  not  for  support ;  and 
that  the  arm  of  the  State,  though  strong,  has  no  potency  or  legitimate  con- 
trol beyond  such  protection. 

These  propositions,  it  is  contended,  are  unanswerable  in  themselves,  and 
derive  great  strength  from  the  example  of  every  other  county  in  this  State 
where  the  common  school  fund  is  confined  in  its  application  to  the  purposes 
of  a  common  or  literary  education  alone,  and  is  not  permitted  to  receive  the 
least  share  of  religious  or  clerical  influence  in  its  distribution ;  and  also  from 
the  examples  of  some  of  our  sister  States,  who,  in  the  recent  revision  of 
their  constitutions,  have  severally  struck  from  these  instruments  the  pro- 
vision formerly  incorporated  in  them,  favorable  to  ecclesiastical  participa- 
tion in  similar  funds  in  these  States. 

And  it  is  further  contended  that,  on  this  very  subject,  we  are  admon- 
ished and  instructed  by  an  act  which  passed  the  Assembly  (though  not  the 
Senate  of  this  State)  in  the  year  1824,  founded  on  the  report  of  a  commktee 
of  that  body,  in  which  the  committee  state  that  "  the  city  of  New  York  is 
the  only  part  of  the  State  where  the  school  fund  is  at  all  subject  to  the  con- 
trol of  religious  societies.  This  fund  is  considered  by  your  committee 
purely  of  a  civil  character,  and  therefore  it  ought  never,  in  their  opinion,  to 
pass  into  the  hands  of  any  corporation  or  set  of  men  who  are  not  directly 
amenable  to  the  constituted  civil  authorities  of  the  Government,  and  bound 
to  report  their  proceedings  to  the  public."  And  that  committee  more  than 
intimate  that,  in  their  opinion,  it  would  be  "  a  violation  of  a  fundamental 
principle  of  legislation  to  allow  the  funds  of  the  State,  raised  by  a  tax  on 
the  citizens,  designed  for  civil  purposes,  to  be  subject  to  the  control  of  any 
religious  corporation." 

In  regard  to  religious  instruction,  it  is  contended,  on  the  part  of  the  civil 
or  lay  corporations,  that  they  cause  to  be  communicated,  in  imitation  of  the 
Bible  Society,  who  publish  the  Scriptures  without  note  or  comment,  such 
precepts,  in  the  form  of  reading-lessons  and  catechisms,  in  the  original  lan- 
guage of  the  Bible,  on  such  interesting  and  familiar  subjects  of  human  duty 


720  APPENDIX. 

and  obligations  as  children  can  best  comprehend.  And  as  to  the  specific 
or  sectarian  forms  of  religion,  they  leave  them  to  be  communicated  by  the 
parents  or  guardians  at  home,  or  by  the  churches  or  Sunday  schools,  to 
which  it  is  their  constant  wish  and  direction  that  the  children  may  be  sent. 

It  is  further  maintained  that,  if  the  system  which,  until  lately,  was  tol- 
erated in  this  city,  should  now  be  revived  and  perpetuated,  the  consequence 
will  be  a  continued  and  more  successful  rivalry  than  heretofore,  not  on  the 
part  of  the  old,  settled,  and  well-conducted  churches,  but  by  others  which 
may  be  set  on  foot  to  discover  which  can  obtain  the  greatest  number  of 
scholars  on  their  registers,  and  to  whose  principal  object  the  business  of  in- 
structing aod  training  up  poor  children  will  be  altogether  subsidiary  ;  and 
that,  while  these  will  be  depredating  on  this  fund,  which  is  designed  for  the 
most  beneficent  purposes,  the  free  schools,  which  have  been  unparalleled  in 
their  useful  effects  upon  the  poor,  will  fall  into  decay,  and  become  utterly 
abandoned. 

In  the  conclusion  of  the  argument  on  this  side  of  the  question,  it  is 
stated  that,  before  the  existence  of  the  common  school  fund,  the  charity 
schools  flourished  and  increased,  and,  in  all  probability,  will  continue  to 
have  the  same  success  from  the  liberality  of  their  friends  and  patrons.  That 
the  free  schools  will  be  open  for  those  children  who  may  be  left  without  a 
charity  school,  should  the  churches  not  be  permitted  hereafter  to  participate 
in  this  fund;  that  the  instances  of  such  destitution  are  not  likely  to  be 
numerous ;  and  that,  at  all  events,  a  greater  number  of  poor  children  will 
be  instructed  in  the  free  schools  alone,  than  are  instructed  in  all  the  institu- 
tions at  present  partaking  of  this  fund,  in  consequence  of  the  more  concen- 
trated and  successful  efforts  which  they  will  be  enabled  to  make  by  the  erec- 
tion of  such  buildings  and  the  employment  of  such  teachers  as  may  be 
required,  if  the  common  school  fund  shall  be  appropriated  and  expended  in 
the  manner  proposed  by  them. 

And  it  is  added,  that  the  following  are  among  the  further  results  which 
may  be  expected  from  this  mode  of  distribution : 

First,  an  increased  economy  in  the  expenditure  and  use  of  the  public 
moneys,  arising  form  the  singleness  of  the  object  to  which  they  will  be 
devoted,  whereby  the  greatest  quantity  of  good  may  be  expected  from  the 
smallest  amount  of  means. 

Second,  the  utmost  expedition  in  the  acquirement  of  useful  knowledge 
by  the  poor  children  at  large,  and  in  all  sections  of  our  city,  by  reason  of 
the  highly-improved  methods  which  are  established,  and  the  excellent 
teachers  which  are  employed  in  the  free  schools. 

Third,  a  greater  uniformity  in  the  rule,  government,  and  branches  of 
instruction  which  will  be  pursued  in  the  public  seminaries,  than  can  be 
expected  at  present  in  the  diversified  and  variously  conducted  schools  of  the 
churches  and  other  societies. 

These  are  among  the  reasons  urged  by  the  lay,  in  opposition  to  the 
religious  societies,  why  the  latter  should  be  excluded,  and  the  former  alone 
receive  the  benefit  of  this  fund. 

Your  committee  have  thus,  with  the  single  desire  of  truth,  laid  before 


REPORT   OF   THE    LAW   COMMITTEE.  721 

the  Common  Council  the  result  of  their  inquiries,  and  the  substance  of  the 
communications  that  have  been  made  to  them. 

In  the  performance  of  this  duty,  they  have  felt  all  the  importance  and 
responsibility  of  the  task  assigned  to  them ;  and  while  they  would  willingly 
have  retired  from  the  appointment,  and  do  each  individually  wish  that  the 
Legislature  had  passed  the  necessary  law  on  this  subject,  on  the  recent 
application  to  them  for  that  purpose,  yet  your  committee  cannot  permit 
themselves  to  hesitate  or  falter  in  the  course  of  public  duty,  when  that 
course  is  plainly  manifest  to  their  understandings.  Your  committee  will  not 
conceal  either  their  own  private  and  personal  wishes  at  the  commencement 
of  their  duties,  that  the  well-organized  churches  and  religious  societies  in 
our  city  might  be  permitted  to  continue  in  the  reception  of  a  part  of  this 
fund  as  heretofore  ;  but  the  weight  of  the  argument,  as  urged  before  them, 
and  which  they  have  endeavored  to  condense  in  this  report,  and  the  estab- 
lished constitutional  and  political  doctrines  which  have  a  bearing  on  this 
question,  and  the  habits  and  modes  of  thinking  of  the  constituents  at  large 
of  this  board,  require,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  that  the  common 
school  fund  should  be  distributed  for  civil  purposes  only,  as  contradistin- 
guished from  those  of  a  religious  or  sectarian  description. 

As  to  the  existing  institutions  among  which  it  is  now  divided,  the  Com- 
mon Council  will  give  to  the  reasons  and  arguments  which  have  been  stated, 
such  weight  as  they  may  deserve,  on  the  decision  of  the  question  whether 
they  in  general  ought  to  participate  in  the  division  of  a  fund  drawn  in  part 
like  the  present,  from  the  people,  by  taxation. 

But  it  would  seerp.  to  your  committee  to  be  a  departure  from  the  most 
ordinary  prudence,  to  permit  such  religious  societies  as  might  hereafter 
spring  up  and  choose  to  add  to  their  establishments  a  charity  school,  to  par- 
take indiscriminately  of  this  fund,  since  neither  the  character  of  their  man- 
agers and  conductors,  nor  the  object  which  such  societies  might  have  in 
view,  could  now  be  foreseen  or  apprehended.  And  the  arguments  and  con- 
stitutional barriers,  and  the  modes  of  thinking  of  our  citizens  before  men- 
tioned, are  conclusive,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee,  why  any  one 
church  or  religious  society  now  established,  however  exemplary  or  merito- 
rious, equally  with  all  others,  should  be  excluded  from  a  participation  in 
this  fund. 

In  regard  to  the  project  contained  in  the  report  of  a  committee  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Free-School  Society,  proposing  a  change  in  their  constitu- 
tion, your  committee  have  concluded,  as  it  would  require  an  application  to 
the  Legislature  before  it  could  be  carried  into  execution,  and  the  present 
session  is  probably  too  far  advanced  for  that  purpose,  to  recommend  that  it 
be  laid  on  the  table  for  further  consideration. 

On  the  main  subject  referred  to  your  committee,  they  beg  leave  to  sub- 
mit the  accompanying  draft  of  an  ordinance  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Common  Council.  Respectfully  submitted, 

S.  COWDREY, 
THOMAS  BOLTON, 
E.  W. 
46 


722  APPENDIX. 

B. 

[At  a  meeting  of  the  trustees  of  Roman  Catholic  churches,  held  at  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Barclay  street,  February  17,  1840  (see  page  179),  a  petition 
to  the  Common  Council  was  adopted,  which  was  submitted  to  the  Board  of 
Assistant  Aldermen  on  March  2,  when  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Soci- 
ety submitted  a  remonstrance.  On  the  16th  of  March,  the  Hebrew  congre- 
gation in  Crosby  street,  and  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church,  presented  a 
petition  for  school  money.  Remonstrances  were  presented  from  Lockwood 
Smith  and  209  others;  William  Holmes  and  61  others;  the  Public  School 
Society,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch 
churches.  On  March  30,  a  remonstrance  was  presented  from  the  East  Broome 
street  Baptist  Church,  and  from  S.  Devereaux  and  others.  On  April  13,  the 
remonstrance  from  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  was  presented.  These 
papers  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Schools,  who 
reported  April  27th.] 

DOCUMENT   NO.    80. 

BOARD  OF  ASSISTAXT  ALDKRMKS,  April  27,  1840. 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  Arts  and  Sciences  and  Schools,  on  the  peti- 
tion of  the  officers  and  members  of  the  Roman  Catholic  and  other  Churches 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  for  an  apportionment  of  school  moneys  to  the 
schools  attached  to  said  churches.  Presented  by  Mr.  Dodge.  Adopted, 
and  two  thousand  copies  ordered  to  be  printed,  with  the  accompanying  peti- 
tions and  remonstrances,  under  the  direction  of  the  committee. 

EDWARD  PATTERSON,   Cleric. 

The  Committee  on  Arts  and  Sciences  and  Schools  of  the  Board  of  Assist- 
ants, to  whom  were  referred  the  petitions  of  the  trustees  and  members  of  the 
several  Roman  Catholic  churches  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  Scotch  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  said  city,  and  the  Hebrew  congregation  in  Crosby  street, 
for  an  appropriation  of  a  portion  of  the  school  moneys  to  the  schools 
attached  to  said  churches  or  congregations  ;  and  to  whom  were  also  referred 
the  resolutions  of  the  Commissioners  of  School  Money,  and  the  remon- 
strances of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  of  other  societies  and  individuals, 
against  making  such  appropriations,  respectfully  KEPOBT  : 

The  subject-matter  referred  to  your  committee  is  one  of  the  highest  im- 
portance, not  only  as  regards  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  petitioners,  but 
as  it  affects  the  great  cause  of  public  education,  the  wishes  and  feelings  of 
the  people  at  large,  the  intentions  of  the  founders  of  the  existing  system  of 
public  instruction,  and  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
State.  Fully  impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the  questions  involved,  the 
committee  proceeded  to  the  examination  of  the  subject  with  an  anxious 
desire  to  render  complete  justice  to  all,  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  pub- 
lic, and  extend  the  benefits  of  education  to  the  utmost  possible  limit. 
Knowing  that  many  objections  were  urged  by  a  large  and  respectable  por* 


REPORT    OF   COMMITTEE   ON   ARTS   AND    SCIENCES.  723 

tion  of  our  citizens  against  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners,  and  that  much 
excitement  existed  among  the  petitioners,  and  in  the  public  mind  generally, 
upon  the  subject,  the  committee  deemed  it  their  duty  to  give  all  parties  an 
opportunity  of  fully  and  thoroughly  discussing  the  merits  of  the  question 
before  them.  For  this  purpose,  public  notice  was  given  that  the  committee 
would  meet,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  subject,  on  the  12th  day  of 
March,  in  the  chamber  of  this  board,  and  all  who  felt  interested  were  in- 
vited to  attend.  The  petitioners  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church- 
es appeared  at  the  time  and  place  appointed  for  the  meeting,  by  a  commit- 
tee of  three  gentlemen  appointed  for  that  purpose.  The  Public  School  Soci- 
ety, one  of  the  remonstrant  parties,  also  appeared  by  a  committee. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  detail  fully  the  proceedings  of  the  committee  at  this 
meeting.  It  is  sufficient  to  say,  that  both  the  parties  who  appeared  had 
every  opportunity  of  stating  their  views  to  the  committee,  and  that  a  full 
discussion  of  the  subject  was  had.  On  the  part  of  the  petitioners  who 
appeared,  it  was  stated  that  there  were,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  seven 
Roman  Catholic  churches,  each  of  which  maintained  a  free  school,  estab- 
lished for  the  purpose  of  educating  the  children  of  the  poor  attached  to 
their  respective  congregations.  This,  it  appears,  is  the  primary  object  in 
establishing  the  schools  ;  though  the  children  of  persons  attached  to  other 
religious  denominations  are  not  excluded,  and  do,  in  fact,  attend  them.  It 
was  further  stated  that  no  religious  test  or  qualification  was  requisite  to 
admission,  and  that  no  means  were  used  to  alter  the  religious  views  of  the 
child  of  a  person  not  attached  to  the  Catholic  Church.  This  statement, 
your  committee  have  no  doubt,  is  correct. 

Objection  was  made,  on  the  part  of  the  Catholic  petitioners,  to  the  pub- 
lic schools  now  existing  and  supported  from  the  school  fund,  on  the  ground 
that  no  religious  instruction  was  communicated  there  ;  or,  if  any  was  given, 
it  was  of  a  character  which  reflected  upon  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  latter  branch  of  this  objection  was  denied  on  the  part  of  the 
Public  School  Society. 

The  petitioners  who  appeared  also  contended  that  they  contributed,  in 
common  with  all  other  citizens  who  were  taxed  for  the  purpose,  to  the 
accumulation  of  the  common  school  fund,  and  that  they  were  therefore  enti- 
tled to  participate  in  its  advantages ;  that  now  they  received  no  benefit  from 
the  fund,  inasmuch  as  the  members  of  the  Catholic  churches  could  not  con- 
scientiously send  their  children  to  schools  in  which  the  religious  doctrines 
of  their  fathers  were  exposed  to  ridicule  or  censure.  The  truth  and  justice 
of  the  first  branch  of  this  proposition  cannot  be  questioned.  The  correct- 
ness of  the  latter  part  of  the  argument,  so  far  as  the  same  relates  to  books 
or  exercises  of  any  kind  in  the  public  schools  reflecting  on  the  Catholic 
Church,  was,  as  is  hereinbefore  stated,  denied  by  the  School  Society. 

On  the  part  of  the  Public  School  Society,  it  was  contended  that  any  ap- 
propriation of  the  school  money  to  any  religious  denomination,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  educating  the  children  of  that  denomination,  was  foreign  to  the  design 
of  the  common  school  system  as  organized  by  law,  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Constitution,  and  at  variance  with  the  nature  of  our  free  institutions. 


724  APPENDIX. 

It  may  be  proper  here  to  state  that,  in  the  argument,  it  was  admitted,  on 
the  part  of  the  Catholic  petitioners,  that,  in  the  schools  attached  to  their 
churches,  religious  instruction  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  would  be  given 
after  the  usual  school  hours,  with  the  understanding  that  no  child  would  be 
required  to  attend  at  that  time  without  the  approval  of  the  parents. 

The  preceding  is  a  brief  abstract  of  the  views  presented  to  your  com- 
mittee by  the  petitioners  and  remonstrants.  It  is  important  that  a  statement 
of  these  views  should  be  presented  in  this  form  to  the  board,  that  they  may 
fully  understand  the  wishes  of  the  parties,  and  through  them,  as  far  as  they 
can  be  ascertained  in  this  way,  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  the  public. 

Upon  the  facts  presented  to  the  committee,  two  questions  have  arisen  of 
great  moment  to  the  people  of  this  city  and  State.  These  questions  have 
received  our  most  attentive  examination,  and  the  conclusions  to  which  the 
committee  have  arrived  are  such,  they  trust,  as  will  meet  the  concurrence  of 
the  board  and  the  approval  of  the  public. 

The  questions  to  which  the  committee  have  directed  their  attention  are 
as  follows : 

First :  Have  the  Common  Council  of  this  city,  under  the  existing  laws 
relative  to  common  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York,  a  legal  right  to  appro- 
priate any  portion  of  the  school  fund  to  religious  corporations  ? 

Second :  Would  the  exercise  of  such  power  be  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  the  Constitution  and  the  nature  of  our  Government  ? 

It  is  undeniable  that  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New  York  have, 
by  statute,  the  power  of  designating  the  "  institutions  and  schools  "  which 
shall  participate  in  the  benefits  of  the  common  school  fund.  Under  the 
statute  confirming  this  power,  the  question  naturally  'arises,  What  associa- 
tions of  individuals  does  the  phrase  "  institutions  and  schools  "  include  ?  A 
brief  view  of  the  legislation  of  the  State  upon  the  subject  of  public  instruc- 
tion in  this  city  will  throw  much  light  upon  the  subject. 

The  common  school  system  of  the  State  of  New  York  was  designed  by 
the  people,  through  whose  representatives  in  the  Legislature  it  was  organ- 
ized, to  afford  to  every  child  the  opportunity  of  acquiring  a  plain  and  prac- 
tical education  of  that  character  which  would  fit  him  for  the  ordinary  busi- 
ness of  life.  To  afford  to  all  citizens  the  privilege  of  educating  their  chil- 
dren under  the  public  care  and  at  the  public  charge,  the  Legislature  per- 
ceived the  necessity  of  placing  the  schools  beyond  the  reach  of  those 
influences  which  might  render  them  obnoxious  to  the  feelings  of  any  citizen. 
To  avoid  the  introduction  of  subjects  of  instruction  into  the  schools  that 
might  by  possibility  lead  to  the  creatiftn  of  angry  and  unpleasant  feelings  in 
the  little  neighborhoods  which  compose  the  school  districts  of  the  State,  the 
entire  management  and  control  of  the  schools,  in  the  first  instance,  was  given 
by  law  to  commissioners,  inspectors,  and  trustees,  elected  immediately  by 
the  people  of  the  several  towns  and  districts.  Private  associations  and 
religious  corporations  were  excluded  from  the  management  of  the  funds  and 
the  government  of  the  schools.  Private  interest,  under  this  system,  could 
not  appropriate  the  public  treasure  to  private  purposes,  and  religious  zeal 
could  not  divert  them  to  the  purposes  of  proselytism.  The  watchful  eye  of 


BEPOKT    OF   COMMITTEE   ON   ARTS   AND    SCIENCES.  725 

an  interested  community  guarded  the  treasure  of  the  schools,  and  mutual 
jealousy  prevented  the  introduction  of  any  system  of  education  into  the 
school-room  which  might  by  possibility  be  the  means  of  propagating  the 
doctrines  of  any  denomination  at  the  expense  of  others.  It  is  evident  from 
the  strictly  popular  character  of  the  system  of  public  instruction  as  origi- 
nally established,  that  the  Legislature  intended  the  public  school  fund  to  be 
employed  for  the  purpose  of  communicating  to  the  children  of  the  State 
instruction  of  a  strictly  secular  character,  altogether  unconnected  with  either 
political  or  religious  education.  This  system  for  the  government  of  the 
schools  has  existed  in  the  State,  excepting  in  the  city  of  New  York  and 
some  other  cities,  from  the  year  1812  to  the  present  time,  and  has  been  pro- 
ductive of  the  happiest  results. 

The  first  general  act  for  the  establishment  of  common  schools  was  passed 
in  the  year  1812.  By  that  act  the  common  school  system  was  organized  in 
the  manner  and  with  the  design  hereinbefore,  stated.  All  the  provisions  of 
the  act  in  question  did  not  extend  to  this  city.  The  officers  charged  with 
the  expenditure  of  the  school  money  and  the  supervision  of  the  schools  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  were  not  intended  to  be  elected  by  the  people,  nor 
were  the  people,  through  their  immediate  representatives,  to  exercise  a 
direct  control  over  the  subject.  A  subsequent  act  was  passed  on  the  12th 
of  March,  1813,  relative  to  common  schools  in  this  city  (and  supplementary 
to  the  act  of  1812),  by  which  the  Commissioners  of  School  Moneys  were 
directed  to  pay  the  moneys  received  by  them  to  "  the  trustees  of  the  Free- 
School  Society  in  the  city  of  New  York  "  (now  known  as  the  Public  School 
Society),  and  to  "  the  trustees  or  teachers  of  the  Orphan  Asylum  Society, 
the  Sc  ciety  of  the  Economical  School  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  African 
Free  School,  and  of  such  incorporated  religious  societies  in  said  city  as  now 
support,  or  hereafter  shall  establish,  charity  schools  within  the  said  city, 
who  may  apply  for  the  same,"  &c.  Revised  Laws,  vol.  1,  p.  267. 

It  will  be  perceived  that,  by  this  act,  "  incorporated  religious  societies  " 
were  expressly  named  as  proper  recipients  of  the  public  bounty  provided 
for  the  support  of  common  schools  ;  and  it  appears,  too,  from  the  language 
of  the  act,  that  the  commissioners  had  no  discretion  as  to  the  admission  or 
exclusion  of  religious  societies  from  a  participation  in  the  fund.  The  law 
was  imperative  in  its  character,  and  the  several  religious  societies  of  the 
city  possessed  a  legal  right  to  draw  their  respective  portions  of  the  fund 
from  the  public  treasury,  subject  only  to  the  restriction  that  the  money  so 
received  should  be  appropriated  to  the  purposes  of  free  and  common  edu- 
cation. Under  this  law  many  churches  of  different  denominations  partici- 
pated in  the  benefits  of  the  school  fund.  At  different  periods,  special  acts 
of  the  Legislature  were  passed,  conferring  portions  of  the  same  fund  upon 
several  charitable  societies  other  than  those  of  a  sectarian  character.  An- 
other act,  which  eventually  led  to  the  change  in  the  system,  which  your 
committee  are  about  to  state,  was  passed  in  1822,  authorizing  the  Bethel 
Baptist  Church  (then  one  of  the  participants  in  the  school  fund)  "  to  em- 
ploy the  surplus  of  school  money  in  their  hands  in  the  erection  of  school- 
houses  and  all  other  needful  purposes  of  a  common  school  education,  but 


726  APPENDIX. 

for  no  other  purpose  whatever."  Under  this  act  gross  abuses  occurred,  and 
the  funds  received  by  the  church  were  applied  to  other  purposes  than  those 
contemplated  by  the  act.  This  misapplication  of  the  public  money,  devoted 
to  the  sacred  purpose  of  common  education,  induced  the  Legislature,  in  the 
session  of  1834,  not  to  repeal  the  act  passed  for  the  benefit  of  the  Bethel 
Church,  and  under  which  the  abuses  in  question  had  occurred,  but  to  repeal 
that  portion  of  the  act  of  1813  which  included  "  incorporated  religious 
societies  "  among  the  recipients  of  the  school  fund.  The  committee  will 
proceed  to  state  the  extent  and  manner  of  the  repeal  in  detail. 

On  the  19th  of  November,  1824,  the  Legislature,  in  consequence  of  the 
abuses  of  the  Bethel  Church,  and  evidently  with  a  view  to  guard  against 
the  recurrence  of  similar  or  any  abuses  thereafter,  passed  a  general  act.  en- 
tering fully  into  details,  for  the  better  management  of  the  school  fund  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  By  this  act  many  important  alterations  in  the  sys- 
tem were  effected ;  and,  among  others,  the  whole  power  of  selecting  the 
recipients  of  the  school  moneys  was  delegated  to  the  Common  Council. 
The  act  to  which  your  committee  refer  is  entitled,  "  An  Act  Relating  to 
Common  Schools  in  the  City  of  New  York."  By  the  fifth  «ection  of  this 
law  it  is  provided  as  follows :  "  The  institutions  or  schools  which  shall  be 
entitled  to  receive  of  said  school  moneys,  shall,  from  time  to  time,  and  at 
least  once  in  three  years,  be  designated  by  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  in  common  council  convened,  who  shall  also  have  power  to  pre- 
scribe the  limitations  and  restrictions  under  which  said  moneys  shall  be 
received  by  said  institutions  or  schools,  or  any  of  them."  Laws  of  1824, 
p.  338.  By  the  ninth  section  it  is  provided  that  the  act  take  effect  on  the 
15th  day  of  May,  1825,  and  that,  from  and  after  that  day,  the  act  entitled 
"  An  Act  Supplementary  to  the  Act,  Entitled  '  An  Act  for  the  Establishment 
of  Common  Schools,' "  passed  the  12th  of  March,  1813,  and  all,  each  and 
every  other  act  or  section  and  sections  of  acts  heretofore  passed,  relating  to 
common  schools,  to  moneys  arising  from  the  school  fund  of  the  State,  or  to 
the  distribution  or  apportionment  thereof,  so  far  as  relates  to,  or  in  any  wise 
concerns,  the  city  and  county  of  New  York,  and  societies  supporting  charity 
schools  therein,  and  no  further,  is  and  are  hereby  repealed.  Laws  of  1824, 
p.  389. 

Previous  to  1824,  the  Legislature  of  the  State  designated  the  societies  or 
schools  who  were  entitled  to  receive  a  portion  of  the  school  fund,  but  by 
the  act  of  that  year,  reenacted  in  the  Revised  Statutes,  that  power  is  con- 
ferred upon  the  Common  Council ;  and  the  question  now  presented  to  the 
board  is,  whether  the  Common  Council  have  an  unlimited  discretion  in  the 
matter,  or  whether  they  are  subject  to  any  limitation  ;  and  if  so,  to  what  ? 

By  the  school  act  of  1812,  "  incorporated  religious  societies  "  supporting 
or  establishing  charity  schools  were  expressly  named  as  entitled  to  receive, 
with  other  societies,  their  ratable  proportions  of  the  school  fund.  One  of 
the  "  incorporated  religious  societies  "  participating  in  the  fund,  and  author- 
ized by  law  to  employ  it  for  a  special  purpose,  misapplied  the  money  and 
abused  the  trust  reposed  in  it.  The  Legislature  immediately  thereafter  re- 
pealed the  law  of  1813,  under  which  religious  societies  were  then  recipients 


EEPOKT   OF   COMMITTEE    ON   ARTS    AND    SCIENCES.  727 

of  the  money,  and  authorized  the  Common  Council  to  designate  the  "  insti- 
tutions ''  and  ''  schools  "  which  should  be  entitled  to  receive  it. 

There  is  something  peculiar  in  the  language  of  the  repealing  act  of  1824, 
which  fully  satisfies  your  committee  that  the  Legislature  intended,  ever  after, 
to  exclude  religious  corporations  from  the  reception  of  the  school  moneys. 
Tn  the  act  of  1813  they  are  named  as  "  incorporated  religious  societies," 
and  this  is  the  only  act  under  which  they  ever  received  any  portion  of  the 
fund. 

By  the  act  of  1824,  "  institutions  "  and  "  schools  "  are  to  receive  it.  It 
would  require  much  ingenuity  to  induce  any  person  to  believe  that  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  would,  in  a  solemn  legal  enactment,  describe  a 
church  as  an  "  institution  "  or  a  "  school."  The  language  employed,  your 
committee  believe,  should  be  constructed  in  its  plain  and  familiar  meaning ; 
and  it  must  be  evident  to  all,  that  if  the  Legislature,  in  1824,  intended  to 
confer  any  portion  of  the  school  fund  upon  religious  societies,  they  would 
have  used  the  words  found  in  the  act  of  1813,  or  words  of  a  similar  import. 

The  attention  of  the  board  is  also  called  to  that  part  of  the  ninth  sec- 
tion of  the  act  of  1824  which  repeals  the  act  of  1813,  relative  to  common 
schools  in  this  city.  This  section  declares,  in  the  most  unequivocal  and 
forcible  manner,  "  that  the  act  of  1813,  and  all  and  every  other  act  or  sec- 
tions of  acts  relating  to  the  distribution  and  apportionment  of  the  school 
fund,  so  far  as  the  same  relates  to  the  city  of  New  York,  and  to  societies 
supporting  charity  schools  therein,  are  repealed."  No  language  can  be  more 
clear  and  explicit  than  this,  and  your  committee  cannot  hesitate  in  express- 
ing it  to  be  their  opinion  that  the  only  authority  under  which  religious 
societies  participated  in  the  school  fund,  was  contained  in  the  act  of  1813  : 
and  that  this  act  was  repealed  by  the  Legislature  with  the  full  intention 
that  religious  societies,  as  such,  should  no  longer  receive  any  portion  of  the 
school  money  from  the  public  treasury,  even  for  the  purpose  of  supporting 
common  schools.  This  opinion  of  your  committee  is  confirmed  by  the 
almost  universal  opinion  of  the  people  of  this  city,  from  1824  to  the  present 
time. 

It  is  undeniable  that  the  Common  Council  have  a  general  discretion  as 
to  the  schools  to  be  supported  by  the  public  money  ;  but  it  appears  to  your 
committee  that  the  intentions  of  the  Legislature  and  the  people,  although 
not  reduced  to  the  form  of  a  positive  legal  enactment,  should,  so  far  as  they 
can  be  gathered  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Legislature,  be  respected  by 
the  Common  Council.  Believing  that  the  act  of  1824  was  intended  to  pre- 
vent a  participation  in  the  school  moneys  by  religious  societies,  your  com- 
mittee suggest  to  the  board,  that  their  power  to  apportion  the  fund  among 
societies  of  that  character,  is,  at  the  least,  very  questionable ;  and  that  a 
prudent  regard  for  the  obligations  of  duty  should  prevent  the  exercise  of 
so  doubtful  a  poWer  in  any  case  whatever. 

It  may  be  proper  here  to  observe,  that  the  act  of  1€24,  relative  to  the 
distribution  of  school  moneys  in  the  city  of  New  York,  was  reenacted  in 
the  Revised  Statutes  (vol.  1,  new  ed.,  p.  483).  In  the  reenactment  of  this 
statute,  the  words  ''  societies  or  schools  "  are  used  in  defining  the  recipients 


728  APPENDIX. 

of  the  fund.  It  may  be  urged  that  the  alteration  of  the  language  of  the 
act  in  question  indicated  an  intention  on  the  part  of  the  Legislature  to  re- 
turn to  the  system  of  distribution  established  by  the  act  of  1813.  But 
your  committee  cannot  entertain  this  view  of  the  subject.  The  revisors  of 
the  laws  were  appointed  to  digest  and  codify  the  then  existing  statute  law 
of  the  State.  In  the  performance  of  this  duty,  they,  in  various  instances 
adopted  language  which  they  believed  to  be  more  clear,  explicit,  or  appro* 
priate  than  that  of  the  original  act.  The  language  of  the  Revised  Statutes, 
in  relation  to  the  subject  under  consideration,  may  perhaps  be  preferable, 
in  some  respects,  to  that  of  the  original  act  of  1824,  but  it  certainly  cannot 
be  construed  as  intended  to  alter  the  legal  effect  of  that  law.  It  relates  to 
the  same  subject-matter,  and  is  virtually  declared  to  be  a  reenactment  of 
the  former  act,  by  the  reference  contained  in  the  accompanying  note ;  and 
the  committee  can  therefore  adopt  no  rule  of  construction  that  would  defeat 
the  object  of  that  act,  which  it  was  evidently  the  design  of  the  revisors  and 
the  Legislature  to  confirm  and  perpetuate. 

The  same  remark  may  be  made  in  relation  to  the  provisions  of  the  Re- 
vised Statutes  that  was  made  in  reference  to  the  act  of  1824.  If  the  revisors 
or  the  Legislature  intended  to  include  religious  corporations  among  the 
recipients  of  the  school  fund,  they  would  have  used  the  words  "  incorpo- 
rated religious  societies,"  or  words  of  a  similar  meaning  and  import. 

There  is  another  important  view  of  the  subject  to  which  the  committee 
would  call  the  attention  of  the  board.  The  Constitution  of  the  State,  in 
the  following  impressive  language,  secures  to  every  citizen  the  utmost  liberty 
of  conscience  :  "  The  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  religious  profession  and 
worship,  without  discrimination  or  preference,  shall  forever  be  allowed,  in 
this  State,  to  all  mankind."  Art.  7,  sec.  3.  There  can  be  no  constitu- 
tional guarantee  more  full  and  general  than  this ;  and  it  was  certainly  the 
object  of  the  convention  which  framed,  and  of  the  people  who  adopted,  the 
Constitution,  to  prevent  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  and  all  other  branches 
of  the  Government,  from  creating  any  distinctions  between  citizens  on 
account  of  religious  faith,  or  giving  to  one  sect  any  preference  or  advantage 
over  another.  That  this  is  the  object  of  the  constitutional  provision  referred 
to,  none  can  deny.  The  question  then  arises,  How  far  will  the  appropriation 
of  the  school  moneys  asked  for  by  the  petitioners  conflict  with  the  require- 
ments and  intentions  of  the  Constitution  ?  This  branch  of  the  subject  has 
been  attentively  considered  by  your  committee,  and  they  offer  the  following 
as  the  results  of  their  deliberations  : 

The  people  of  the  State  of  New  York  are  divided  into  almost  innumer- 
able religious  sects  and  denominations.  These  different  sects  view  the  prog- 
ress of  each  other  with  watchful  jealousy.  The  natural  desire  that  all  men 
possess,  to  make  converts  to  the  opinions  which  they  have  honestly  formed 
and  zealously  maintain,  ever  has  led,  and  ever  will  lead,-  to  exertions  and 
struggles  to  extend- those  opinions  to  the  utmost  limit.  This  is  true  of  all 
opinions ;  but  the  history  of  the  world  proves-  that  it  applies  more  justly  to 
religious  opinion  than  to  any  other.  The  Old  World,  and  even  our  own 
country,  has  witnessed  not  only  religious  zeal  endeavoring  to  make  prose- 


REPORT    OF   COMMITTEE   ON    ARTS   AND    SCIENCES.  729 

lytes  to  its  own  faith  by  the  means  of  persuasion,  argument,  and  even  de- 
nunciation ;  but  persecution  for  opinion's  sake  is  known  to  the  history  of 
every  civilized  government.  Religious  zeal,  degenerating  into  fanaticism 
and  bigotry,  has  covered  many  battle-fields  with  its  victims ;  the  stake,  the 
gibbet,  and  the  prison  have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  countless  martyrs ;  exile 
from  the  land  of  their  nativity,  expulsion  from  the  seats  of  civilization  to 
the  wilderness  of  the  savage,  have  been  experienced  by  hundreds  of  almost 
every  sect,  who  could  not  honestly  subscribe  to  the  religious  opinions  of  the 
majority.  To  prevent,  in  our  day  and  country,  the  recurrence  of  scenes  B<- 
abhorrent  to  every  principle  of  justice,  humanity,  and  right,  the  Constitu- 
tions of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States  have  declared,  in  some 
form  or  other,  that  there  should  be  no  establishment  of  religion  by  law ; 
that  the  affairs  of  the  State  should  be  kept  entirely  distinct  from,  and  un- 
connected with,  those  of  the  Church  ;  that  every  human  being  should  wor- 
ship God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience ;  that  all  churches 
and  religions  should  be  supported  by  voluntary  contribution ;  and  that  no 
tax  should  ever  be  imposed  for  the  benefit  of  any  denomination  of  religion, 
for  any  cause  or  under  any  pretence  whatever.  These  principles  are  either 
expressly  declared  in  the  several  constitutions,  or  arise  by  necessary  implica- 
tion from  the  nature  of  our  Government  and  the  character  of  our  republican 
institutions. 

In  the  cases  before  your  committee,  the  petitioners  ask  for  an  appropria- 
tion of  the  public  money  to  the  support  of  schools  established  by,  and  con- 
ducted under  the  control  of,  certain  religious  corporations ;  and  these 
schools,  in  the  one  case,  are  established  principally  for  the  instruction  of  the 
children  of  indigent  members  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  teach- 
ers— if  your  committee  are  correctly  informed — are  appointed  by  the  trus- 
tees of  those  churches,  and  the  plan  of  instruction  pursued  is  adopted  by 
the  same  officers.  This  plan  includes  religious  instruction  at  stated  periods, 
to  be  communicated  by  means  of  the  catechism  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
Your  committee  are  unable  to  say  positively  whether  any  devotional  exer- 
cises are  used  or  required  in  the  schools  ;  but  they  regard  this  as  immaterial 
to  be  considered  in  this  stage  of  the  question.  They  are  also  unable  to  state 
whether  any  religious  instruction  is  given,  or  intended  to  be  given,  in  the 
schools  of  the  other  petitioners — the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the 
Hebrew  congregation.  The  schools  sought  to  be  supported  from  the  public 
treasury  (being  controlled  by  religious  corporations)  are,  to  that  extent, 
religious  schools. 

To  a  correct  understanding  of  the  relation  this  case  bears  to  the  consti- 
tutional provisions  and  principles  hereinbefore  referred  to,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  refer  briefly  to  the  sources  and  present  extent  of  the  school  fund 
appropriated  to  the  city  of  New  York.  This  fund  arises,  in  part,  from  the 
annual  income  of  the  proceeds  of  lands  sold  by  the  State,  which  belonged 
to  the  people  of  the  State  in  common,  the  interest  of  the  United  States 
Deposit  Fund,  and  also  from  annual  taxation  upon  the  people  of  this  city. 


730  APPENDIX. 

The  amount  received  from  the  State  Treasury  in  the 

year  1838  was,  .....  $34,172.47 

Amount  of  tax  raised  by  the  Corporation  for  common 
schools,  under  the  general  law  relating  to  common 
schools,  for  the  same  year,  .  .  .  34,172.47 

Amount  of  tax  raised  in  this  city  for  common  school 

purposes,  under  special  statutes,  in  the  same  year,  73,150.00 

$141,494.94 

The  whole  amount  received  from  the  school  fund  of  the  State,  the  com- 
mon property  of  the  people,  is  $34,172.47.  The  amount  raised  by  tax  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  for  the  support  of  common  schools  for  1838,  was 
$107,322.47,  or  nearly  the  one  twelfth  part  of  the  whole  amount  of  taxes 
levied  in  this  city. 

It  is  urged,  on  the  part  of  the  Catholic  petitioners,  that  they,  as  taxpay- 
ers, contribute  to  the  fund  thus  annually  raised,  and  that  they  are  therefore 
entitled  to  participate  in  its  benefits.  This  is  undoubtedly  true ;  but  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  they  are  taxed  not  as  members  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  but  as  citizens  of  the  State  of  New  York ;  and  not  for  the 
purposes  of  religion,  but  for  the  support  of  civil  government.  The  Consti- 
tution acknowledges  no  distinctions  among  men  on  account  of  their  reli- 
( gious  faith  ;  and  your  committee  would  call  the  attention  of  the  petitioners 
to  the  fact  that  our  institutions  are  designed  not  to  create  or  perpetuate 
religious  distinctions,  but  to  place  all  mankind  upon  a  common  footing  of 
equality.  Any  legal  acknowledgment  of  any  religious  denomination,  as  a 
dependant  upon  the  public  bounty  for  any  kind  of  pecuniary  aid  or  sup- 
port, would  be  an  abandonment  of  the  great  constitutional  principle,  that 
the  end  and  aim  of  all  just  government  is  the  equal  protection  of  all  men  in 
the  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  the  rights  derived  from  the  written  Con- 
stitution of  the  land,  or  the  still  higher  authority  of  nature.  The  appro- 
priation of  any  portion  of  the  public  treasure  to  the  Roman  Catholic  or  any 
other  churches  in  this  city,  must  be  regarded  as  violative  of  this  great  doc- 
trine. Admit  the  correctness  of  the  claim  that  the  Common  Council  of  the 
city,  or  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  may  rightfully  appropriate  the  public 
money  to  the  purposes  of  religious  instruction  of  any  kind  in  any  school, 
and  the  consequence  will  be,  that  the  people  are  taxed  by  law  for  the  sup- 
port of  some  one  or  other  of  our  numerous  religious  denominations.  The 
amount  of  one  hundred  and  seven  thousand  dollars  and  upward,  as  herein- 
before stated,  has  been  raised  by  annual  tax  in  this  city,  for  purposes  of  a 
purely  civil  and  secular  character.  An  appropriation  of  any  portion  of  that 
sum  to  the  support  of  schools  in  which  the  religious  tenets  of  any  sect  are 
taught  to  any  extent,  would  be  a  legal  establishment  of  one  denomination 
of  religion  over  another,  would  conflict  with  a.11  the  principles  and  purposes 
of  our  free  institutions,  and  would  violate  the  very  letter  of  that  part  of  our 
Constitution  which  so  emphatically  declares  that  "  the  free  exercise  and 
enjoyment  of  religious  profession  and  worship,  without  discrimination  or 
preference,  shall  forever  be  allowed,  in  this  State,  to  all  mankind."  By 


EEPOBT    OF    COMMITTEE   ON    ARTS    AND    SCIENCES.  731 

granting  a  portion  of  the  school  fund  to  one  sect,  to  the  exclusion  of  others, 
a  "preference"  is  at  once  created,  a  "discrimination"  is  made,  and  the  object 
of  this  great  constitutional  guarantee  is  defeated ;  taxes  are  imposed  for  the 
support  of  religion,  and  freedom  of  conscience,  if  not  directly  trammelled 
and  confined,  is  not  left  in  the  perfect  and  unshackled  state  which  our  sys- 
tems of  government  were  intended  to  establish  and  perpetuate.  It  requires 
no  argument  to  prove  that  taxation  of  all  sects,  for  the  benefit  of  one,  is  a 
violation  of  the  rights  of  conscience.  No  difference  can  be  perceived,  in 
principle,  between  the  taxing  of  the  people  of  England  for  the  support  of  a 
church  establishment  there,  and  the  taxing  of  the  people  of  New  York  for 
the  support  of  schools  in  which  the  doctrines  of  religious  denominations 
are  taught  here.  It  is  immaterial  whether  the  amount  of  tax  imposed  is 
great  or  small ;  so  long  as  a  tax  is  imposed  for  the  purposes  of  religious 
instruction  to  the  slightest  possible  extent,  that  tax  is  unauthorized  by  the 
Constitution,  violates  the  rights  of  conscience,  defeats,  to  some  extent,  the 
purposes,  and  conflicts  with  the  spirit,  of  our  free  institutions. 

It  may  be  said,  in  reply  to  these  observations,  that  all  constitutional  diffi- 
culties will  be  removed,  by  admitting  all  religious  denominations  to  a  partici- 
pation in  the  fund.  This,  your  committee  have  no  doubt,  the  petitioners  would 
willingly  assent  to.  The  petitioners  have  no  desire  of  securing  a  portion  of  the 
fund  for  themselves,  and  excluding  others  from  the  enjoyment  of  the  same  ad- 
vantages. They  are  willing  that  other  sects  should  establish  schools  on  simi- 
lar principles  with  their  own,  and  that  those  schools  should  receive  equal  en- 
couragement from  the  public  with  theirs.  These  remarks  are  made  with  a 
view  to  exonerate  the  petitioners  from  the. suspicion  of  having  been  influ- 
enced by  selfish  or  illiberal  motives.  The  committee  are  fully  satisfied  that 
they  have  acted  under  a  conviction  of  duty,  but  with  an  erroneous  view  of 
their  rights  as  religious  societies,  the  provisions  of  the  law,  and  the  powers 
of  the  Common  Council,  and  not  from  a  desire  to  advance  the  interests  of 
the  several  churches  to  which  they  are  attached,  at  the  expense  of  the  Con- 
stitution. 

An  extension  to  all  other  denominations  of  the  bounty  asked  for  by  the 
petitioners  would  be  not  only  impracticable,  but  would  be,  equally  with  the 
grant  sought  by  the  Roman  Catholic  churches,  and  the  Scotch  Presbyterian 
and  Hebrew  congregations,  repugnant  to  the  principles  of  our  Government. 
If  the  doctrines  of  all  the  religious  denominations  in  the  State  were  taught 
in  the  slightest  degree  at  the  expense  of  the  people,  under  the  authority  of 
law,  there  would  still  be  a  legal  religious  establishment,  not  confined  to  one 
or  a  few  sects,  it  is  true,  but  covering  many.  Taxes,  under  such  a  system, 
would  still  be  raised  for  religious  purposes ;  and  those  who  professed  no 
religion,  or  belonged  to  no  sect,  would  be  taxed  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
did.  It  is  immaterial,  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  whether  a  citizen  professes  any 
or  no  religious  faith  ;  he  is  still  a  citizen,  and,  as  such,  is  entitled  to  the  free 
enjoyment  of  whatever  opinions  he  may  entertain :  and  there  is  no  differ- 
ence, in  legal  principles,  between  taxing  him  for  the  purpose  of  educating 
the  young  in  the  doctrines  of  many  churches,  to  which  he  does  not  belong, 
and  taxing  the  Catholic  for  the  benefit  of  Protestant  schools,  or  taxing  the 


732  APPENDIX. 

Protestant  for  the  support  of  Catholic  seminaries.  The  rights  of  conscience 
are  the  same  in  the  oue  case  as.  in  the  other ;  and  the  cases  are  identical  in 
principle,  although,  in  the  one  instance,  but  few  may  deem  themselves 
injured,  and,  in  the  other,  thousands  may  complain  of  the  violation  of  their 
rights  as  free  citizens.  No  government  can  rightfully  deprive  any — the 
humblest  being — of  the  rights  which  he  may  derive  from  nature  as  a  man, 
or  of  those  which  he  possesses  as  a  citizen  under  the  Constitution  of  his 
country. 

There  are  insuperable  objections  to  dividing  the  school  fund  among  reli- 
gious societies  for  the  support  of  schools.  The  dependence  upon  the  bounty 
of  the  civil  government  "which  it  induces,  is  as  foreign  to  the  nature  and 
character  of  the  Christian  religion  as  it  is  hostile  to  the  theory  of  our  Gov- 
ernment. Religion  needs  not  the  support  of  secular  power ;  its  appeals  are 
to  the  judgments  and  hearts  of  men.  Truth  is  its  only  weapon ;  and  the 
only  shield  it  requires  is  that  of  broad  and  equal  protection.  Religious  lib- 
erty is  necessary  to  the  free  development  of  religious  truth.  That  liberty 
all  sects  possess  in  the  fullest  degree,  and  no  sect  can  rightfully  procure 
more.  The  purity  of  the  Church  and  the  safety  of  the  State  are  more  surely 
obtained  by  a  distinct  and  separate  existence  of  the  two  than  by  their 
union.  The  opinions  of  the  American  people  are  settled  upon  this  subject, 
and  they  will  observe  with  jealous  anxiety  any  approaches  to  a  reestablish- 
ment  of  the  exploded  doctrine  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  State  to  protect 
the  religious  interests  of  the  people,  or  propagate,  at  the  public  expense,  the 
doctrines  of  any  faith,  however  true  they  may  be. 

The  division  of  the  school  fund  among  the  different  religious  denomina- 
tions of  the  city  would  lead  to  the  most  unfortunate  results.  If  a  division 
of  this  character  should  be  made,  it  would  be,  doubtless,  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  children  taught  in  each  school.  The  schools,  although  free 
to  all  that  might  desire  to  enter,  would  be  mainly  sectarian  in  their  charac- 
ter. To  increase  the  number  of  scholars  in  each  school,  and  thus  secure  to 
themselves  as  large  a  share  of  the  public  bounty  as  possible,  would  be  the 
natural  desire  of  each  denomination.  The  main  object  of  the  interested 
parties  would  be,  to  make  proselytes  to  their  respective  faiths,  and  thus  to 
increase  the  power  and  numerical  strength  of  the  several  churches,  and  the 
number  and  extent  of  the  several  schools.  The  consequence  of  this  state  of 
things  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine.  Jealousies,  rivalries,  and  dissen- 
sions would  supplant  those  gentler  feelings  which  should  guide  and  mark 
the  conduct  of  men  toward  each  other  in  civil  society.  Bigotry,  fanaticism, 
and  violence  might  assume  the  place  of  charity,  meekness,  and  love ;  and 
thus  a  train  of  evils  be  induced,  destructive  to  the  true  interests  of  religion, 
and  dangerous  to  the  harmony,  the  permanency,  and  the  freedom  of  the 
State.  The  history  of  the  world  teems  with  examples  of  religious  excite- 
ment degenerating  into  wild  and  embittered  fanaticism  ;  jealousies  convert- 
ed into  open  dissensions,  and  dissensions  ripening  into  wars,  and  those  ware 
devastating  whole  nations,  until  the  angry  feelings  of  the  partisans  were 
satiated  by  the  blood  of  their  victims. 

If  the  school  money  should  be  divided  among  the  religious  denomina- 


KEPOKT    OF    COMMITTEE   ON   ARTS   AND    SCIENCES.  733 

tions  generally,  as  some  have  proposed,  there  will  be  nothing  left  for  the 
support  of  schools  of  a  purely  civil  character ;  and  if  there  should  be,  in 
such  a  state  of  things,  any  citizen  who  could  not,  according  to  his  opinions 
of  right  and  wrong,  conscientiously  send  his  child  to  the  school  of  an  exist- 
ing sect,  there  would  be  no  public  school  in  which  he  could  be  educated. 
This  might,  and  probably  would,  be  the  case  with  hundreds  of  our  citizens. 
The  committee  would  ask,  if  any  individual  could  desire  to  see  a  fellow- 
citizen,  however  humble  he  might  be,  deprived  of  the  opportunity  of  pro- 
curing for  his  child  that  education  which,  as  a  citizen  and  a  taxpayer,  he 
has  a  right  to  demand  ? 

An  objection  is  urged  by  the  Roman  Catholic  petitioners  against  the 
schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  to  the  effect  that  no  religious  instruc- 
tion is  there  given ;  or,  if  any  is  given,  it  is  of  a  character  which  reflects 
upon  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  committee  are  disposed  to 
believe  that  there  is  some  error  in  relation  to  this  matter.  They  have  been 
informed,  by  the  officers  of  the  Public  School  Society,  that  no  books  are 
used  in  their  schools  which  reflect  in  any  degree  upon  the  Catholic  Church. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  committee  referred  to  in  the  preceding  part  of  this 
report,  several  officers  of  the  Public  School  Society,  then  present,  offered  to 
submit  the  text-books  of  the  schools  to  the  inspection  of  the  highest  cleri- 
cal officers  of  that  Church  for  examination,  and  freely  proffered  to  purge 
from  the  exercises  and  books  of  the  schools  every  thing  (if  any  could  be 
found)  that  exposed  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  or  any  thing  connected 
with  it,  to  ridicule  or  censure. 

If  any  books  are  used  in  the  public  schools  relating,  in  the  slightest 
degree,  to  the  doctrines  or  ceremonies  of  the  Roman  Catholic  or  any  other 
religious  denomination,  the  directors  of  the  schools,  or  other  proper  officers, 
should  cause  them  to  be  immediately  removed.  If  religious  instruction  is 
communicated,  it  is  foreign  to  the  intentions  of  the  school  system,  and 
should  be  instantly  abandoned.  Religious  instruction  is  no  part  of  a  com- 
mon school  education.  The  church  and  the  fireside  are  the  proper  semina- 
ries, and  parents  and  pastors  are  the  proper  teachers  of  religion.  In  their 
hands  the  cause  of  religion  is  safe.  Let  the  public  schoolmaster  confine  his 
attention  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  education  of  the  young  committed  to 
his  charge,  and  he  fully  performs  the  duties  of  his  profession,  discharges  the 
trust  reposed  in  him  as  a  public  agent,  and  fulfils  his  obligations  as  a 
citizen. 

The  committee  have  given  the  subject  referred  to  them  a  thorough  con- 
sideration, and  they  feel  bound  to  say  that,  in  their  opinion,  the  petitioners, 
coming  before  the  Common  Council  in  the  capacity  of  religious  denomina- 
tions, have  not  made  out  a  valid  claim  to  a  participation  in  the  common 
school  fund  in  that  capacity.  The  reasons  that  have  led  the  committee  to 
this  conclusion  are  hereinbefore  stated.  The  intentions  of  the  Legislature, 
the  will  of  the  people  as  expressed  through  their  representatives,  and  the 
imperative  requirements  of  the  Constitution,  preclude  the  Common  Council 
(in  the  opinion  of  the  committee)  from  granting  their  petitions.  In  arriv- 
ing at  this  opinion,  the  committee  have  not  had  reference  to  one  or  a  few, 


734  APPENDIX. 

but  to  all  denominations  in  religion  ;  and  had  such  a  petition  been  present- 
ed from  the  other  denominations  in  this  city,  all  would  have  received  from 
the  committee  the  answer  that  is  given  to  these.  No  desire  exists  to  include 
one  sect  in  the  benefits  of  the  school  fund,  and  exclude  others,  but  the  object 
of  the  committee  has  been,  to  keep  that  fund  sacredly  appropriated  to  the 
purposes  for  which  it  was  created — the  purposes  of  free  and  common  secular 
education.  To  this  purpose  all  the  provisions  of  our  lav?s  and  all  the  re- 
quirements of  our  Constitution  invariably  tend ;  and  the  committee  can  do 
nothing  but  suggest  to  the  board  that  the  obligations  of  the  laws  and  the 
Constitution  are  such,  that  the  appropriation  of  the  school  fund  asked  for 
in  the  several  petitions  before  them,  cannot  be  rightfully  granted. 

In  this  opinion,  your  committee  hope,  the  board,  the  petitioners,  and  the 
public  will  concur.  The  question  is  one  of  that  character  which  appeals  to 
the  liveliest  feelings  of  our  nature,  and.  one  which  is  too  apt  to  create  ex- 
citement and  jealousy.  That  this  may  not  be  the  case  among  any  portion 
of  our  citizens,  your  committee  most  earnestly  desire.  They  conclude  by 
expressing  the  hope  that  the  petitioners,  upon  a  full  examination  of  the 
question,  will  perceive  that  the  granting  of  their  petition  would  be  at  least 
of  doubtful  legality,  foreign  to  the  design  of  the  school  fund,  and  at  vari- 
ance with  the  spirit  of  our  public  institutions. 

The  committee  ask  to  be  discharged  from  the  further  consideration  of 
the  subject. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

CHARLES  J.  DODGE, 


DAVID  GRAHAM,  JR.,    > 


Committee  on  Arts 
THOMAS'CO^R,  ~    '    i  ^  Sconces,  &c. 


c. 

DOCUMENT  NO.   22. 

HOARD  OF  AI.DKUMEX,  July  26,  1811. 

Report  of  the  Commissioners  of  School  Moneys  for  the  year  ending  May 
1st,  1841.  Laid  on  the  table,  and  double  the  usual  number  of  copies 
ordered  to  be  printed.  SAMUEL  J.  WILLIS,  Clerk. 

To  the  Corporation  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  the  Superintendent  of  Com- 
mon Schools  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

[The  report  opens  with  a  summary  of  the  condition  of  the  schools  for 
the  year,  with  the  moneys  received  and  expended.  The  commissioners  state 
that  officially  they  do  not  know,  or  care  to  know,  any  differences  of  religious 
doctrine,  and  proceed  : — ] 

*  *  Their  office  is  one  in  which  their  individual 

convenience  and  avocations  are  very  often  made  to  yield  to  their  public 
duty  ;  which  is  unconnected  with  any  power  of  patronage  or  favor ;  which 


REPORT   OF   COMMISSIONERS    OF   SCHOOL   MONEYS.  735 

they*have  always  been  willing  to  resign  to  any  who,  with  their  amount  of 
zeal,  would  surpass  their  humble  ability  ;  which  was  accepted  only  because 
some  must  perform  it,  and  none  who  can  attend  to  it  faithfully  should  re- 
fuse ;  and  which  has  rendered  no  compensating  return,  but  in  the  feelings 
awakened  by  the  immense  public  benefits  of  which  it  has  made  them  the 
witnesses. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  education  of  the  youth  of  this  city,  by  means 
of  the  public  fund  devoted  to  that  purpose,  has  been  placed  mainly  in  the 
hands  of  a  body  of  .citizens  denominated  "  The  Public  School  Society  of 
the  City  of  New  York."  So  inconsiderable  are  the  exceptions  from  this 
control,  and  so  peculiar  the  circumstances  under  which  each  exception  is 
made,  tha't  the  citizens  alluded  to  may  be  deemed  to  have  the  entire  prac- 
tical execution  of  the  city  system  of  instruction  committed  to  them,  sub- 
ject only  to  the  limitations  and  government  hereafter  adverted  to.  In  this 
broad  view  we  shall  consider  the  Society  throughout  this  report. 

As  erroneous  impressions  partially  exist  in  matters  which  ought  to  be 
better  understood,  it  will  be  proper  to  prepare  the  way  for  their  correction 
by  some  statements  in  regard  to  the  fund  devoted  to  public  education  in 
this  city ;  to  the  body  by  whom  the  schools  are  designated  which  partake 
of  that  public  fund ;  to  the  officers  by  whom  the  division  of  it  is  made ; 
and  to  the  composition  and  performance  of  the  Public  School  Society. 
These  details  will  swell  this  report  beyond  the  compass  within  which  we 
had  hoped  to  confine  it ;  but  their  importance  and  necessity  seem  so  mani- 
fest, that  we  must  run  the  hazard  of  prolixity. 

The  public  fund,  then,  assigned  to  the  education  of  youth  in  this  city  is 
derived,  to  the  extent  of  somewhat  more  than  one  fourth  part  of  its  amount, 
from  our  just  proportion  of  the  income  of  certain  funds  of  the  State ;  an 
equal  sum  is  raised  by  taxation  on  the  real  and  personal  estate  in  the  city, 
by  virtue  of  a  general  law  which  places  the  city,  in  that  respect,  under  the 
like  ratable  burden  imposed  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  rest  of  the  State,  for 
purposes  of  education.  In  addition  to  these  amounts,  however,  a  tax,  pecu- 
liar and  confined  to  the  city,  is  raised  on  the  real  and  personal  estate  within 
it,  of  a  sum  almost  equalling  both  the  proportions  of  the  fund  which  are 
before  mentioned.  The  latter  tax  grew  out  of  the  willingness  of  our  citi- 
zens to  pay  this  further  amount  in  order  to  secure  to  our  community  the 
comprehensive,  liberal,  and  efficient  system  of  education  adopted  by  the 
Public  School  Society.  If  this  object  shall  be  defeated,  wholly  or  partially, 
by  a  discouragement  of  their  schools,  and  the  substitution  of  establishments 
of  less  general  benefit,  the  repeal  or  the  non-assessment  of  the  additional 
tax  would,  we  presume,  follow  as  a  matter  of  course. 

The  designation  of  the  schools  which  participate  of  the  above  fund  is 
confided  to  the  Corporation  of  the  city  ;  the  members  of  the  Common  Coun- 
cil being  annually  chosen  for  the  several  wards  by  the  citizens  of  the  wards 
possessing  the  like  qualifications  as  the  electors  for  members  of  the  State 
Legislature ;  and  the  Mayor,  or  corporate  head,  who  has  a  veto  on  their 
proceedings,  being  elected  by  the  whole  body  of  citizens  authorized  to  vote 
for  members  of  the  Common  Council.  The  Corporation  is  required  by  law 


736  APPENDIX. 

to  prescribe  the  rules  and  regulations  under  which  the  public  moneys  shall 
be  distributed,  and  provision  has  accordingly  been  made  for  protecting  the 
rights  of  the  people  in  the  -schools  of  the  Society,  for  the  due  supervision 
of  the  schools,  both  on  the  part  of  the  public  and  of  the  trustees,  and  for 
securing  from  the  schools  a  full  performance  of  all  their  obligations.  A 
failure  in  the  performance  would  be  followed  by  the  penalty  of  a  withdrawal 
of  the  fund  appropriated  for  the  support  of  the  schools. 

The  payment  of  the  school  moneys,  which  is  regulated  by  rules  pre- 
scribed by  law,  is  committed  to  a  Board  of  Commissioners  chosen  by  the 
people  of  the  city  through  their  representatives  in  the  Common  Council,  in 
a  mode  analogous  to  that  by  which  appointments  are  made  by  the  State 
Legislature,  to  the  offices  of  Secretary  of  State  (who  is  ex-offitio  the  super- 
intendent of  all  the  common  schools  of  the  State),  State  Treasurer,  Comp- 
troller, Canal  Commissioners,  Senators  in  Congress,  &c.  One  commissioner 
of  school  money  is  thus  selected  from  each  ward,  for  the  term  of  three  years, 
and  any  vacancy  in  their  board  is  supplied  by  the  Common  Council  for  the 
residue  of  the  term.  The  moneys  to  be  distributed  are  lodged  by  the  cham- 
berlain of  the  city,  to  the  credit  .of  the  commissioners,  in  an  incorporated 
bank,  from  which  they  are  drawn  only  by  checks  signed  at  a  meeting  of  the 
board,  by  a  majority  of  the  commissioners,  and  made  payable  to  the  Society. 
The  commissioners  are  bound  to  make  visits  half-yearly  at  least,  to  all  the 
schools  ;  which  duty  is  performed,  as  to  such  of  the  primary  schools  as  arc 
not  held  in  the  same  building  as  the  public  schools,  by  committees  ;  and  as 
to  the  residue,  and  to  all  the  public  schools,  by  the  whole  board.  The 
board,  before  making  these  general  visits,  are  bound  to  give  three  days' 
notice  of  the  intended  visitation  to  all  the  members  of  the  Common  Coun- 
cil, and  to  such  members  of  the  Legislature  as  reside  in  the  city ;  and  some 
of  these  representatives  of  the  people  always  accompany  the  board  on  such 
occasions.  The  examinations  of  the  pupils  are  invariably  made  at  the 
opening  of  the  book,  by  any  commissioner  or  visitor  named  by  the  chair- 
man, at  the  instant,  without  any  knowledge  until  that  moment,  on  the  part 
of  the  examiner,  teacher,  or  pupil,  what  book  or  subject  would  be  selected, 
or  what  individual  would  conduct  it.  The  Board  of  Commissioners  have, 
beside  their  stated  quarterly  meetings,  a  sufficient  number  of  meetings  for 
the  half-yearly  visitations,  and  special  meetings  whenever.occasion  requires  ; 
and  they  perform,  individually  or  by  committees,  any  duties  which  their 
office  may  demand,  additional  to  those  above  enumerated.  Of  all  their  pro- 
ceedings and  reports  a  regular  record  is  kept ;  and  fines  are,  by  a  voluntary 
regulation,  exacted  from  absentees  from  their  meetings,  without  sufficient 
excuse,  to  be  judged  of  by  the  whole  board.  Their  actual  expenses,  not 
exceeding  $500  in  any  year,  are  reimbursed  to  them.  Reports,  annually 
made  according  to  law,  to  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  and  to 
the  Corporation  of  the  city,  show  the  division  of  the  school  moneys,  and 
the  manner  in  which  those  allotted  the  preceding  year  have  been  expended. 
They  also  show  the  average  number  of  scholars  who  have  belonged  to  the 
schools  within  each  quarter,  and  the  average  attendances  during  the  whole 
year ;  the  year  being  arbitrarily  composed  of  five  hundred  half  days,  and 


REPORT   OF   COMMISSIONERS   OF    SCHOOL    MONEYS.  737 

the  distribution  being  determined  upon  the  latter  average.  In  regard  to 
attendances,  the  law  of  the  State  prescribes  a  different  mode  of  reporting 
them  for  this  city,  as  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the  State ;  the  attend- 
ances reported  from  the  district  schools  in  the  latter,  embracing  every  pupil 
who  has  been  at  school  for  even  a  single  day,  and  the  distribution  being 
governed  by  the  whole  number  of  children  residing  within  the  respective 
districts,  without  regard  to  the'extent  or  duration  of  their  attendance. 

The  Public  School  Society,  to  whom  the  daily  conduct  of  the  schools  is 
committed,  is,  in  effect,  under  the  laws  of  the  State  and  of  the  Corporation 
of  New  York,  the  body  of  citizens  possessing  the  qualifications  prescribed 
by  the  Legislature,  and  the  regulations  it  has  authorized,  to  entitle  them  to 
become  voters  at  the  election  of  trustees  of  the  schools  which  carry  out  the 
system  of  general  education  in  the  city.  The  qualification  consists  in  the 
payment  at  any  time  of  the  sum  of  $10,  which  forever  entitles  the  contribu- 
tor to  this  elective  franchise  ;  and,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  is  founded  on  a 
more  liberal  principle  than  the  qualification  prescribed  for  voters  for  trustees 
of  the  common  schools  of  the  rest  of  the  State.  The  Society  has  the  cor- 
porate powers  often  annexed  to  other  franchises,  suitable  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  its  objects ;  and  does  not  differ  in  character  in  this  respect  from 
the  quasi-corporations  which  regulate  the  district  schools.  No  control  can 
be  exercised  by  the  Society  over  the  admission  of  a  member ;  the  franchise 
being  obtained  as  a  matter  of  right,  by  any  citizen,  without  election,  solici- 
tation, or  badge  of  sect  or  party,  by  the  mere  act  of  the  contribution.  No 
one  can  be  excluded  from  the  qualification,  who  chooses  to  submit  to  its  re- 
quirements ;  and  its  essentials  are  such  as  every  industrious,  prudent  citizen 
can  attain,  by  renouncing,  for  a  short  time,  superfluities  or  injurious  indul- 
gences. The  contribution  is  equal  to  a  perpetuity  of  only  seventy  cents  per 
year.  Fifty  trustees  are  annually  elected  by  these  voters  from  their  own 
body.  The  Society  has,  in  practice,  generally  adopted  the  wise  policy  of 
preferring  those  who,  in  a  former  execution  of  the  same  office,  had  signal- 
ized themselves  by  their  assiduous  and  persevering  attention.  An  abstract, 
exhibiting  the  extent  of  each  trustee's  visitation  and  superintendence  during 
the  antecedent  year,  is  compiled  from  the  school  records,  and  publicly  shown 
at  every  election,  when  inexcusable  omission  of  duty  meets  its  due  requital. 
These  fifty,  of  the  very  elite  of  the  Society,  as  regards  the  love  of  the  labor 
committed  to  them,  and  of  its  faithful  discharge,  may  choose,  if  they  think 
proper,  an  equal  number  of  the  whole  body  entitled  to  vote,  as  associate 
trustees ;  and  in  doing  so,  they  elect  those  whom  it  is  supposed  will  be 
most  ardent  and  efficient  in  the  performance  of  their  duty.  Such  is  the 
formation  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  For  the  practical  performance  of  their 
duty  in  the  supervision  of  the  schools,  the  weekly  examination  of  the  pupils, 
and  the  occasional  advice  necessary  for  the  teachers,  the  trustees  are  divided 
into  sections,  each  embracing  one  public  school-building,  and  the  primary 
schools  attached  thereto.  Each  section  meets  once  in  each  month,  to  con- 
sider the  concerns  and  interests  of  its  own  schools,  and  to  appoint  school 
committees  to  superintend  them  during  the  recess  of  the  section,  and  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  examination  and  advice  before  mentioned.  In  books 
47 


738  APPENDIX. 

of  minutes,  kept  at  each  of  the  schools,  each  member  of  the  committee  must 
note  his  attendances,  and  write  any  transactions  worthy  of  record.  This 
book  is  produced  and  read  at  the  stated  monthly  meetings  of  the  section, 
who  make  a  quarterly  report  to  the  whole  Board  of  Trustees,  embracing  a 
view  of  the  state  of  the  schools  of  the  section ;  of  its  own  proceedings,  and 
those  of  its  committees  ;  of  the  number  of  times  each  member  of  the  School 
Committee  has,  during  the  quarter,  visited  the  schools ;  and  of  any  propo- 
sitions intended  for  the  consideration  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  at  its  quar- 
terly meetings.  An  Executive  Committee,  of  which  the  chairman  of  such 
section  is  ex  officio  a  member,  is  charged  with  the  general  superintending 
care  of  the  schools  during  the  recess  of  the  Board  of  Trustees ;  and  meet 
accordingly  once  in  each  month,  and  oftener,  at  the  request  of  either  of 
their  number.  This  committee  reports  annually,  on  the  general  state  of  the 
schools,  to  the  Board  of  Trustees ;  who,  from  the  materials  obtained  from 
all  the  reports  presented  to  them,  and  their  own  observation,  report  to  the 
Society  at  large.  In  addition  to  their  quarterly  meetings,  meetings  of  all 
the  trustees  are  annually  held  in  school  hours,  in  each  of  the  schools,  for 
the  purpose  of  general  inspection. 

The  trustees  are  obliged,  annually,  to  report  to  the  Corporation  of  the 
city,  and  to  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  "  a  particular  account 
of  the  state  of  their  schools,  and  of  the  moneys  received  and  expended  by 
them  the  year  preceding,  so  as  to  exhibit  a  full  and  perfect  statement  of  the 
property,  funds,  and  affairs  of  the  Society." 

The  schools  of  the  Society  are  designated  by  the  names  of  Primary  and 
Public.  The  former,  of  which  all  the  teachers  are  females,  are  open  to  all 
girls  over  four  years  of  age,  and  to  boys  between  four  and  ten.  In  these  the 
simplest  elements  of  literary  education  are  taught ;  and  also,  among  the 
girls,  plain  sewing.  Perfection  in  the  studies  of  a  lower  class  is  requisite 
before  a  child  is  advanced  to  a  higher.  When  a  pupil  has  learned  to  spell 
correctly  and  deliberately,  read  audibly,  and  write  pretty  well  on  the  slates, 
a  recommendation  is  given  by  the  teacher  for  admission  into  a  public  school, 
and,  after  satisfactory  examination,  the  child  is  advanced.  It  is  enjoined 
as  a  duty  on  the  teachers  of  these  schools,  to  make  themselves  acquainted 
with  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  in  which  the  school  is  located,  and  par- 
ticularly with  those  of  the  poorest  classes,  in  order  to  induce  them  to  send 
their  children  to  school.  The  better  to  ensure  the  attention  of  the  teachers 
to  this  duty,  the  amount  of  their  pay  is  made  dependent  on  the  number  of 
children  under  their  tuition. 

In  the  public  schools,  where  due  provision  is  also  made  for  the  tuition 
of  boys  over  the  age  of  ten  years,  who  have  not  acquired  the  knowledge 
imparted  by  the  primary  schools,  the  tuition  of  the  boys  and  of  the  girls  is 
conducted  in  separate  rooms  of  the  school-house,  under  teachers  of  their 
own  sex.  The  course  of  instruction  for  the  boys  embraces  spelling,  reading, 
including  definitions  and  questions  concerning  the  meaning  of  the  author, 
writing,  making  and  mending  pens,  arithmetic,  geography,  use  of  the  globes 
and  drawing  of  maps,  English  grammar,  composition  and  declamation,  book- 
keeping and  the  elements  of  history,  astronomy,  algebra,  geometry,  and  trigo- 


REPORT   OF   COMMISSIONERS   OF   SCHOOL   MONEYS.  739 

nometry,  respectively.  The  girls  are  taught  in  all  these  branches,  except  decla- 
mation, algebra,  geometry,  and  trigonometry,  and  with  the  addition  of  needle- 
work. Strict  rules  of  the  Society  secure  the  punctual  attendance  of  the  teach- 
ers ;  their  attention  to  the  comfort,  cleanliness,  and  morals  of  the  scholars,  to 
the  ventilation  and  temperature  of  the  school-rooms,  to  the  causes  of  the  ab- 
sence of  pupils,  and  to  the  care  of  the  children,  as  far  as  possible,  both  in  and 
out  of  the  schools.  The  mildest  punishments  which  can  produce  reform  are 
alone  resorted  to,  and  the  teachers  can  expel  a  pupil  only  with  the  consent  of 
the  School  Committee  or  of  the  section,  for  habitual  disregard  of  duty  or 
flagrant  offence — of  which  the  reason  must  be  communicated  to  the  parent, 
who  may  appeal  to  the  Board  of  Trustees.  Registers  kept  of  the  names  and 
occupations  of  the  parents,  the  names  of  the  children,  and  of  the  attend- 
ance, merits,  and  deficiences  of  the  latter,  are  duly  exhibited  to  the  trustees. 
The  system  of  teaching  throughout  the  schools  is  uniform,  so  that  a  child 
removing  from  one  neighborhood  to  another  is  not  interrupted  in  his  course 
by  the  change  of  his  school.  But  in  order  to  obtain  any  advantages  that 
may  accrue  from  the  experience  of  the  teachers,  or  the  suggestions  of  others, 
stated  meetings  are  held  by  the  teachers  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the 
means  of  improving  their  schools,  at  which  meetings,  also,  they  compare 
the  progress  of  the  schools  respectively.  Any  improvement  in  the  mode  of 
teaching  recommended  by  a  majority  of  them,  if  formally  approved  of  by 
the  trustees,  is  adopted  in  practice. 

Each  school  is  provided  with  a  thermometer,  in  order  to  regulate  the 
temperature  of  the  school  in  the  cold  season ;  and  in  each  public  school- 
building  a  library  is  contained,  of  the  value  of  not  less  than  $50,  nor  more 
than  one  $100,  consisting  of  books  of  voyages,  travels,  history,  &c.,  to  which 
such  pupils  as  may  be  selected  by  the  teacher,  on  account  of  proficiency  and 
good  conduct,  are  admitted,  and  may  take  home  from  thence  one  book  at  a 
time. 

The  schools  are  all  divided  into  classes,  pursuing  in  each  the  same  stud- 
ies. A  mere  certificate,  properly  authenticated,  that  a  child  is  within  the 
ages  of  four  and  sixteen  years,  entitles  him  to  admission  in  the  schools  ;  and 
the  tuition  and  all  books  and  materials  necessary  for  the  education  of  the 
pupil  are  furnished  without  cost  to  his  parents  or  guardians. 

By  these  regulations,  governing  the  Society  and  its  schools  and  other 
auxiliary  provisions,  a  constant  supervision  is  kept  over  the  scholars,  the 
teachers,  the  Board  of  Trustees,  its  sections,  committees,  and  individual 
members,  producing  among  all  the  greatest  zeal  and  emulation  for  the 
accomplishment  of  the  public  aim  in  view,  and  resulting  in  a  practical  edu- 
cation, offered  to  the  whole  youth  of  the  city,  carried  out  in  all  it's  bearings 
with  a  perfection  and  efficiency  which  challenge  a  comparison  of  the  schools 
with  any  others  in  the  world  professing  the  like  range  of  instruction.  More 
than  one  hundred  of  these  schools  are  now  scattered  throughout  the  city, 
determined  in  their  location  by  the  wants  of  the  respective  neighborhoods, 
and  inviting,  by  means  of  agents  who  patrol  the  districts  for  the  purpose, 
every  poor  and  destitute  child  whose  parents  are  insensible  to  their  duty  to 
their  offspring,  to  come  and  partake  of  the  benefits  within  his  reach.  Nearly 


740  APPENDIX. 

forty  thousand  children  have,  during  the  year  ending  the  first  day  of  May 
last,  been  enrolled  on  their  registers,  and  obtained  instruction  for  a  greater 
or  lesser  period.  All  this  good  is  effected  without  the  payment  of  any  sal- 
ary or  expenditure,  other  than  the  compensation  of  teachers  and  agents,  the 
purchase  of  books  and  necessaries  for  the  instruction  of  the  pupils,  and  the 
erection  and  repair  of  the  school-houses.  No  personal  oc  individual  advan- 
tage results  to  the  trustees  from  their  services,  which,  springing  from  the 
noblest  feelings  of  the  human  heart,  secure  gratuitously  public  benefits  of  a 
character  and  extent  that  mercenary  motives  could  never  accomplish. 

Blessings  of  the  magnitude  and  interest  we  have  described  ought  to  be 
carefully  cherished  by  all  who  can  exercise  any  control  over  them,  and  the 
hand  of  experiment  should  be  stayed  from  an  interference  that,  with  mere 
partial  objects  of  disputed  utility,  might  impair  or  destroy  the  general  bene- 
fit. Sensible  of  these  truths,  the  great  body  of  the  citizens  of  New  York, 
and  their  representatives  in  their  local  Legislature,  far  from  asking  any  alter- 
ation in  the  system,  have  uniformly  approved  of  and  defended  it.  A  num- 
ber of  persons,  however,  mostly  of  foreign  birth,  and  belonging  to  a  respect- 
able denomination  of  Christians — the  Roman  Catholic — have  solicited  a 
change,  on  the  ground  that  their  conscientious  scruples  require  that  any 
schools  in  which  the  children  of  their  communion  are  educated  shall,  during 
a  certain  part  of  the  day,  combine  the  religious  instruction  of  their  faith 
with  the  literary  studies  pursued  in  them.  It  is  proper  to  add,  that  by  no 
other  denomination  has  any  complaint  been  made,  and  that  we  understand 
that  the  sentiment  alluded  to  is  not  general  among  the  Catholic  residents 
among  us  from  abroad  ;  a  large  proportion  of  them  believing  that  the  pro- 
posed schools  would  be,  for  the  most  part,  composed  of  the  children  of  for- 
eigners, who  might  thus  lose,  in  a  great  measure,  the  temporal  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  an  association,  at  school,  with  the  native  children  of  the  repub- 
lic, and  that  the  fitting  place  for  sectarian  culture  is  the  pupil's  home,  or  his 
church.  At  the  solicitation,  however,  before  referred  to,  projects  have  been 
submitted  to  the  consideration  of  the  Legislature,  which,  if  adopted,  would, 
we  believe,  violate  the  received  political  maxims  which  have  governed  our 
country,  and  erect,  over  the  ruins  of  the  noble  structure  we  have  described, 
institutions  of  narrow  and  partial  utility,  exclusive  in  their  composition  and 
government,  and  condemned  by  former  experience. 

Vague  and  general  rumors  having  found  their  way  to  the  public,  affect- 
ing the  character  and  efficiency  of  the  schools,  and  impugning  the  conduct 
of  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society,  several  gentlemen  of  the  city, 
described  by  the  Secretary  of  State  to  be  "  eminently  qualified,"  were  select- 
ed by  him  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  personal  examination  of  the  schools, 
who  diligently  conducted  a  laborious  inquiry,  and  submitted  to  that  func- 
tionary u  a  mass  of  valuable  information."  In  his  report  to  the  Legislature 
on  the  subject  of  the  system  of  education  here,  he  bears  the  testimony  which 
will  ever  be  the  consequence  of  such  investigations,  as  long  as  the  schools 
are  conducted  as  they  have  hitherto  been.  "  The  results  of  these  inquiries  " 
— we  copy  his  language — "  show  very  satisfactorily  that  commodious  houses 
and  good  teachers  are  provided  by  the  Public  School  Society ;  that  the  sys- 


REPORT   OF   COMMISSIONERS   OF   SCHOOL   MONEYS.  741 

tern  of  instruction  is  well  devised  and  faithfully  executed ;  that  an  efficient 
plan  of  visitation  and  inspection  is  prescribed  by  the  trustees  ;  and,  although 
he  has  not  positive  information  on  the  subject,  he  has  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  such  a  plan  is  carried  into  practical  execution."  "  Certain  it  is,"  he 
adds,  "  that  the  trustees  of  the  Society  have  exhibited  the  most  praisewor- 
thy zeal  and  devotion  in  discharge  of  the  great  trust  devolved  on  them ; 
and  many,  if  not  all  of  them,  have  spared  no  exertions  to  bring  into  the 
schools  the  destitute  children  of  the  city."  But  notwithstanding  these 
favorable  results  of  the  efforts  of  the  Public  School  Society,  the  Secretary 
of  State  informs  the  Legislature  that  the  memorials  referred  to  ';  complain 
of  the  operation  of  a  system  which,  in  fact,  devolves  upon  any  private  cor- 
poration the  discharge  of  one  of  the  most  important  functions  of  the  Gov- 
ernment, without  that  responsibility  to  the  people  which  is  provided  in  all 
other  cases.  They  allege,"  he  states,  "  that,  in  its  administration,  the  con- 
scientious opinions  and  feelings  of  large  classes  of  citizens  are  disregarded  ; 
that  other  schools,  maintained  for  the  same  objects  and  accomplishing  the 
same  benevolent  results,  are  arbitrarily  excluded  from  a  participation  of  a 
common  fund,  collected  by  the  joint  contributions  of  all ;  and  that  a 
fearfully  large  portion  of  the  indigent  children  are  not  reached,  or  in  any 
way  benefited,  by  the  system  of  public  education  which  now  prevails." 
After  a  long  examination  of  the  subject,  he  recommends,  nevertheless,  the 
continuance  of  the  very  schools  against  which  such  grave  objections  are 
advanced,  modifying  their  powers,  however,  in  such  wise  as  to  impart  to 
them  the  character  of  charity  schools,  in  which  no  children  are  to  be  in- 
structed gratuitously  but  those  of  parents  whose  poverty  is  proved  in  exemp- 
tion of  payment,  and  subjecting  to  charge  the  children  of  all  whose  means 
have  exposed  them  to  a  double  taxation  for  the  support  of  the  system,  or 
who  have  too  much  self-respect  to  claim  the  privilege  of  paupers.  He  pro- 
poses to  engraft  on  the  existing  system  provisions  introducing  the  district 
plan  in  operation  in  the  rest  of  the  State,  confining  gratuitous  instruction  in 
the  schools  as  before  mentioned.  These  propositions  are  combined  with 
some  others  which  will  hereafter  be  adverted  to,  in  referring  to  the  bill 
introduced  into  the  Senate,  which,  we  fear,  if  adopted,  will  connect  the 
schools  with  the  political  struggles  at  the  polls  ;  contemplating,  as  they  do, 
the  creation  of  offices  sufficiently  lucrative  to  tempt  the  cupidity  of  the  par- 
tisan, and  thus  making  institutions  intended  for  the  advancement  of  the 
young  along  the  quiet  paths  of  learning,  the  sport  of  party  management, 
contention,  and  triumph.  Of  the  district  system,  it  is  here,  perhaps,  the 
proper  place  to  say — seeing  that  the  bill  in  the  Senate  does  not  adopt  that 
part  of  the  recommendation — that  we  believe  it  to  be  wholly  unsuited  to 
the  city,  whose  population  is  frequently  changing  residence  from  one  dis- 
trict to  another ;  and  that  schools  teaching  by  dissimilar  books,  classes,  and 
modes  of  tuition  would  be  of  at  least  doubtful  advantage  to  the  children 
of  the  city.  Other  objections  to  this  plan  exist  which  it  is  needless  to  enu- 
merate, when  the  fact  is  before  our  eyes  that  the  Commissioners  of  Common 
Schools  in  Brooklyn,  a  city  separated  from  our  own  only  by  the  intervening 
river,  and  whose  population  more  resembles  ours  in  its  composition  and  hab- 


742  APPENDIX. 

its  than  any  other  in  the  State,  have  pronounced  the  district  system  to  be 
inefficient  and  inapplicable  there,  and  lament  that  they  do  not  possess 
schools  founded  on  the  plan  of  those  of  the  Public  School  Society  of  New 
York.  Of  7,966  children  residing  in  Brooklyn,  between  the  ages  of  five  and 
sixteen  years,  only  2,274  appear,  by  the  last  schedules  presented  to  the  Legis- 
lature, to  have  attended  these  schools  for  any  period ;  being  about  in  the 
ratio,  of  twenty-three  out  of  eighty.  In  Williamsburgh,  an  adjoining  com- 
munity on  the  same  side  of  the  river,  where  the  district  system  also  prevails, 
only  136  attended  out  of  943 ;  being  in  the  proportion  of  one  out  of  seven. 

Leaving,  then,  the  further  consideration  of  the  results  of  the  district  sys- 
tem, \vhich  we  deem  to  be  virtually  abandoned  as  respects  this  city,  we 
advert  to  the  .objections  alleged  by  the  memorials  of  a  portion  of  the  reli- 
gious sect  to  which  we  have  before  referred.  We  shall  consider  them  in  the 
order  they  have  been  mentioned. 

The  Catholic  memorials  complain,  first,  of  the  operation  of  the  system 
which  places  the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  city  under  the  direction  of 
the  Public  School  Society,  as  "  devolving  upon  a  private  corporation  the 
discharge  of  one  of  the  most  important  functions  of  the  Government,  with- 
out that  responsibility  to  the  people  which  is  provided  in  all  other  cases." 

Let  us  look  into  this  allegation. 

In  the  discussion  regarding  the  Public  School  Society,  it  has  been 
thought  advisable  not  only  to  denominate  it  a  private  corporation,  but,  in 
some  of  the  publications  and  speeches  that  have  been  made  on  the  subject, 
it  has  been  branded  as  a  close  corporation.  What  attribute  it  has  of  a  close 
corporation,  no  scrutiny  has  enabled  us  to  discover.  That  name  can  be 
strictly  applied  only  where  the  trustees,  or  other  governors,  constitute  the 
whole  corporation,  and,  in  case  of  vacancy  in  the  board,  supply  the  succes- 
sion by  their  own  votes.  The  freest  definition  could  only  extend  it  to  insti- 
tutions who  are  judges  of  their  own  members,  and  can  admit  to  or  exclude 
from  their  privileges  at  the  volition  of  the  corporation  itself.  No  such 
characteristic  belongs  to  the  Public  School  Society.  How  far  it  can  justly 
be  considered  a  private  corporation,  has  been  seen  in  the  requisites  to  mem- 
bership, to  which  we  have  adverted.  Erected  by  a  law  of  the  State,  for  the 
avowed  attainment  of  a  momentous  public  object,  in  the  benefits  of  which 
every  child  of  that  public  to  which  their  sphere  of  action  is  confined  may 
participate ;  open,  as  to  membership,  to  the  whole  public  who  choose  to 
acquire  the  qualification  prescribed  by  the  Legislature  of  this  State,  as  the 
only  requisite  to  admission,  and  which  depends  alone  on  the  act  of  the  indi- 
vidual, without  regard  to  any  wish  or  objection  on  the  part  of  the  other 
members ;  subject  to  the  supervision  of  officers  appointed  by  the  representa- 
tives of  the  whole  people  of  the  city  ;  and  submitting  their  accounts  to  the 
inspection  and  scrutiny  of  those  representatives,  and,  through  the  publica- 
tions of  the  latter,  of  the  whole  people — we  apprehend  that  the  corporation 
has  been  denominated  a  private  one  without  due  reflection.  It  is  not  to  bfc 
regarded  in  that  light,  but  as  the  body  of  voters  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
on  whom  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  representing  the  sovereignty  of  the 
whole  people,  have  thought  tit  to  devolve,  through  their  own  enactments,  and 


KEPOKT   OF   COMMISSIONEKS    OF    SCHOOL    MONEYS.  743 

the  powers  they  have  conferred  on  the  Corporation  of  the  city,  the  selection 
of  the  guardians  and  supervisors  of  public  education  within  the  city.  The 
qualification  to  constitute  a  voter  is  a  single  payment  of  a  small  sum  of 
money,  which  every  man  of  correct  habits  may  soon  lay  aside  out  of  his 
earnings,  if  he  feel  any  interest  in  the  cause  of  education.  The  Legislature, 
in  1826,  when  they  changed  the  charity  formerly  called  the  Free-School 
Society  of  New  York,  whose  tutition  was  confined  to  the  children  of  parents 
unable  to  pay  for  their  education,  into  the  Public  School  Society,  for  the 
purpose,  as  the  statute  expresses  it,  "  so  far  as  their  means  may  extend,  for 
the  education  of  all  children  in  the  city  of  New  York  not  otherwise  pro- 
vided for ;  whether  such  Children  be  or  be  not  the  proper  objects  of  gratui- 
tous education,  and  without  regard  to  the  religious  sect  or  denomination  to 
which  such  children  or  their  parents  may  belong,"  evidently  expected  that 
the  education  of  all  the  children-  in  the  city,  whose  parents  did  not  prefer  to 
send  them  to  pay  schools,  would  fall  under  the  control  of  the  Public  School 
Society.  They  therefore  defined,  by  law,  the  qualification  that  would  be 
required  from  any  person  desirous  of  being  a  voter  at  the  election  of  trus- 
tees of  the  public  schools.  Proceeding,  probably,  on  the  belief  tha't  all  men 
are  not  equally  qualified  by  education  and  habit  to  judge  of  the  necessary 
attainments  for  the  beneficial  discharge  of  a  literary  duty,  they  deemed  some 
other  qualification  than  mere  residence  necessary,  and  fixed  upon  one  in  the 
nature  of  a  property  qualification,  which,  however  temporary  in  its  posses- 
sion, would,  It  was  supposed,  be  durable  in  its  results.  Each  intended  voter 
was  required  to  make  a  single  payment  of  ten  dollars,  for  which  the  privi- 
lege sought  was  promised  him  for  life.  This  qualification  is  somewhat  anal- 
ogous to  that  prescribed  for  voters  at  elections  of  trustees  of  common 
schools  in  the  other  parts  of  the  State,  which  is  strictly  a  property  qualifi- 
cation, though,  if  not  durable  in  its  possession,  is  only  temporary  in  its 
results — every  person  being  subject  to  a  fine  of  the  very  same  sum  of  ten 
dollars  for  voting  at  any  annual  election  for  trustees  of  a  common  school, 
unless  he  be  a  freeholder  within  the  town  where  he  votes ;  be  assessed  the 
same  year  in  which  he  votes,  or  the  preceding  year,  to  pay  taxes  in  said 
town  ;  or  possess  personal  property  liable  to  taxation,  in  the  school  district, 
of  the  value  of  fifty  dollars  over  and  above  the  list  of  articles  exempted 
from  execution.  Between  the  elective  privilege  in  the  city  and  the  country 
there  will  be  seen  this  striking  difference,  that,  in  the  city,  the  individual 
who  at  any  time  possesses  and  pays  over  a  ten- dollar  bill,  which,  if  of  gen- 
eral circulation,  may  pass  hence  in  a  few  hours  to  Plattsburg  or  Buffalo; 
obtains  a  privilege  which,  whatever  be  his  subsequent  fortunes,  always 
accompanies  him,  and  is  promised  to  continue  forever ;  but  as  regards  the 
country  resident,  the  property  qualification  is  connected  with  local  owner- 
ship, and  must  be  continued  in  its  possession  ;  for  if,  after  having  been  the 
possessor  of  real  or  personal  property,  in  his  town  or  his  school  district,  or 
paid  taxes  in  his  town,  he  become  irretrievably  ruined,  his  privilege  sinks 
with  his  fortunes,  and  is  lost  forever. 

That  the  Society  is  a  private  corporation,  cannot,  therefore,  be  success- 
fully sustained.    Equally  untenable,  in  our  opinion,  is  the  allegation  that 


744  APPENDIX. 

the  function  discharged  by  the  Society  is  performed  "  without  that  respon- 
sibility to  the  people  which  is  provided  in  all  other  cases."  The  trustees 
are  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  representatives  of  the  people  of  the 
very  community  in  which  they  perform  their  functions,  who,  upon  any 
unfaithfulness  on  the  part  of  the  trustees,  can  deprive  them  and  their  con- 
stituents of  the  power  conferred  on  them,  and  of  the  funds  necessary  for  its 
execution.  The  Society  is  compelled,  by  the  law  of  the  State,  to  conform 
to  any  rules  and  restrictions  in  regard  to  the  receipt  of  the  public  moneys 
which  the  Corporation  of  the  city  may  by  ordinance  prescribe ;  and  the 
ordinance  passed  accordingly  by  the  Corporation  subjects  them  to  every  rule 
and  restriction  that  has  been  deemed  proper  to  secure  a  strict  supervision 
and  accountability.  The  Commissioners  of  School  Moneys,  by  whom  the 
visitations  to  the  schools  are  made  on  behalf  of  the  community,  are  charged 
to  report  to  the  Common  Council  any  failure  or  omission  of  the  trustees  in 
regard  to  the  public  moneys  they  receive,  in  regard  to  the  admission  of  chil- 
dren to  the  schools,  and  to  the  proper  weekly  visitation  and  inspection,  on 
the  part  of  the  trustees,  of  all  the  schools  under  their  direction.  The  books 
of  the  schools,  containing  the  memoranda  of  this  performance,  are  at  all 
times  subject  to  the  examination  of  the  commissioners,  to  whom  the  returns 
required  by  law  are  made  under  oath  or  affirmation.  In  addition  to  these 
guards,  the  Society  is  obliged  to  submit,  in  an  annual  report  to  the  Superin- 
tendent of  Common  Schools  appointed  by  the  State,  and  to  the  Common 
Council  of  the  city,  a  particular  account  of  the  state  of  their  schools,  and 
of  the  moneys  received  and  expended  by  them,  which  may  be  examined  by 
any  citizen  disposed  to  investigate  it. 

These  provisions,  if  in  any  manner  they  differ  from  those  generally  gov- 
erning officers  who  perform  important  functions  of  the  Government,  certain- 
ly secure,  in  degree,  as  ample  a  responsibility  to  the  people.  The  Society 
has  now  exercised  the  powers  confided  to  them  for  more  than  fifteen  years, 
and  in  that  whole  period  no  valid  impeachment  has  been  preferred  of  infi- 
delity to  their  trust. 

It  may  be  added,  in  connection  with  this  matter,  that,  in  all  the  plans 
which  have  been  devised  for  the  alteration  of  the  present  system,  not  a  sin- 
gle provision  has  been  suggested  that  guarantees  from  the  Public  School 
Society,  or  the  proposed  additional  schools,  increased  responsibility  to  the 
people. 

The  second  charge  assumes  that,  "  in  the  administration  of  the  Society, 
the  conscientious  opinions  and  feelings  of  large  classes  of  citizens  are  disre- 
garded; and  that  other  schools,  maintained  for  the  same  objects  and  accom- 
plishing the  same  benevolent  results,  are  arbitrarily  excluded  from  a  partici- 
pation of  a  common  fund  collected  by  the  joint  contribution  of  all.'' 

General  allegations  like  the  aforegoing  give  no  definite  conception  of  the 
matter  of  complaint,  and  present  no  tangible  point  for  examination.  It 
were  better  always,  and  particularly  in  cases  affecting  such  momentous  inter- 
ests as  are  involved  in  the  school  question,  that  the  griefs  should  be  dis- 
tinctly alleged,  and  specifications  offered.  It  is,  however,  now  generally 
understood,  from  newspaper  publications  of  essays  and  speeches,  that  the 


KEPOKT   OF   COMMISSIONERS    OF   SCHOOL   MONEYS.  745 

violence  imputed  against  conscientious  opinions  and  feelings  is  to  those  of 
a  part  of  the  Catholic  communion,  who  alone  constitute  the  large  classes  of 
citizens  alluded  to ;  that  the  schools  attached  to  their  churches,  governed 
by  trustees  of  their  own  appointment,  conducted  according  to  their  precepts 
of  religious  faith,  and  ministering,  as  may  well  be  inferred,  to  children  only 
of  their  own  denomination,  are  the  schools  said  to  be  maintained  for  the 
same  objects,  and  accomplishing  the  same  benevolent  results,  as  those  of 
the  Public  School  Society  ;  and  that  the  arbitrary  exclusion  from  a  partici- 
pation in  the  common  fund  collected  by  the  joint  contribution  of  all,  which 
is  complained  of,  is  the  refusal,  by  the  immediate  representatives  of  the  peo- 
ple of  this  city,  to  devote  a  portion  of  the  public  moneys  toward  the  sup- 
port of  schools  erected  and  governed  by  the  Catholic  denomination,  and 
inculcating  their  distinguishing  forms  and  creeds. 

That  the  objects  and  results  of  institutions  founded  and  acting  upon 
principles  so  widely  different  as  those  which  distinguish  the  schools  of  the 
sect  and  of  the  Society  cannot  be  very  similar,  is  too  apparent  to  need  illus- 
tration ;  and  if  the  disregard  of  the  conscientious  opinions  and  feelings  of 
large  classes  of  citizens  in  the  administration  of  the  Society  consists,  as  is 
inferred,  in  maintaining  a  perfect  impartiality  toward  the  several  religious 
denominations  in  the  schools,  not  giving  reasonable  offence,  nor  yielding 
submission  to  any,  the  Society  has  done  no  more  than  to  be  faithful  to  the 
purposes  for  which  it  was  created.  The  motive  to  its  incorporation  is 
stated,  in  the  charter,  to  be  the  education  of  all  children,  whether  or  not 
they  be  proper  objects  of  gratuitous  education,  and  without  regard  to  the 
religious  sect  or  denomination  to  which  their  parents  belong  ;  and  it  would 
have  been  a  plain  infraction  of  their  duty  to  fashion  the  exercises  of  the 
schools  according  to  the  requirements  of  any  particular  Church. 

The  allegation  remains,  that  the  sect  is  arbitrarily  excluded  from  a  par- 
ticipation of  a  common  fund  collected  by  the  joint  contribution  of  all. 

In  adopting  a  system  of  general  education  at  the  public  expense,  the 
object  of  the  State  was  to  give  to  its  youth  such  an  education  as  would  fit 
them  to  discharge  the  civil  obligations  of  this  life,  leaving  it  to  their  natu- 
ral and  ecclesiastical  guardians  to  prepare  them,  through  a  parental  and 
spiritual  ministry,  to  render  their  account  in  another  world.  There  ought 
to  be.  and  there  must  be,  some  common  platform  on  which  all  the  children 
may  obtain  their  secular  education,  who  are  destined  to  act  as  citizens  of 
the  same  republic.  To  that  general  training  all  the  children  are  entitled ; 
but  it  is  the  public  who  are  to  determine  on  its  particulars  and  conditions, 
and  not  the  parents  who  may  claim  it  for  their  offspring.  That  a  fund  has 
been  raised  by  the  taxation  of  all  for  general  education,  creates  no  right  in 
the  tax-paying  sectarian  to  demand  that  any  portion  of  it  be  appropriated 
to  the  spread  of  his  particular  creed.  The  tax  was  imposed  on  him  as  a 
citizen,  not  as  the  member  of  a  church.  Its  object  was  to  provide  for  a 
civil  purpose  exclusively;  not  to  prepare  the  path  to  any  designated  place 
of  worship.  The  erection  of  a  church  school  announces  a  sectarian  object. 
It  has  its  exclusive  rules  of  system  and  government ;  is  superintended  by 
trustees  and  teachers  of  a  particular  faith  ;  religious  conformity  is  indispen- 


746  APPENDIX. 

sable  to  a  participation  in  its  direction,  which  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  attained 
by  means  of  a  civil  qualification  that  any  citizen  may  acquire.  It  is,  in 
truth,  a  part  of  the  church  establishment,  and  the  sectarian  of  another  de- 
nomination justly  feels  that  his  privileges  are  equally  violated,  whether  he 
be  taxed  for  the  support  of  its  religious  teacher  at  the  school  desk,  or  for 
that  of  its  religious  teacher  in  the  pulpit.  This  State  has  never  yet  asserted 
the  power  to  tax  its  people  for  ecclesiastical  objects  ;  and  if  its  sovereignty 
comprehends  such  a  power,  the  rights  of  conscience  require  that  the  reli- 
gion of  the  taxpayer  be  recorded  on  the  assessment-roll,  and  his  contribution 
be  dealt  to  the  encouragement  of  his  own  communion. 

An  obstacle  arises,  perhaps,  out  of  the  provisions  of  our  Constitution,  to 
the  establishment  and  conduct  of  a  sectarian  school  as  a  part  of  the  public 
system,  which  would  be  insuperable  to  some  of  the  claims  which  have  been 
brought  before  the  public.  If  the  religion  of  the  sect  be  a  necessary  part 
of  the  education  of  the  children,  the  choice  of  a  teacher  adequate  to  the 
accomplishment  of  that  object  would  seem  to  be  indispensable.  Such  a 
teacher  would  probably  be  found  only  in  the  person  of  one  of  the  ministers 
of  the  religion  which  the  school  is  to  inculcate.  If  the  school  which  is 
committed  to  his  direction  be  adopted  as  a  part  of  the  public  system,  his 
office  thereafter  assumes  a  civil  character ;  his  salary  is  paid  by  the  whole 
public  out  of  the  proceeds  of  a  general  tax.  The  question  immediately 
arises,  whether  this  would  not  be  inconsistent  with  the  clause  of  the  Consti- 
tution which  declares  that  "  no  minister  of  the  gospel,  or  priest  of  any  de- 
nomination whatsoever,  shall  at  any  time,  under  any  pretence  or  description 
whatever,  be  eligible  to,  or  capable  of  holding,  any  civil  or  military  office 
or  place  within  this  State." 

The  commissioners  would  suggest,  that  any  difficulties  in  regard  to  the 
religious  education  of  the  children,  which  may  be  desirable,  can  be  accom- 
plished without  a  violation  of  the  principles  or  a  departure  from  the  objects 
of  the  school  system,  by  an  application  of  the  rule  said  to  prevail  in  Hol- 
land in  regard  to  the  schools  controlled  by  the  Government.  A  time  is 
there  set  apart  when  the  children  of  the  respective  denominations  are 
requested  to  repair  to  the  appropriate  places  for  their  peculiar  worship, 
where  they  are  attended  by  the  proper  ministers  to  their  spiritual  wants. 
If  the  Sabbath  and  the  other  day  in  the  week  on  which  the  public  schools 
are  closed  be  insufficient  for  this  purpose,  some  additional  portion  of  the 
week  might  be  dedicated  to  it.  The  arrangement  would  certainly  throw  an 
additional  burden  on  the  clergy  without  additional  pecuniary  recompense, 
but  their  commendable  sense  of  duty  in  their  sacred  office  would  no  doubt 
disregard  any  considerations  of  that  sort. 

The  remaining  allegation  is,  that  "  a  fearfully  large  portion  of  the  indi- 
gent children  are  not  reached,  or  in  any  way  benefited,"  by  the  system  of 
education  that  now  prevails  in  this  city.  Fortunately,  this  is  a  subject  that 
can  be  brought  to  the  test  of  mathematical  calculation,  by  which  the  figures 
will  show  that  the  system  of  education  in  this  city  reaches  and  benefits  the 
indigent  poor  far  more  efficaciously  than  the  system  that  prevails  in  the  resi- 
due of  the  State. 


REPORT   OF   COMMISSIONERS   OF   SCHOOL   MONEYS.  747 

In  order  to  prove  the  destitution  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  in  respect 
to  education,  the  Secretary  of  State  reports  to  the  Legislature  that  the 
whole  number  of  white  children  in  New  York  in  1840,  "  the  year  in  which 
the  last  census  of  the  United  States  was  taken,  was  62,952,  and  that  30,758 
only  are  returned  as  attending  some  school,  leaving  32,194  who  were  not  in 
attendance  on  any  school  whatever."  Of  the  accuracy  of  the  number  of 
attendances  thus  returned  from  the  city  doubts  have  been  well  entertained, 
but  we  shall  assume  that  the  aggregate  is  correct.  The  inference  that  all 
would  draw  from  the  manner  in  which  the  case  is  stated  and  the  argument 
deduced  by  the  Secretary,  is,  that  a  fraction  more  than  one  half  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  city  are  trained  up  in  utter  ignorance.  "  With  all  the  com- 
mendable and  vigorous  efforts  of  the  trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society," 
he  says,  "  it  cannot  be  denied  that  less  than  one  half  the  children  between 
four  and  sixteen  years  of  age,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  are  receiving  the 
benefits  of  any  education  whatever."  A  moment's  reflection  will  correct  this 
error.  The  schools  of  the  Society  receive  all  children  between  four  and  six- 
teen years  of  age  ;  let  us  say,  however,  in  order  to  make  our  estimate  tally 
with  the  figures  of  the  Secretary,  between  five  and  sixteen  years.  At  any 
time  within  the  portion  of  their  lives  embracing  eleven  years,  then,  they 
have  access  to  the  schools,  and  in  these  there  is  continual  change,  some 
retiring,  and  new  scholars  succeeding.  Now,  if  one  half  of  this  class  of 
population,  rejecting  fractions,  is,  on  the  average,  kept  at  school,  it  is  evi- 
dent that,  on  the  average,  each  child  would  receive  five  and  a  half  years  of 
tuition,  which,  in  the  New  York  schools,  deducting  vacations,  amounts  to 
somewhat  more  than  sixty  months,  or  five  full  and  complete  years  without 
deduction.  In  imposing  on  masters  the  obligation  to  teach  certain  children 
to  read  and  write,  the  law  of  the  State  gives  him  the  alternative  of  furnish- 
ing two  years'  education,  as  being  sufficient  for  the  purpose ;  and  that,  too, 
while,  by  another  law,  the  common  schools  of  the  country  are  not  required  to 
be  open  more  than  four  months  in  the  year  to  entitle  them  to  the  benefits  of 
the  school  fund.  If  eight  months',  or  even  twenty-four  months'  tuition,  in 
such  schools  as  the  inhabitants  are  obliged  to  accept  in  some  parts  of  the 
State,  be  recognized  by  the  State  as  enough  to  qualify  a  child  to  read  and 
write,  sixty  months'  tuition  in  the  schools  of  the  New  York  Public  School 
Society  would  not  be  likely  to  consign  him  to  hopeless  mental  destitution. 
A  far  less  period  of  education  in  their  youth,  and  that,  in  many  cases,  of  an 
inferior  sort,  is  all  that  was  enjoyed  by  many  of  the  men  who  have  illus- 
trated the  character  of  our  country  in  the  literary  and  philosophical  world. 
Doctor  Franklin  seems,  from  his  autobiography,  to  have  been  finally  taken 
from  school  at  the  age  of  ten  years,  to  perform  the  humblest  offices  in  his 
father's  business  of  a  tallow-chandler  and  soap-boiler,  having  "  failed  en- 
tirely in  arithmetic,"  though  he  had  "  learned  to  write  a  good  hand,"  and 
gained  instruction  in  some  other  branches. 

"  A  comparison  of  the  results  obtained  from  statistical  returns,"  says  the 
Secretary  of  State,  "  between  the  numbers  educated  in  New  York  and  those 
instructed  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  will  exhibit  in  a  more  striking  man- 
ner the  lamentable  deficiency  of  the  former.  It  appears,"  he  proceeds, 


748  APPENDIX. 

"  from  the  report  of  the  Superintendent  before  referred  to,  that,  while  there 
are  592,000  children  out  of  the  city  of  New  York  between  the  ages  of  five 
and  sixteen,  there  are  549,000  attending  the  common  schools.  In  the  city 
of  New  York,"  he  adds,  "  the  proportions  were,  as  above  stated,  62,952  chil- 
dren between  the  same  ages,  and  30,758  attending  all  the  schools,  public  as 
well  as  private."  In  another  place  he  states  "  that,  while  the  Public  School 
Society  has  registered  on  its  books  the  names  of  children  who  have  entered 
the  schools  to  the  number  of  22,955,  the  average  actual  attendance  of  pupils 
amounts  only  to  13,189." 

It  was  certainly  not  the  intention  of  the  Secretary  of  State  to  do  injus- 
tice to  the  city  in  the  comparison  thus  drawn.  In  making  it,  however,  he 
seems  to  have  forgotten  that  the  returns  from  the  common  schools  and  the 
public  schools  differ  altogether  in  their  ingredients,  and  furnish  no  proper 
materials  for  a  comparative  estimate  in  regard  to  them.  In  the  returns  of 
the  common  schools,  all  the  children  who  have  attended  are  indiscriminately 
numbered  as  instructed  in  the  schools,  whatever  be  the  duration  of  their 
attendance,  whether  for  a  year,  a  week,  or  a  day,  and  whatever  be  the 
amount  of  the  tuition  they  receive.  But  a  different  mode  of  return  is  pre- 
scribed for  the  city,  as  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the  State.  From  the 
city  it  is  required  that  there  be  two  columns  of  returns,  neither  of  which 
shows  the  whole  number  of  children  "  registered  "  on  the  books  of  the  pub- 
lic schools ;  nor  has  that  number  accordingly  ever  been  returned  until  the 
present  year,  when  it  is  done  as  the  voluntary  act  of  the  Commissioners  of 
School  Money,  without  requirement  by  law.  It  amounts,  this  year,  to  nearly 
40,000,  and  could  not  have  been,  in  the  year  referred  to  by  the  Secretary, 
less  than  38,000. 

The  returns  demanded  by  law  from  the  city  are,  firstly,  a  return  of  the 
average  quarterly  attendance  in  the  schools ;  the  number  to  be  ascertained 
— to  follow  the  words  of  the  statute — "  by  adding  to  the  number  of  chil- 
dren on  register  at  the  commencement  of  each  quarter,  the  number  admit- 
ted during  that  quarter,  and  the  total  to  be  considered  the  average  of  that 
quarter."  Secondly,  a  return  of  the  average  number  that  actually  attended 
the  school  during  the  whole  year,  to  be  ascertained  by  the  teachers  keeping 
an  account  of  the  number  of  scholars  present  every  half  day,  which,  being 
added  together  and  divide.d  by  500,  the  number  of  half  school-flays  of 
which  the  year  is  arbitrarily  declared  to  consist,  is  considered  the  average 
of  attending  scholars. 

That  no  just  contrast  can  be  drawn  from  numbers  representing,  as  in  the 
country  returns,  every  child  as  an  attending  scholar  who  had  visited  the 
school  but  for  a  day,  and  the  city  returns,  whose  highest  numbers  represent 
only  the  average  quarterly  attendance,  would  not  seem  to  require  illustra- 
tion. As,  however,  the  comparison  has  been  made  in  a  grave  public  docu- 
ment, let  us  examine  practically  its  principles,  and  see  how  the  returns  to 
the  Superintendent  from  a  public  or  city  school,  and  from  a  common  or 
country  school,  having  an  exactly  equal  number  of  scholars  and  attendances 
throughout  the  year,  would  exhibit  each  to  the  Legislature  in  the  Superin- 
tendent's report. 


REPORT   OF'  COMMISSIONERS   OF   SCHOOL    MONEYS.  749 

Suppose  the  year  to  begin  with  200  scholars ;  that  the  200  old  scholars 
retire  before  the  end  of  each  quarter ;  that  they  are  succeeded  during  the 
quarter  by  200  new  scholars,  who  had  never  before  attended ;  and  that  each 
quarter  thus  begins  with  200  scholars ; — what  13  the  comparison  they  would 
present  in  the  Superintendent's  report  ? 

Let  us  first  take  the  public  or  city  school. 

The  year  begins  with  scholars,  .  . -.  •  <•'••'•  .-  .  200 
New  entries  during  first  quarter,  ....  200 

Retirements  during  first  quarter,  200,  leaving  for  second  quarter,  200 
New  entries  during  second  quarter,  .  .•  v  :.  .'  •  ".  .  200 
Retirements  during  second  quarter,  200,  leaving  for  third  quarter,  200 
New  entries  during  third  quarter,  .  .  .  v :  200 

Retirements  during  third  quarter,  200,  leaving  for  fourth  quarter,  200 
New  entries  during  fourth  quarter,  .  .  .  .•  200 

1600 

This  aggregate  of  1600  being  divided  by  4,  gives  the  quotient  for  the 
quarterly  average  attendance  of  400 ;  which  is  the  largest  number  returned 
for  the  city  school  to  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools. 

Take,  next,  its  twin-brother,  the  country  school.  What  number  would 
it,  under  circumstances  precisely  similar,  return  to  the  Superintendent  ? 

The  year  begins  with  scholars,  .  .  ,  ...  200 

New  scholars  first  quarter,      .  .  .  . '  .  200 

"  second  quarter,  .....  200 

"  third  quarter,    .  .  .  .  .  200 

"  fourth  quarter,  .  .  .  .  <  200 

Number  returned,       .  .  .  .  .  .  '        1,000 

Thus  two  schools,  not  at  all  distinguishable  in  their  respective  numbers 
of  scholars  and  attendances,  would,  in  the  Superintendent's  report,  exhibit 
an  apparent  superiority  of  one  school  over  another  its  exact  equal  in  fact,  in 
the  ratio  of  five  to  two. 

Any  comparison,  therefore,  between  the  quarterly  attendances  at  the  city 
school  and  the  attendances  as  we  have  explained  them  at  the  country  school, 
is  evidently  misplaced. 

That  between  the  average  yearly  attendances  at  the  former  and  the 
attendances  at  the  latter  is  still  more  objectionable. 

The  attendances  at  the  country  school,  of  whatever  duration,  would 
amount,  as  we  have  before  seen,  to  1,000,  at  which  number  they  would  be 
returned  to  the  Superintendent,  and  be  reported  by  him. 

The  average  yearly  attendances  calculated  as  prescribed  by  law  for  the  pub- 
lic school,  would  stand,  in  its  return  (judging  from  the  comparative  returns 
of  quarterly  and  yearly  attendances  to  which  the  Secretary  refers),  at  two  hun- 


750 


APPENDIX. 


dred  and  forty;  or  nearly,  at  which  number  they  would  be  reported  by  the 
Superintendent ;  thus  exhibiting  an  apparent  superiority  of  one  school  over 
another  its  exact  equal  in  fact,  in  the  ratio  of  more  than  four  to  one. 

The  truth  is — and  justice  to  the  city,  when  such  comparisons  are  made, 
requires,  perhaps,  it  be  spoken — that  the  published  returns  to  the  Superin- 
tendent give  no  definite  idea  of  the  amount  of  public  education  in  the  State, 
being  deficient  in  all  particulars  of  the  average  quarterly  or  annual  attend- 
ance of  the  pupils.  They  announce  the  whole  number  of  children  returned 
from  each  school  district ;  the  number  that  attended  the  school  within  the 
time  it  was  open,  and  the  length  of  the  period  it  was  open  ;  but  they  afford 
no  means  of  judging  whether  a  majority,  or  any  other  definite  proportion, 
attended  for  more  than  a  week,  or  a  day.  Nor,  apparently,  is  the  number 
of  children  returned  as  having  at  some  time  been  attending,  to  be  depended 
upon.  Owing  to  a  loose  or  an  erroneous  method  of  making  up  the  returns, 
the  number  of  scholars  attending  the  common  schools  has  been  frequently 
exaggerated  beyond  the  number  actually  residing  within  the  districts.  It 
would  be  a  matter  for  wonder  if  the  attendance  of  every  child  residing 
within  the  districts  could  be  obtained,  even  for  a  day,  within  the  periods 
that  the  schools  are  open  ;  but  a  more  extraordinary  phenomenon  was  pre- 
sented in  the  returns  for  a  series  of  years,  exhibiting,  as  they  did,  the  attend- 
ance of  a  much  larger  number  of  pupils  between  the  ages  of  five  and  six- 
teen years  than  there  were  children  in  existence  between  those  ages  in  the 
whole  State.  We  copy  from  the  schedule  F  of  the  last  annual  report  of  the 
Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  giving  a  "  comparative  statement  of 
the  condition  of  the  common  schools  from  1815  to  1840,"  the  numbers  of 
children  between  said  ages  taught,  and  the  number  of  children  between  said  " 
ages  residing,  in  all  the  districts  of  the  State,  for  the  years  1824  to  1829, 
both  inclusive,  and  have  added  a  column  showing  the  excess  of  the  scholars' 
over  the  residents. 


Year- 

No.  of  children 
taught  in 
the  districts. 

No.  of  children 
residing  in 
the  districts. 

Excess  of  those 
taught  over  those 
in  the  districts. 

1824 
1825 
1826 
1327 
1828 
1829 

402,940 
425,586 
431,fi01 
441,856 
468.205 
480,041 

383,500 
595,586 
411,256 
419,216 
449,113 
468,257 

10.440 
30,000 
2),345 
22,640 
10,092 
11,784 

Even  from  the  returns  for  the  year  1839,  upon  which  the  disparaging 
comparisons  of  the  Secretary  are  founded,  there  appears  to  be,  in  twenty- 
seven  counties  of  the  State,  an  excess  of  more  than  25,000  children  between 
the  specified  ages  taught  in  their  common  schools,  over  the  number  of  the 
same  classes  of  children  residing  within  those  counties,  as  ascertained  by 
the  trustees  of  the  school  districts.  The  Superintendent  of  Common 
Schools  supposes,  in  his  last  report,  that  the  returns  from  the  schools,  which 
give  the  attendances,  are  more  to  be  relied  upon  than  the  returns  from  the 
trustees  of  the  number  of  children  within  the  districts  :  but  this  idea  derives 
no  support  from  the  census  taken  by  the  Marshal  of  the  United  States  in  the 


REPORT   OF   COMMISSIONERS    OF   SCHOOL   MONEYS.  751 

year  after,  when  an  increase  of  the  number  of  the  children  had  taken  place. 
The  marshal,  in  1840,  finds  an  excess  in  those  twenty-seven  counties  over  the 
returns  of  the  trustees,  in  1839,  of  less  than  4,000,  leaving  yet  an  erroneous 
excess  in  the  returns  of  scholars  attending  of  more  than  21,000.  Other 
errors  are  detected  in  the  returns  to  the  Superintendent.  The  returns  from 
the  Commissioners  of  Common  Schools  make  the  aggregate  number  of  chil- 
dren, in  1839,  in  all  the  districts  of  the  State,  excluding  the  city  of  New 
York,  to  be  592,564 ;  being  more,  by  14,560,  than  the  whole  number  of  chil- 
dren between  five  and  sixteen  years  residing  in  the  same  parts  of  the  State 
in  1840 ;  which,  by  the  marshal's  returns,  are  ascertained 
to  be  .  .  .  ••••.  ;*.,••  .  .  .  578,004 


Difference,             .           •„  •         .    •       -»            .            .  14,560 
The  returns  of  the  schools,  exclusive  of  those  of  New  York, 

show  scholars  attending,  .            ;•;•••            .            .  549,457 

The  marshal's  returns,  exclusive  of  New  York,  .            .  477,323 


Difference,       .  .  .-  .  •»  •        „         •«  .  -      72,134 

This  difference  the  Superintendent  endeavors  to  reduce  to  42,211,  mainly 
by  deducting  26,869  scholars  returned  by  the  marshal  in  another  column,  as 
educated  at  the  public  charge.  The  latter  number  is,  however,  included  in 
the  number  of  477,323  above  mentioned.  In  the  reports  both  of  the  Super- 
intendent and  of  the  Secretary,  it  is  so  regarded  when  referring  to  New 
York,  to  which  10,213  of  the  26,869  belong  ;  but  are  not  credited,  in  either 
report,  to  the  amount  of  education  in  the  city. 

It  is  unpleasant  thus  to  dispel  flattering  illusions  by  which  we,  in  com- 
mon with  the  rest  of  the  State,  had  been  misled,  until  we  were  impelled  to 
investigate  the  subject ;  but  it  is  manifest  that  mistakes  have  existed  in  the 
public  documents  relating  to  the  common  schools,  which  the  interests  and 
perhaps  the  character  of  the  State  require  should  not  hereafter  occur. 

Rejecting  comparisons,  then,  drawn  from  returns  to  the  Superintendent 
from  the  city  and  the  country,  having  no  similitude  in  their  particulars,  and 
widely  differing  in  their  accuracy,  let  us  seek  for  better  means  to  determine 
the  truth.  These  will  be  found  in  additional  returns  by  the  marshal,  in  the 
census  before  referred  to,  which  state  the  number  of  white  persons  residing 
in  the  city  and  State,  of  and  over  the  age  of  twenty  years,  who  can  neither 
read  nor  write.  The  common  school  system  and  the  public  school  system 
have  respectively  been  long  enough  in  existence  to  test  the  efficacy  of  each 
upon  the  persons  who,  under  like  circumstances,  have  actually  come  within 
the  operation  of  each,  and  passed  to  the  age  last  specified.  From  the  cen- 
sus, we  find  that  the  whole  white  population  of  the  State,  excluding  New 
York  City,  of  the  age  of  twenty  years  and  upward,  is  990,792  ;  and  that  the 
like  population  in  the  city  of  New  York  is  163,920.  Thus  New  York, 
though  possessing  an  aggregate  population  comparing  with  that  of  the  rest 
of  the  State,  excluding  New  York,  in  the  ratio  of  little  more  than  one  to 
seven,  has  a  relative  white  population,  of  and  over  the  age  of  twenty  years,  * 


752  APPENDIX. 

of  about  one  to  six ;  or,  in  other  words,  it  has  an  excess  of  more  than 
17,400  white  parsons,  of  the  age  of  twenty  years  and  upward,  over  its  due 
proportion,  as  compared  with  the  aggregate  population  of  the  other  coun- 
ties. The  number  of  whites  of  the  age  of  twenty  and  upward,  in  the  State, 
who  can  neither  read  nor  write,  is  43,705  ;  of  whom  there  are,  in  New  York, 
7,778,  and  in  the  rest  of  the  State,  35,927  ;  showing  an  excess  of  1,732  indi- 
viduals only,  in  the  city,  out  of  a  population  of  312,932,  over  its  due  pro- 
portion in  the  comparison  with  the  counties,  if  all  other  circumstances  were 
exactly  equal. 

But  it  is  to  be  recollected  that,  in  every  year,  an  immense  laboring  popu- 
lation is  arriving  from  abroad  ;  many  of  whom,  wholly  uninstructed,  remain 
in  the  city  by  reason  of  the  labor  to  be  obtained  therein,  and  their  capacity 
for  its  performance,  whilst  the  mass  of  the  more  fortunate  class  go  to  the 
country.  The  wonder,  therefore,  is,  that  the  excess  before  mentioned,  of 
1,732  persons,  is  so  small.  The  alien  population  constituted,  in  1835,  when 
the  last  State  census  was  taken,  somewhat  more  than  one  fifth  of  the  whole 
population  of  the  city ;  and  that  of  the  rest  of  the  counties  somewhat  less 
than  one  seventeenth  of  their  whole  population.  The  census  taken  by  the 
marshal,  in  1840,  does  not  furnish  the  alien  population  for  the  city  or  for  the 
State.  If  it  has  kept  pace  with  the  ratio  for  1835,  the  number  of  white 
aliens,  of  and  over  the  age  of  twenty  years,  in  the  city,  is  about  32,500 ; 
being  more  than  fourfold  the  number  of  the  whites  of  the  same  age  who 
cannot  read  or  write ;  while  the  number  of  aliens  in  the  counties,  of  and 
over  the  age  of  twenty  years,  is  about  53,350 ;  being  less  than  one  and  a 
half  times  the  number  of  whites  of  the  same  age  who  cannot  read  or  write. 

A  large  portion  of  the  alien  population  in  the  city  is  poor,  or  on  the 
verge  of  poverty,  and  may  be  presumed  to  comprise  much  ignorance, 
brought  up,  as  it  has  been,  in  countries  where  the  blessings  of  education  are 
not  diffused  as  in  this.  Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  ignorance  among 
adults  thus  settled  among  us,  may  perhaps  be  gathered  from  the  poverty 
which  appears  to  exist  in  their  families.  A  report  of  the  former  Secretary 
of  State  (Mr.  Dix)  shows  that,  in  the  year  ending  the  1st  of  December,  1838, 
— a  year  when  labor  for  the  poor  was  very  difficult  to  obtain — the  whole 
number  of  foreigners  relieved  or  supported  by  public  charity  in  the  State 
was  64,570 ;  of  whom  59,522  were  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  only  5,048 
in  the  other  counties.  He  adds,  "  that,  in  the  county  of  New  York,  foreign- 
ers appear  to  constitute  more  than  seventy-three  per  cent,  of  the  whole  num- 
ber of  persons  relieved  or  supported ;  while,  in  the  other  counties,  they 
constitute  but  little  more  than  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number." 

These  explanations  fully  account (for  the  entire  number  of  white  persons 
in  the  city,  over  the  age  of  twenty  years,  who  cannot  read  nor  write — even 
supposing  that  the  Public  School  Society  and  the  pay  schools  had  hitherto 
in  due  time  educated  every  individual  between  four  and  sixteen  years  within 
our  boundaries,  during  that  interval,  or  any  part  of  it.  Connected  with 
the  returns  of  the  marshal,  illustrating  this  matter,  they  show,  contrary  to 
the  opinion  which  the  Secretary  has  pronounced,  that  the  Public  School 
Society  has  "  accomplished  the  principal  object  of  its  organization — the 


EEPORT   OF   COMMISSIONERS    OF    SCHOOL    MONEYS.  753 

education  of  the  great  body  of  the  children  of  the  city."  Notwithstanding 
the  very  disproportionate  influx  of  foreign  population  into  this  city,  as  com- 
pared with  the  rest  of  the  State,  the  struggles  of  the  Society  have  kept 
down  ignorance  to  an  extent  which  no  system,  less  efficacious  and  liberal 
than  its  own,  could  have  effected ;  and  has  enabled  the  city  to  make  a  posi- 
tive comparison,  waiving  the  consideration  of  its  disadvantages,  with  many 
of  the  counties  of  the  State,  some  of  which  are  embraced  among  the  twenty- 
seven  which  exhibit,  in  the  Superintendent's  report,  so  flourishing  a  state  of 
education  within  them. 

Of  the  white  persons,  of  and  over  the  age  of  twenty  years,  who  cannot 
read  or  write,  there  is,  rejecting  fractions : 

In  the  city  of  New  York,  .  .  .        •  '  V      1  out  of  every  21 

In  the  County  of  Montgomery,  .  .,;•          1  <l  21 

"  Rensselaer,  .            .                   1  "  21 

"  Wayne,  ..           .           V           1  "        •  22 

"  Steuben,  .            .            V      1  «  20 

"  Delaware,  .    '                    *             1  "  20 

"  Columbia,  ..        ,,_.;           .       1  "  20 

"  Essex,  .            .            .    ;         1  "  20 

"  Dutchess,  *     ,                        .       1  "  15 

"  Franklin,  .                        .1  "  14 

"  Fulton,  .  >          - .            .1  «  14 

"  Monroe,  .          ,  .'         ;.             1  "  13 

"  Chemung,  .  .         .            .1  "  12 

"  Sullivan,  .            .        ,     .             1  "  12 

"  Lewis,     .  .            .            .1  "  11 

"  Putnam,  .            .            .             1  "  10 

"  Tioga,     ....       1  "  9 

"  Herkimer,  .            .            .             1  "  8 

"  Clinton,  .  .            ...       1  "  5 

We  have  thus  sufficiently  disposed  of  the  charge  that  "  a  fearfully  large 
portion  of  the  indigent  children  are  not  reached,  or  in  any  way  benefited," 
by  the  system  of  education  that  now  prevails  in  the  city.  The  want  of  sup- 
port for  the  charge  will,  however,  become  still  more  apparent  from  the  com- 
parisons that  follow. 

The  number  of  paupers,  "  the  indigent "  emphatically,  in  the  State,  in 
1840,  as  returned  by  the  Secretary  of  State  to  the  Legislature,  is  56,561.  Of 
this  number,  27,553  were  in  New  York,  and  the  residue — 29,008 — in  the 
counties.  Looking  to  the  proportion  which  the  population,  of  twenty  years 
of  age  and  upward,  in  the  city  and  in  the  counties  respectively,  bears  to  the 
aggregate  population  of  each,  the  paupers  of  the  counties  would  comprise 
13,579,  of  and  over  the  age  of  twenty  years,  and  the  paupers  of  the  city 
would  comprise  14,432  of  and  over  that  age  ;  the  larger  number  in  the  city 
arising  from  the  fact  before  mentioned,  of  its  having  more  than  17,400  per- 
sons, of  twenty  years  and  upward,  beyond  its  proportion,  as  compared  with 

48 


754:  APPENDIX. 

the  aggregate  population  of  the  counties.  The  paupers,  then,  of  the  city, 
of  and  over  the  age  of  twenty  years,  bear  the  proportion  to  its  inhabitants 
of  like  age  who  cannot  read  or  write,  of  14,432  to  7,778  ;  making  the  ratio 
of  the  paupers  to  the  untaught  nearly  two  to  one,  and  showing  that  almost 
one  half  of  the  very  indigent  (throwing  altogether  out  of  view  the  accession 
of  untaught  persons  from  abroad)  have  been  "  reached  or  benefited  "  by  the 
public  schools;  whilst,  in  the  counties,  the  proportions  would  be  13,579 
paupers  to  35,927  untaught ;  showing  that  a  number  of  persons  equalling  all 
the  paupers,  besides  about  one  and  two  thirds  their  number,  from  among 
those  in  better  circumstances,  had  not  been  "  reached  or  benefited  "  by  the 
common  schools.  In  other  words,  the  untaught  in  the  city  would  be,  in 
comparison  with  its  poor,  as  little  more  than  one  to  two ;  while,  in  the 
counties,  the  untaught,  in  comparison  of  their  poor,  would  be  more  than 
five  to  two  ;  thus  making  a  difference  in  favor  of  the  city,  as  contrasted  with 
the  counties,  upon  a  comparison  of  their  poor  and  of  their  untaught  respec- 
tively, in  the  ratio  of  about  five  to  one. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  a  commendable  anxiety  to  educate  the  poor  has 
fearfully  exaggerated  the  number  of  those  who,  in  this  city,  obtain  no  in- 
struction. We  had,  in  some  degree,  participated  of  this  delusion.  It  is  true 
that  idle  children  are  found  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  whose  own  per- 
verseness,  or  whose  unfeeling  parents,  prevent  them,  at  times,  from  coming 
to  school ;  but  although  they  may  not  attend  this  month,  they  find  their 
way  to  school  the  next ;  and,  the  mode  of  tuition  in  all  the  schools  being 
uniform,  thus  pick  up,  from  month  to  month,  the  elements  ot  learning.  An 
illustration  of  this  is  derived  from  the  fact  that,  during  the  last  year,  more 
than  21,000  children  retired,  from  time  to  time,  from  the  public  schools, 
their  vacant  places  being  refilled  by  others.  In  no  other  way  than  we  have 
suggested  can  the  results  we  have  presented  be  accounted  for.  If  no  en- 
treaties avail  in  attracting  idle  children  to  school,  the  poverty  of  their 
parents,  or  their  own  vicious  course,  ensures  their  destiny  to  the  Poor-House 
or  the  House  of  Refuge,  whose  wholesome  discipline  imposes  the  necessity 
of  attending  to  their  books.  As  fast  as  the  foreign  population  increases, 
their  children  are  made  the  objects  of  our  liberal  system.  Thus  we  believe 
that  the  portion  of  the  young  who,  in  our  city,  grow  up  without  education 
altogether,  is  very  insignificant  indeed. 

In  presenting  the  statistics  contained  in  this  report,  some  errors  may  pos- 
sibly have  occurred,  drawn,  as  the  materials  have  in  part  been,  from  various 
columns  of  the  marshal's  census  and  the  Superintendent's  report,  and  under- 
going, as  they  necessarily  have,  after-processes  of  calculation.  We  have 
intended  them  and  believe  them  to  be  wholly  free  from  error,  and  therefore 
invite  all  just  criticism.  If  any  mistake  has  accidentally  crept  in,  sure  we 
are  that  it  is  not  of  a  character  or  amount  that  can  affect  substantially  the 
general  tenor  of  our  statements  and  conclusions.  In  making  the  estimates, 
we  have  used  the  marshal's  returns  as  printed  by  order  of  our  State  Legisla- 
ture, and  have  pursued  the  Superintendent's  method  of  ascertaining  there- 
from the  number  of  children  between  the  ages  of  five  and  sixteen  years. 

Having  thus  examined  the  objections  which  have  been  advanced  against 


EEPOET   OF   COMMISSIONERS   OF   SCHOOL   MONEYS.  755 

the  public  school  system,  it  may  be  proper  to  look  into  the  bill  reported  to 
the  Senate,  proposing  a  substitute.  This  bill,  we  understand,  received  the 
approbation  of  the  remonstrants  (alluded  to  by  the  Secretary  of  State),  who 
sent  numerous  committees  from  this  city  to  the  Legislature  to  urge  its  adop- 
tion ;  and  the  effort  for  its  passage  will  probably  be  renewed  at  the  next  ses- 
sion. It  may  be  assumed  to  have  been  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the 
memorialists  ;  nothing  being  more  common  than  to  introduce  a  bill  into  the 
Legislature' framed  by  the  applicants,  so  that  all  their  propositions  may  have 
a  fair  chance  of  due  legislative  discussion  and  inquiry.  We  shall  therefore 
regard  it  as  the  bill  of  the  remonstrants,  and  speak  of  its  provisions  accord- 
ingly. Never,  probably,  in  the  history  of  legislation,  were  the  avowed 
objects  of  a  bill  more  at  variance  with  its  actual  tendency  than  this. 

The  remonstrants  profess,  in  substance,  a  desire  that  the  people  shall 
have  a  more  direct  control  and  administration  of  the  public  school  system 
in  this  city ;  and  for  this  purpose  they  commence  by  taking  from  the  Com- 
mon Council  the  immediate  and  comparatively  numerous  representatives  of 
the  people,  and  the  guardians  of  their  local  interests  and  concerns,  all  con- 
nection with,  or  control  over,  the  schools  whatsoever.  In  place  of  the  Cor- 
poration and  the  Commissioners  of  School  Money  chosen  by  them,  the  bill 
proposes  to  place  the  whole  government  of  the  system  under  seventeen  com- 
missioners of  common  schools,  one  to  be  elected  by  the  qualified  voters  of 
each  ward,  at  the  charter  election ;  thus  affording  the  desirable  guarantee 
for  a  pure  and  efficacious  administration  of  the  system,  by  connecting  its 
destinies  with  the  political  contests  of  the  wards,  with  the  cabals,  intrigues, 
and  bargainings  of  committees,  appointed,  not  at  primary  meetings  of  the 
people,  but  at  partial  and  interested  meetings  of  partisans,  and  with  the 
fierce  strife  of  party  animosity.  In  a  spirit  of  hostility  to  close  corporations, 
and  of  any  abatement  of  the  people's  rights,  the  Commissioners  of  Common 
Schools  are  erected,  immediately  upon  their  election,  into  a  close  corpora- 
tion, for  their  terra  of  service ;  filling  vacancies,  whenever  they  occur  in 
their  body,  by  the  votes  of  the  residue ;  so  that,  by  possibility,  it  might 
happen  to  become  a  board  not  one  of  the  members  of  which  had  received 
the  popular  suffrage  ;  and  in  no  case  would  the  inhabitants  of  the  ward  in 
which  the  vacancy  occurred  have  any  voice,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the 
choice  of  its  new  commissioner.  -Zealous,  as  the  title  of  the  bill  purports, 
"  to  extend  the  benefits  of  common  school  education  in  the  city  of  New 
York,"  it  banishes  from  the  schools  all  the  children,  forming  so  numerous 
and  interesting  a  class  in  the  primary  departments,  between  the  ages  of  four 
and  five  years,  by  taking  away  from  them  all  the  benefits  now  enjoyed  by 
them  from  the  school  moneys ;  and  it  directs  the  appointment,  by  the  Board 
of  Commissioners,  of  a  superintendent  and  clerk  (offices  which  would  inevi- 
tably become  political  rewards),  who  are  to  have  the  first  lien  on  the  school 
moneys,  for  the  payment  of  their  annual  salaries,  amounting  to  three  thou- 
sand dollars :  a  sum  equivalent  to  the  average  tuition,  in  the  public  schools, 
of  one  thousand  scholars,  including  the  average  expenses  of  teachers,  school- 
books,  slates,  pencils,  writing-books  and  pens,  maps,  school  library,  furni- 
ture, and  room  hire.  Deprecating  grants  of  power  to  any  private  corpora- 


756  APPENDIX. 

tion  to  disburse  the  public  moneys,  as  wrong  in  principle  and  an  invasion 
of  popular  rights,  it  contains  provisions,  compulsory  on  the  commissioners 
and  the  public,  to  admit  any  number  of  persons  who  may  choose  to  asso- 
ciate for  the  purpose,  and  such  others  only  as  they  in  their  pleasure  may 
choose  to  adopt  as  their  associates,  to  the  privileges  of  a  district  school,  and 
to  a  participation  and  expenditure  of  the  school  moneys ;  upon  the  condi- 
tions that  the  associates  will  stipulate  for  the  continuance  of  their  school 
for  at  least  one  year  ;  will  make  it  appear  that  their  school  will  promote  the 
interests  of  education,  and  will  not  interfere  with  any  school  already  estab- 
lished ;  and  that  the  persons  applying  are  able  to  maintain  a  respectable 
school  for  the  instruction  of  children  in  the  branches  usually  pursued  in 
common  schools.  Ardent  to  impart  the  benefits  of  education  to  all,  it  pre- 
scribes no  regulation  under  which  all  must  be  admitted,  on  equal  terms,  to 
the  contemplated  schools.  Sensitive  to  the  just  rights  of  the  taxpayers  in 
the  city,  whose  contributions  to  the  cause  of  education  are  comparatively 
nearly  threefold  those  of  the  taxpayers,  for  the  same  object,  in  the  counties, 
the  proposed  system  embraces  enactments  whose  operation  would  probably 
drive  their  children  from  the  schools,  and,  at  best,  would  leave  them  but  the 
gleanings,  after  the  harvest  had  been  reaped  by  those  who  pay  no  tax  at  all. 
Paying  homage  to  the  merits  of  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  it 
adopts  them  as  part  of  the  system,  but  takes  from  them  the  means  of  sus- 
taining their  present  character  and  usefulness,  and  divests  them  of  two  of 
their  noblest  distinctions — that  which  forbids  the  inquiry  whether  the 
parent  can  or  cannot  pay  for  the  education  of  his  child ;  and  that  which, 
with  a  just  regard  to  the  principles  regulating  our  political  institutions, 
mingles  the  children  of  all,  without  reference  to  adventitious  circumstances 
of  fortune,  in  a  competition  for  eminence  :  resembling  the  struggle  in  which 
they  are  destined  to  engage,  upon  terms  of  like  equality,  in  their  future 
character  of  men  of  the  nation.  Solicitous  for  the  protection  of  religion, 
whilst  it  erects  establishments  that  may  be  devoted  to  sectarian  objects,  it 
also  fashions  schools  in  which  infidelity  may  be  taught  at  the  public  ex- 
pense. Professing  to  pay  respect  to  the  feelings  inseparable  from  a  due 
appreciation  of  the  rights  of  freemen,  it  humbles  the  citizen  to  the  proof 
of  pecuniary  destitution  before  he  can  obtain  a  gratuitous  education  for  his 
child,  and  demands  that  the  name  of  the  latter  be  then  enrolled  as  the 
recipient  of  public  relief,  on  documents  open  to  the  inspection  of  every 
inquirer ;  thus  carrying  down  the  record  of  the  receipt  of  public  charity  as 
the  accompaniment  for  life  of  the  youth  who,  under  the  existing  system, 
obtains  a  good  education  as  a  right,  without  disclosing  the  circumstances 
of  the  parent  to  any.  Many  of  our  mechanics,  and  other  most  useful  popu- 
lation, whose  struggles  enable  them  to  subsist  their  families,  can  ill  afford 
the  cost  of  the  education  of  their  children ;  but  the  just  sensibilities  be- 
longing to  freemen  would  prompt  the  indignant  refusal  of  any  benefit  to 
their  offspring,  to  be  obtained  only  upon  such  degrading  conditions. 

Other  objections,  not  here  necessary  to  enumerate,  might  be  advanced 
against  the  project  in  question,  or  any  other  at  all  resembling  it.  The  fact 
that  a  bill  containing  clauses  so  odious  might  possibly  have  received  legisla- 


REPORT   OF   COMMISSIONERS   OF   SCHOOL   MONEYS.  757 

tive  sanction,  without  being  duly  considered  by  the  community  on  whom  its 
injuries  would  most  immediately  fall,  admonishes  the  necessity,  before  the 
present  system  of  education  for  the  city  shall  be  changed,  of  a  reference  to 
that  community  of  any  proposed  substitute,  in  order  that  they  may  pass 
upon  it  distinctly  by  the  ballot-box.  Of  the  vast  benefits  derived  from  the 
practical  operation  of  the  public  schools  in  this  city,  there  are  not,  that  we 
are  aware,  any  differences  of  opinion  among  those  who  have  visited  them 
and  impartially  examined  into  their  effect.  Advantages  of  such  magnitude, 
securing,  as  they  do,  results  of  incalculable  consequence  to  the  intelligence 
and  morals  of  the  city,  should  not  be  hazarded  for  the  sake  of  untried  or 
exploded  systems,  that,  after  inflicting  their  evils,  will  cause  us  to  deplore 
the  sacrifice  of  a  healthful  state,  which,  if  to  be  regained  at  all,  will  require 
many  years  for  its  restoration.  Sensible  of  their  duty  to  the  public,  the 
commissioners  have  not  felt  at  liberty  to  avoid  that  faithful  exposition  of 
their  views  which  the  occasion  demands  ;  and  they  pray  the  Corporation  of 
the  city,  and  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  and,  through  them, 
the  Legislature  of  the  State,  to  give  such  a  cautious  and  deliberate  consid- 
eration of  the  whole  subject  as  the  immense  interests  involved,  and  any  con- 
victions herein  expressed,  may  respectively  appear  to  deserve. 

SAMUEL  GILFORD,  JR.,  Chairman. 
GEORGE  W.  STRONG,  Secretary. 


INDEX. 


Acts  Relating  to  Schools,  5,  12,  24,  25,  26, 

36,  48,  74,  101,  120, 137,  521,  573,  583. 

Act  for  Relief  of  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  49, 

63. 
Address — 

of  the  P.  S.  Society  to  the  Public,  6. 

of  De  Witt  Clinton,  14. 

to  Parents  and  Guardians,  36. 

by  Rev.  J.  N.  Maffit,  43. 

Rev.  Thaddeus  Osgood,  43. 

of  the  P.  S.  Society  to  the  Public,  110. 

Reasons  of  the  P.  S.  Society,  &c.,  127. 

of  Roman  Catholics  to  Public,  188, 

189,  331. 

Adelphi  Society,  Philadelphia,  22. 
Administration  of  the  Society,  604. 
African  Free  School,  48,  87,  92,  93,  94, 
95,  97,  131,  135,  156,  157,  165,   171, 
665-679. 

Agent  and  Visitor,  157,  615. 
Aimwell  School,  Philadelphia,  22. 
Albany  Lancasterian  School,  100. 
American  Museum,  83. 
Americus,  Review  of  Hon.  J.  C.  Spencer, 

482-488. 

Analysis  of  Faith,  307. 
Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  438. 
Arcularius,  Henry,  145. 
Arrowsmith,  Edward,  61. 
Assembly,  House  of — 

Report  of   Committee  on    Colleges, 
Academies,  and  Schools,  70. 

Proceedings  on  School  Law,  352,  497, 

521. 

Assistant  Teachers,  see  Teachers. 
Association,  Protestant,  302. 

of  Women  Friends,  2,  653. 
Augustine,  St.,  438. 
Authority  of  the  King,  468. 

of  the  Pope,  247,  303,  305,  468. 


15. 


Bangs,  D.D.,  Rev.  Nathan,  201,  273,  313. 
Baptist  Tabernacle  Church,  43,  69. 
Barnes,  Erastus,  140. 


Barry,  Commodore,  302. 

Basileopolis,  Bishop  of,  338. 

Beadle,  M.D.,  Edward  L.,  581. 

Beekman,  Hon.  J.  W.,  597. 

Beggars,  620. 

Bell,  Dr.,  20. 

Bellevue  Hospital  School,  see  Public  School 

No.Q. 

Benedict,  Hon.  Erastus  C.,  597. 
Bethel  Baptist  Church,  44,  47,  48-75,  78, 

100, 124,  726. 

Bethune,  Mrs.  Joanna,  108,  658. 
Betting,  211,  257,  300. 
Bible,  Douay,  236,  237,  246,  258. 

Protestant,  213,  246,  250,  289,  467. 

Tyndal's,  467. 

Coverdale's,  467. 

Bishop's,  467. 

James  L,  467. 

in  Schools,  191,  192,  236,  246,  257, 

275,  388,  635-644. 
Bloomingdale  School,  105,  106. 
Board  of  Education,  521,  526,  528,  534. 

Union  of  Society  with,  576-599. 

and  Powers  of  Public  School  Society, 

535-575. 

Bolton,  Thomas,  101,  381,  721. 
Bond,  Rev.  Thomas  E.,  201,  249,  252,  283, 

293,  294,  313. 
Bonnet,  Peter,  70. 

Books,  School-,  Expurgation  of,  160-163, 
208,  213,  237,  263,  317,  324-349. 

against  Catholics,  160-163,  209,  212, 
216,   245,  261,  315,  321,  386,  408, 
464,  733. 
Bossuet,  438. 

Boston  Schools,  114,  118, 152,  153. 
Bosworth,  Hon.  Joseph  L.,  560-572. 
Bourne,  Wm.  Oland,  714. 
Bradish,  Lieut.-Gov.  Luther,  426. 
British  and  Foreign  School  Society,  31, 

91,  100. 

British  Critic,  259,  293,  294,  297. 
Brownlee,  D.D.,  Rev.  W.  C.,  241. 
Brush,  Nehemiah,  140,  142. 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  709. 
Bryson,  David,  145. 
Buckingham,  Hon.  James  S.,  70-S. 


760 


INDEX. 


Bull  of  the  Pope,  306. 
Burlington,  N.  J.,  School  at,  22. 
Buyce,  John,  62,  63. 

C. 

Calvin,  287. 

Campbell,  Archibald,  102. 

Cardinal  Pazmann,  492. 

Carrigan,  Andrew,  195. 

Carroll  of  Carrollton,  Charles,  287,  305. 

Carroll  Hall,  426,  479. 

Gary,  Jeremiah  E.,  581. 

Catechism,  44,  138. 

Roman,  306. 

of  Council  of  Trent,  306. 
Catholic  Faith,  Exposition  of,  306. 

Church  Infallible,  265,  273,  307. 

Bible,  236. 

Central  Executive  Committee,  350. 

School  Party,  479-482. 

School  Ticket,  481. 

Board,  Dublin,  297. 

Excommunication,  see  Excommunica- 
tion, 
Census,  87,  111,  121,  122,  503,  505,  507, 

616. 
See    also,   Maclay's    Report,   New    York 

Evangelist,  and  Appendix  C. 
Centre  Street,  Opening,  171. 
Chamberlain,  William,  196,  323. 
Charity  Schools,  2,  86,  121. 
Chase,  Rev.  Johnson,  50,  58,  59,  61,  74. 
Chatfield,  Hon.  Levi  S.  497. 
Cheshire  Cheese,  443. 
Children  untaught,  see  Census. 
Cholera  Hospitals,  Schools  for,  155. 
Church  and  State,  728,  730,  746. 
Churches — 

Baptist,  69,  239. 

Baptist  Tabernacle,  43,  69. 

Bethel  Baptist  Church,  44,47,  48-75, 
83,  124,  726. 

Canal  Street  Presbyterian,  659. 

Congregational,  64. 

Dutch  Reformed,  64,  70,  138,  239. 

Episcopal,  239,  301. 

Grace,  64. 

Methodist  Episcopal,  69,   125,   141- 
148,  198,  239,  249,  252,  253,  274. 

Presbyterian,  70,  276. 

Roman  Catholic,  97,  124,  160,   187, 
239,  253,  324. 

Society  of  Friends,  2,  172,  174.  207, 
239. 

Trinity,  25,  41,  104. 
Church  Schools,  64-67,  69-70,  72,  89,  97, 

124-148. 
Civil  Purposes  of  School  Money,  see  School 

Fund  not  Sectarian. 
Classical  Schools,  116. 
Close  Corporation,  86,  151,  248,  4106,  432, 

742. 


Colored  Schools,  see  African  Free  School. 
Colquhoun  on  Poor  of  London,  17. 
Columbia  College,  106, 121,  245. 
Commissioners  of  School   Money,  74,  96, 

130,  185, 186. 
report  of,  734. 

Elected  from  the  Society,  586. 
Committees — 

of    Common     Council     on    Baptist 

Church,  67. 

of  Assembly  on  Colleges,  Academies, 
and  Schools,  on  Bethel  Church,  70, 
89,  182. 
on  Laws,  of  Common  Council,  96.  98, 

381. 

do.,  Report  of  (Appendix),  715. 
on  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Schools,  130, 
141,  147. 
report,  722. 

on  Laws,  Board  of  Assistants,  133. 
Arts   and  Sciences,  Board  of  Alder- 
men, 147. 

to  visit  Boston  Schools,  152. 
to  Confer  with  Bishop  Dubois,  162. 
on  Reorganization  of  System,  156. 
on  Schools  for  Germans,  168,  176. 
on  Teachers  and  Monitors,  169. 
Special,  Board,  of  Aldermen,  316. 
Catholic  Central,  on  Schools,  350. 
of  Assembly,  on  Colleges,  Academies, 

and  Schools,  352,  497. 
Report  of,  501. 

on  Literature  (Senate),  353,  373, 402. 
of  Transfer,  Report,  587. 
Common  Schools?  What  is  meant  by,  134. 
Common  Council,  and  Corporation,  11,  13, 
21,  25,  30,  46,  51,  56,  57,  64,  67,  74, 
75,  81-85,  89,  96,  122,  12o,  154,  171, 
179,  183,  202. 
Compromise,  no,  246,  467. 
Confession,  Westminster,  439. 
Congregational  Church,  64. 
Connecticut  School  Fund,  89. 

Law  of,  620. 

Constitution  of  New  York  State  on  Reli- 
gion, 139,  144,  363,  723,  728,  730,  746. 
Cook,  Richard,  70. 
Cooper,  Peter,  see  Personal  Index. 
Corlear's  Hook,  155. 
Corporal  Punishment,  78,  532,  629. 
Corporation  of   New  York,  see  Common 

Council. 

Council  of  Trent,  306. 
Court  of  Errors,  426. 
Cowdrey,  Samuel,  see  Personal  Index. 
Crushing  Catholic  Conscience,  250,  812. 


D. 

Danaher,  T.  L.,  351. 

Deaf  and  Dumb,  Institution  for,  150. 


INDEX. 


761 


Declaration  of  Independence,  247,  303. 

Depository,  611. 

Death  of  Benjamin  D.  Perkins,  24. 

John  Murray,  Jr.,  41. 

De  Witt  Clinton,  109. 

Lloyd  D.  Windsor,  167. 

Joseph  Lancaster,  172. 

Robert  C,  Cornell,  532. 

Lindley  Murray,  573. 
Democratic  Party  and  Schools,  478,  496. 
Dibblee,  Tyler,  131,  132,  145,  148. 
Dickinson,  Senator  A.  B.,  501. 
Dillon,  Gregory,  188,  195,  350. 
Dix,  Gen.  John  A.,  497. 
Dissenters,  214,  289. 
Dissolution  of  the  Manumission  Society 
679. 

of  the  Public  School  Society,  595. 
District  and  New  York -City  Systems  Com- 
pared, see  Maclay's  Report,  New  York 
Evangelist  and  Appendix  C. 
Dominicans,  301. 
Donations  to  the  Society,  8,  10,   11,  13, 

14,  23,  25,  29,  36,  73,  657. 
Doyle,  Rev.  Dr.,  Bishop  of  Kildare,  303. 
Drake,  Jacob,  60. 
Dublin  Review,  297,  469. 
Dublin  Catholic  Board,  297. 
Dubois,  Bishop,  160-163,  324. 
Duffy,  Peter,  195. 

Dutch  Reformed  Church,  64,  70,  138. 
Duty  of  the  State,  88,  113,  240,  242,  354, 
724,  732,  733,  745. 


ft 


Economical  School,  48,  87. 
Economv,  605. 
Edict  of  Nantes,  214. 
Edinburgh  High  School,  114. 

Review,  16,  18. 

Education  of  the  Poor,3, 6,  10,  15, 17,  55, 
110,  154,  227,  255,  311,  312,  333,  601, 

602,  754,  see  Vagrancy  and  Census. 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  292. 
England,  214,  303. 

Catholics  of,  292. 
Engs,  Philip  W.,  61. 
Evangelist,  New  York,  606-516. 
Evening  Schools,  613,  682,  690. 
Exchanges,  Scientific,  530. 
Excommunication,  Roman  Catholic,  485, 
490-495. 

See  also  Tristram  Shcndy. 
Expurgation  of  School  Books,  see  Books. 


F. 

False  Issue,  204,  254. 
Farden,  Thomas,  63. 


Faith,  Rule  of,  290,  307. 

Analysis  of,  307. 

Catholic,  307. 

Farm  School,  Manual  Labor,  175. 
Fell,  M.D.,  J.  Weldon,  597. 
Female  Association,  2,  27,  33,  40,  49,  87, 

93,  95,  129,  532,  653-657,  681. 
Field,  Charles  D.,  581. 
Fire  Department,  60. 
Fitzsimmons,  Thomas,  305. 
Francis,  St.,  438. 
Freeman's  Journal,    187,    202,    326,  831, 

479. 

Free  and  Pay  Systems,  see  Pay  System, 
Freemasons,  31. 
Free  School  Society,  Organized,  2.     . 

Memorial  to  Legislature,  3. 

Act  of  Incorporation,  4. 

First  Board  of  Trustees,  6. 

Address  to  the  Public,  6. 

Funds  Raised,  8. 

School  Opened,  9. 

Aid  from  the"  Legislature,  11,  12,  20. 
"         "     Corporation,  1 1,  13,  20. 

Name  altered,  12. 

of  Philadelphia,  22. 

Law  of  1812,  26. 

Memorial  to  Legislature,  33. 

Name  altered  to  P.  S.  Society,  98. 
French  Language  in  Schools,  169. 


G. 


Galileo,  441. 

Gaston,  Judge,  Extract  from,  304. 

German  Schools,  168,  176. 

Girard,  Stephen,  283,  303. 

Glossarium,  Archaeologicum  (Spelman), 

492. 

Goff,  A.  W.,  Music  in  Schools,  634. 
Gordon,  Lord  George,  302,  313. 
Grace  Church,  64. 

Graham,  David,  195,  253,  323,  326,  345. 
Greenwich  Asylum,  129,  138. 

See  also,  OrpJian  Asylum  Society. 


II. 


Hamilton  Free  School,  49,  87,  135. 

Harlem  Schools,  105,  135,  150. 

Hawks,  Wright,  373. 

Henry  VIII.,  289. 

Hibbard,  M.D.,  Wm.,  579. 

High  School,  10,  116,  166,  528,  645. 

Hobart,  Bishop,  681. 

Hoffman,  Michael,  497. 

Hogan,  Rev.  William,  Excommunication 

of,  485,  490. 
Holbrook,  Josiah,  530. 
Death  of,  531. 


762 


INDEX. 


Holden's  Analysis  of  Faith,  307. 

Home,  T.  Hartwell,  258. 

Hospitals,  Schools  Used  for,  155. 

House  of  Lords,  Evidence  before,  490. 
Refuge,  166,  397,  475. 

Howard,  William,  Donation,  73. 

Hoyt,  J.  M.,  61. 

Hughes,  Rt.  Rev.  John,  187,  189,  196, 
202-224,  249,  252,  253,  254,  277- 
313,  344,  350,  426-478,488,489,514. 

Hungary,  Excommunication  in,  491. 

Huss,  John,  192,  278,  286,  436. 

Button,  Rev.  M.,  74. 


I. 


Independent  circumstances,  Men  of,  46. 
Index,  Expurgatorius,  485. 

Prohibitory,  260. 

Infallibility  of  tho  Church,  265,  273,  307. 
Infant  Schools,  108,  149,  652-664. 
Inman,  John,  712. 

Infidelity,  220,  275,  281,  288,  332,  756. 
Inquisition,  441. 

Institution  for  Deaf  and  Dumb,  150. 
Institutions  entitled  to  School  Fund,  48, 

49,  87,  131,  135,  235,  374,725. 
Ireland,  213,  230,  247,  258,  303,  490. 
Irish  Heart,  The,  251. 

R.  C.  Excommunications,  490. 
Italian  Schools,  529. 


J. 


James,  I.,  467. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  246. 
Jesuitry,  251. 

Jesuits,  258,  262,  301,  302. 
Jews,  135, 

Jones,  Darius  E.,  Music,  166. 
Journal  of  Commerce,  431,  439, 478,  482- 
488. 


Kelly,  James,  188,  189,  195. 
Ketchum,  Hiram,  see  Personal  Index, 
King,  E.  W.,  101,  381,  721. 
Knox,  D.D.,  Rev.  John,  271. 
Koran,  228. 


L. 


Ladies  as  School  Visitors,  80. 
La  Fayctte,  General,  84,  672,  686. 
Lancaster,  Joseph,  9, 18,  30,  32,  172,  600, 

687,  693,  697. 
Lancasterian  System,   9,  10,    18,  19,  28, 

30,  49,  72,  600. 
Law  X^ominittee,  see  Committees. 


Laws,  School,  see  School  Laws. 
Leggett,  William,  234. 
Legislature,  Visits  by,  44,  56. 
Le  Roux,  Charles,  Donation,  25. 
Libraries,  25,  30,  32,  165,  612. 
Lighted  Window,  The,  310. 
Locke  on  Education,  ]  5. 
Lockwood,  Stephen,  70. 
London  Quarterly  Review,  490. 
Lotteries,  107,  150,  627. 
Luther,  286,  328. 


M. 


Maclay,  D.D.,  Rev.  Archibald,  43,  69, 158. 
Maclay,  Hon.  Wm.  B.,  497,  500. 

Report  on  Schools,  501-506. 

Review  of,  507-516. 
Maffit,  Rev.  John  Newton  d,  43. 
Maghee,  Phelim,  251,  301. 
Magna  Charta,  468. 
Man  of  Fortune,  46. 

Manhattan  ville  Free  School,  105, 135,  157 
Manual,  32,  40,  41,  42,  176,  631,  642. 
Manumission  Society,  22,  114,  164,  665- 

679. 

Maryland,  Catholics  of,  278. 
Mason,  John  L.,  535,  548-560. 
Mathews,  D.D.,  Rev.  J.  M.,  64,  73. 
Matthew,  Father,  251. 
McAuley,  Rev.  Thomas,  70. 
McCartee,  Rev.  Peter,  70. 
McCrea,  Mrs.  Mary,  29. 
McGregor,  John,  Jr.,  70. 
McKeon,  Hon.  James  W.,  188,  189,  350, 

373,  488. 

McLaughlin,  John,  188,  195. 
McMurray,  William,  70. 
Mechanics'  Society,  49,  87,  95,  97,  114, 

131, 135,  137. 

Methodist  Charity  School,  123,  125-148. 
Memorials — 

for  Act  of  Incorporation,  3.  r 

to  Legislature  for  Aid,  11,  33. 
Relative  to  Bethel  Church,  62. 

to  Corporation  on  Bethel  Church,  55. 

of  Mayor,  &c.,  to  Legislature,  64. 

of  the  Society  to  Legislature,  68. 

of  Religious  Societies,  68. 

Relative  to  School  Fund,  79. 

to  Legislature  for  Aid,  119. 

to    Common     Council    on     Church 
Schools,  125. 

of  Methodist  Society,  132. 

to  Corporation,  on  School  Fund,  142. 

to  the  Senate,  1841,  403. 

See  also  Petitions. 
Milnor,  D.D.,  Rev.  James,  73. 
Missal,  238. 

Mohammedans,  136, 485. 
Monitors,  29;  31,  164,  609. 


INDEX. 


763 


Monk,  Maria,  447,  478. 

Montaigne,  15. 

Morals  in  Schools,  see  Religious  Instruc- 
tion. 

Morning  Schools  for  Apprentices,  32. 

Morton,  J.,  67,  68,  82. 

Munchausen,  Baron,  472. 

Munsen,  Reuben,  70. 

Murphy,  William  D.,  see  Personal  Index. 

Murray,  Rev.  Dr.,  Archbishop  of  Dublin, 
305. 

Museum,  American,  83. 

Music  in  Schools,  166,  632. 


N. 


Name  of  Society,  5,  12,  101. 
'Natural  History  in  Schools,  530. 
New  Testament,  Rhemish,  258,  291-300. 
New  York  Evangelist,  506-516. 
Non-attendance    of  Catholics,    207,    223, 
287,  312,  337,  341,  393,  442,  463, 474. 
Normal  School,  158,'  164,  528,  534,  645. 
Nothingarians,  312,  716. 


0. 


O'Connell,  Daniel,  297. 

O'Conner,  Joseph,  351. 

O'Connor,  B.,  188,  195,  350. 

O'Connor,  Thomas,   187,   188,   189,  350, 

351,  426. 

Onderdonk,  D.D.,  Rev.  Benjamin,  74. 
Orangemen,  247. 
Ordinance  on  Vagrancy,  154. 
Orphan  Asylum  Society,   21,  48,  87,  95, 

97,  114,  131,  135,_  138. 
Osgood,  Rev.  Thaddeus,  43. 
O'Sullivan,  Hon.  JohnL.,  352,  481,  500. 

P. 

Papal  Bull,  306. 

Parliament,  214,  261,  294,  303,  490. 

Patton,  Rev.  William,  70. 

Paulding,  William,  Mayor,  67,  96. 

Pay  Schools,  86,  111,  121. 

Pay  System,  82,  90,  100,  107,  150,  622. 

Pazmann,  Cardinal,  492. 

Peace,  630. 

Peck,  Rev.  George,  201. 

Pcnn,  William,  470. 

Pennsylvania  School  System,  16. 

Petitions,  see  also  Memorials. 

of  Society  to  Legislature,  32. 

of  Mayor  and  Common  Council,   64, 
67. 

R.  C.  Orphan  Asylum,  124. 

of  Methodist  Church,  133. 

of    Roman  Catholics,  189,  202,  323, 

383. 
Philadelphia  Free  School  Society,  22. 


Pise,  Rev.  Constantine  D.,  189,  253. 

Pius  IV.,  306. 

Poland,  278,  470. 

Poor,  Education  of  the,  310-312,754,  see 

Vagrancy  and  Census. 
Pope,  Authority  of  the,  303,  305,  468. 
Popery  and  Freedom,  304. 
Population  of  New  York  City,  1,  87,  111. 
Poverty  of  Catholics,  188,  336,  514. 
Power,  D.D.,  Rev.  John,   187,  189,  253, 

328,  347,  350. 
Primary  Schools  and  Departments,  152, 

156,  169,  175,  652-664. 
Private  Schools,  see  Pay  Schools. 
Prohibitory  Index,  260. 
Property  of  the  Society,  78,  594,  595. 
Proposition  of  Catholics,  320. 

Public  School  Society,  321,  386. 
Protestant  Association,  302, 

Journal,  491. 
Puritans,  289. 
Public  Schools — 

No.  1—9,  13,  25,  33, 42, 43, 155, 171, 

172,  624,  639,  654,  656,  680. 
No.  2—10,  24,  25,  33,  42,  44,  155, 

624,  639,  647,  654,  655,  683. 
No.  3—25,  29,  33,  35,  41,  42,  43,  46, 
58,,60,  81,  84,  624,  625,  639,  654, 
685,711. 
No.  4—28,  30,  33,  40,  42,  155,  624, 

655,  688,711. 

No.  5—44,  46,  50,  51,  59,  76,  77, 155, 
160,  187,  532,  624,  647,  656,  657, 
690. 

No.  6— 81,  690,  701. 
No.  7—104,  148,  172,  635,  694. 
No.  8—105,  108,  149,  155,  629,  640, 

660,  662,  663,  698. 
No.  9—105,  106,  699. 
No.  10—106,  155,  661,  662,  663,  701. 
No.  11—106,  155,  703. 
No.  12—122,  123,  704,711. 
No.  13—122,  155,  706. 
No.  14—155,  158,707. 
No.  15—122,  158,  708. 
No.  16—158,  166,  170,  709. 
No.  17—170,  530,  711. 
No.  18—530,  534,  712. 
Public-School-Society  -Religion,  473. 


Q. 


Quakers,  470,  652.    See  also  Society  of 
Friends. 


Real  Estate  of  the  Society,  see  Property. 
Reasons  against  Sectarian  Use  of  School 

Money,  127. 
Reese,  M.D.,  David  M.,  268. 


INDEX. 


Reformation,  School  of,  153. 
Religion  the  foundation  of  morals,241, 287. 
Religious  Instruction,  26,   37,  38,  44,  88, 
89,    108,    160-163,   175,  191,  221,  229, 
237,  241,  281,  311,  334,  448,  472-474, 
636-644,  716,   718,  719,  733. 
Religious  Societies,  see  Church  Schools. 
Remonstrance 

against  Roman  Catholic  and  Metho- 
dist Applications,  125. 

Reasons  for  the  Remonstrance,  127. 

against  Roman  Catholic  Petition,  180, 
181,  196. 

of  Methodist  Church,  198. 

to  the  Senate  by  the  Society,  403. 

of  Churches  and  Citizens,  323,  722. 
Reorganization,  46,  92,  98-103,  156. 
Reply  of  Trustees  to  R.  C.  Address,  338. 
Reports 

of  Committee  of  Common  Council,  67. 
of  Assembly,  70,  89,  182. 

of  Committee  of  Society,  85. 

of  Committee  on  Laws,  96,  715. 

do.  on  Reorganization,  98. 

do.  on  Laws,  133. 

on  Arts,  Sciences,  and  Schools,  142, 
147,  323,  722. 

Special,  Board  of  Aldermen,  316. 

Hon.  John  C.  Spencer,  356-373. 

Committee  on  Literature,  Senate,  402. 

Hon.  Wm.  B.  Maclay,  501. 

Committee  of  Transfer,  587-595. 

Commissioners  of  School  Money,  734. 
Resolutions 

of  Common  Council  to  Society,  82. 

of  the  Society  on  Union,  581. 
Review,  Dublin,  see  Dublin. 

of  Hon.  J.  C.  Spencer,  482,  747. 

of  the  School  Question,  489. 

of  Mr.  Maclay's  Report,  507-516. 

London  Quarterly,  490. 
Revised  Statutes,  233. 
Rewards,  29,  612. 

Rhemish  New  Testament,  258,  292-308. 
Rhine,  230. 
Rogers,  John,  145. 
Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society,  49. 

Orphan  Asylum,  123,  124-148. 

Petition,  179,  189. 

Excommunication,  485,  490-495. 

Religion  and  Freedom,  304, 440. 

School  Ticket,  479-482. 
Rule  of  Faith,  290,  301. 
Rutgers,  Col.  Henry,  see  Personal  Index. 


8. 


Sailor's  Snug  Harbor,  155. 

Salaries,  32,  33,  62,  63,  606,  608.  See  also 

Teachers. 
Salvation  out  of  the  Church,  437-439. 


School  Books,  Expurgation  of,  160-164, 
191,  see  Books. 

Entitled  to  School  Money,  see  Institu- 
tions. 

for  Germans,  168,  176. 
for  Italians,  529. 

Party,  Roman  Catholic,  479-482. 
Commissioners,  see  Commissioners. 
Fund,  see  Money. 
Money,  16,45,  75,  79,  88,  95,  98, 124, 

125,  171. 

Law  (see  Acts),  74,  83,  101, 131. 
Bill  of  1841,  postponed,  426. 
Census  (see  Census),  111,  121. 
of  Reformation,  153. 
for  the  Poor,  601,  602. 
for  Colored    Children,   see  African 

Free  Scfiool. 

School  Fund  not  Sectarian,  88,  89,  125, 
139,  140,  143,  180,  181,  182,  194,  219 
227,  230,  232,  240,  266,  270,  275,  276, 
319,  389,  421,  432. 

Scientific  Studies  and1  Exchanges,  530. 
Scriptures,  Holy,    in  Schools,  see  Bible, 

and  Religious  Instruction. 
Scripture  Lessons,  44,  213,  328,  640. 
Scudder,  John,  681. 
Scudder,  Mrs.  John,  83. 
Sections  of  Trustees  Organized,  77,  80. 
Secular  education,  113,  135,  219,220,  225, 

229,  236,  243,  247,  286,  362,  410. 
Sedgwick,  Theodore,  Speech,  224,  496. 
Senate  (1841),  353,  356,  373,  426. 
Servetus,  287. 

Seton,  Samuel  W.,  see  Personal  Index. 
Seward,  Gov.  Wm.  H.,  178,  353,  373,430, 

497,  498. 
Shandy,  Tristram,  431,  439,  443,  477,  478, 

482,  489-495. 
Shorthill,  Edward,  188,  350. 
Smith,  Charles  H.,  581. 
Smith,  Joseph,  69,  133. 
Smithfield,  214. 
Snodgrass,  Rev.  W.  D.,  70. 
Society  of  Friends.  2,  172,  174,  207,  245, 

254,  262,  287,291,  313,  652: 
Speeches. 

De  Witt  Clinton  at  No.  1,  14. 
Bishop  Hughes,  202,  249,  277   426, 

480. 

Theodore  Sedgwick,  224. 
Hiram  Ketchum,  239,  313,  373,  536. 
Rev.  Thomas  E.  Bond,  D.D.,  253. 
David  M.  Reese,  M.D.,  268. 
Rev.  John  Knox,  D.D.,  271. 
Rev.  Nathan  Bangs,  D.D.,  274. 
Rev.  Gardiner  Spring,  D.D.,  276. 
Hon.  John  L.  Mason,  548. 
Hon.  Joseph  L.  Bosworth,  660. 
Peter  Cooper,  595. 
William  D.  Murphy,  597. 
Spelman,  Sir  Henry,  492-495. 


PERSONAL   INDEX. 


765 


Spencer,  Hon.  John  C.,  356. 

review  of,  482,  747. 
Spring,  D.D.,  Rev.  Gardiner,  70,  276. 
St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  214. 
St.  Michael's  Church,  106. 
Stafford,  Rev.  Ward,  70. 
State,  Duty  of  the,  see  Duty  of  the  State. 
Sterne,  Laurence,  see  Tristram  Shandy. 
Suffern,  Thomas,  70. 
Summerfield,  Rev.  George,  43. 
Sunday  Schools,  27,  40,  108,  111,  248. 
Superintendent  of  Repairs,  167. 
Surplus  Revenue,  171. 
Sweeney,  M.D.,  Hugh,  187, 188, 189,  350. 


T. 


Tabernacle  Baptist  Church,  43,  69. 

Targee,  John,  60,  73. 

Taylor,  Jacob  B.,  60. 

Taxes  for  School  Money,  45,  116, 117, 183. 

Teachers,  29,  30,  32,  33,  62,  158,  606. 

Temperance  Tales,  252. 

Test  and  Corporation  Act,  England,  214. 

Thompson,  Samuel,  70. 

Transfer  of  Property  to  Corporation,  151, 

165,  398. 

to  Board  of  Education,  576-599. 

of  Colored  Schools  to  the  Society,  674. 
Tribute  to  Joseph  Lancaster,  173. 
Trinity  Church,  25,  41. 
Troy,  Rev.  Dr.  R.  C.,  Archbishop,  258, 

297. 

Truancy,  see  Vagrancy. 
Trustees,  Classification  of,  77,  80. 

Hall,  172,  177,  528,  647. 

to  be  Ward  Trustees,  586. 
Tuthill,  James  M.,  61. 


U. 


Union  of  the  Public  School  Society  and 
Board  of  Education,  574,  576. 


Universal  Catechism,  44. 
Untaught   Children,  see  Census  and  Va- 
grancy. 


V. 


Vagrancy,  17,  87,  88,  111,  119,  122,  153, 

175,  193,  413,  601,  602,  615. 
Van  Blarcom,  John,  Donation,  29. 
Van  Wyck,  William,  140. 
Varela,  Rev.  Felix,  187,  325,  337,  346. 
Venice,  Republic  of,  304. 
Veiplanck,  Hon.  Gulian  C.,  see  Personal 

Index. 

Visit  of  General  La  Fayette,  84. 
Visit  of  Common  Council  to  Schools,  82. 

Legislature  do.,  44,  56. 
Visitor  Appointed,  119,  157,  615. 
Vulte,  Charles,  597. 

W. 

Wainwright,  Rev.  J.  M.,  DD.,  64. 

Waldenses,  215. 

Washington,  George,  Address,  288,  435. 

Hall,  350. 

Webster,  Charles  R.,  100. 
Webster,  Daniel,  246. 
Wesley,  John,  301,  313. 
Wheeler,  S.,  70. 

Whig  Party,  and  Schools,  478,  496. 
White,  James  W.,  188,  189,  3&1. 
Williams,  Rev.  John,  69. 
Williams,  Roger,  470. 
Window,  the  Lighted,  310. 
Workshop,  167,  612. 


Y. 

Yorkville  School,  135. 


PERSONAL  INDEX. 


Adams,  John,  39,  46. 

Adams,  John  T.,  425,  534,  680,  586,  651, 

697. 
Allen,  Stephen,  60,  75,  85,  104,  105,  179, 

425,  618,  695,  699,  700,  701. 
Aspinwall,  Gilbert,  5,  6,  8. 
Atterbury,  Benjamin  B.,  586. 
Averill,  Augustin,  425,  587,  664. 
Averill,  Heman,  118,  153,  692,  694. 


B. 

Baldwin,  Micah,  425,  708. 
Barrow,  H.  H.,  580,  586. 
Bartlett,  Caleb,  425. 
Benedict,  H.  S.,  533. 
Benjamin,  Meigs  D.,  425,  710. 
Belts,  George  W.,  425. 
Birdsall,  William,  425. 
Blackstone,  Wyllis,  586. 
Blaisdell,  James  H.,  425,  710. 


PERSONAL   INDEX. 


Bleecker,  Leonard,  2,  5,  6,  8,  39,  40,  43, 

55,  69,  73,  81,  639,  640,  685,  688,  690, 

695. 

Bowne,  John  L.,  51,  81,  690. 
Bowuc,  Robert,  5,  665,  668. 
Boyd,  Samuel,  39,  42,  56,  58,  81,  83,  663, 

685,  686,  690,  698. 
Boyd,  William,  5. 
Brinsmade,  James  B.,  119,  146,  152,  153, 

425,  581,  586,  629,  664,  704,  707. 
Britton,  Stephen  P.,  686. 
Brown,  Adam,  688. 
Brown,  Ebenezer  H.,  586. 
Brown,  Noah,  28,  688. 
Burtis,  Arthur,  692. 
Bussing,  Thomas,  165,  425,  677. 

C. 

Cairns,  William,  39. 

Chester,  W.  W.,  425,  628,  662,  706. 

Child?,  Samuel  R.,   146,   167,    175,   425, 

633,  651,  706,  708. 
Chrystie,  Albert,  425. 
Clapp,  Isaac  H.,  648. 
Clark,  Benjamin,  39,  41,  44,  46,  58,  75, 

78,  79,  81,  83,  85,  101,   103,   146,  172, 

262. 

Clarkson,  Matthew,  2,  5,  8. 
Cleaveland,  Edward  W.,  425. 
Clinton  De  Witt,  4,  6,  8,   14,   32,  39,  74, 

109,  639,  649,  659,  680. 
Cobb,  James  W.,  534. 
Cobb,  Lyman,  168, 425. 
Cock,  George  E.,  586. 
Coit,  William,  5. 

Collins,  Benjamin  S.,  158,  707,  708,  709. 
Collins,  Isaac,  39,  51,  56,  57,  58,  75,  81, 

82,    85,   96,    101,  103,  105,  640,   685, 

690,  691,  692,  695,  698. 
Collins,  James,  47. 
Collins,  Joseph  B.,    166,  168,   175,  325, 

327,  344,  347,  425,  496,  528,  534,  535, 

574,  579,  580,  586,  587,  618,  625,  651, 

678,  710. 

Collins,  Thomas,  683. 
Comstock,  Nathan,  39,  613. 
Constant,  Joseph,  2,  5. 
Cooledge,  William  P.,  680,  586,  593. 
Cooper,  Francis,  39. 
Cooper,  Peter,   179,  425,  533,  534,  574, 

579,  580,  583,  586,  595,  693,  708. 
Cornell,  Robert  C.,  46,  58,  75,  78,  79,  81, 

82,  85,  96,  101, 103, 104,  105, 122,  141, 

155,  158,  167,  179,  186,  198,  344,  345, 

432,  434,  440,  632,  618,  626,  662,  663, 

695,  698,  701,  703,  704,  706,  708. ' 
Cornell,  M.D.,  T.  F.,  425. 
Corse,  Israel,  166,  677. 
Crosby,  Robert  R.,  686. 
Curtis,  Joseph,  425,  686,  693,  693,  710, 

713. 


D. 


Davenport,  John,  680,  686,  693,  608,  698. 

Davies,  Henry  E.,  425. 

Day,  Mahlon,  153,  165,425,  664,  677,708. 

Dean,  Israel,  57,  81,  691. 

Delamater,  John,  146. 

Demilt,  Samuel,  153,  166,  165,  425,  648, 
662,  664,  674,  677,  694,  708,  710,  713. 

Denman,  Asahel  A.,  426. 

De  Peyster,  Frederic,  425,  694. 

DePeyster,  James  F.,  104,  105,  146,  1C.!, 
325,  347,  425,  574,  575,  579,  580,  5Jt , 
651,  678,  691,  695,  699,  700,  701,  70S. 

Doughty,  Samuel,  5. 

Downer,  F.  W.,  580,  587. 

Dusenberry,  William,  533. 

Dwight,  Jr.,  Theodore,  167,  633. 


E. 


Eckford,   Henry,   28,    32,   39,    639,    649, 

688. 
Eddy,  Thomas,  2,  5,  6,  8/28,  39,  41,  43, 

639,  688. 

Edgar,  William,  2,  5,  8. 
Egbert,  Benjamin,  6. 
Ellis,  Benjamin,  425,  580,  608,  712. 
Ellsworth,  Erastus,  119,  662. 
Ely,  John,  586. 
Everitt,  N.  C.,  692. 


F. 


Farmar,  Thomas,  5. 

Ferris,  Edward,  425. 

Field,  H.  W.,  710. 

Fish,  Hamilton,  166,  707. 

Forbes,  Samuel,  5. 

Fox,  W.    W.,  103,   105,  165,    675,  696, 

698,  704,  706,  708,  709. 
Franklin,  Matthew,  5,  6,  8. 
Franklin,  Thomas,  2,  5,  6,  8. 


G. 


Gibbons,  Thomas,  67. 

Grade,  Archibald,  6. 

Gray,  John,  686. 

Griffing,  Samuel,  425. 

Grinnell,  Joseph,  75,  79,  81,  85,  624,  692. 

Groshon,  J.,  425,  701. 

Goodwin,  Ely,  686. 


H. 


Haff,  S.,  706. 

Haines,  Charles  G.,  51,  56,  81. 

Hallock,  Lewis,  586. 

Halsey,  Anthony  P.,  167,  168,    179,  186, 

198,  328,  344,  347,  528,  634,  573,  608, 

647,  648,  708. 


PERSONAL   INDEX. 


767 


Halsted,  Matthias  0.,  707. 

Harsen,  Jacob,  425,  586. 

Hasbrouck,  Stephen,  698. 

Havcmeyer,  Frederick,  712. 

Havens,  Philetus,  81. 

Havens,  Rensselaer,  39,  40, 46,  51,  79,  81, 

118,  152,  639,  690,  692,  703. 
Haviland,  Edmund,  165,  425,  677. 
Heard,  James,  146, 155, 158,  706,  708, 709. 
Hedges,  Timothy,  425,  586,  694,  707. 
Hegeman,  Adriau,  5,  6,  8. 
Hepburn,  J.  C.,  587. 
Hicks,  Oliver  H.,  686. 
Hicks,  Whitehead,  28,  32,  39,  686,  688. 
Hinsdale,  Henry,  165,  677. 
Hogan,  M.D.,  Robert,  325,  347,  350,  425. 
Howard,  William,  81,  119. 
Howe,  John  W.,  425,  533,  587,  713. 
Hurd,  John  R.,  44,  79,  81,  82,  118,  156, 

167,  425,  533,  534,  581,  633,  651,  663, 

675,  692,  712,  713. 
Hyde,  John  E.,  46,  47,  51,  56,  81,  103, 

640. 

J. 

James,  Samuel,  39. 

Jay,  Peter  Augustus,  167,  627,  682,  707. 

Jay,  John,  425. 

Jewett,  Thomas  L.,  165,  677. 

Johnson,  William,  5,  6,  8. 

K. 

Kellogg,  Joseph  W.,  586. 

Kennedy,  M.D.,  Samuel  L.,  707. 

Ketchum,  Hiram,  57,  58,  74,  78,  81,  82, 
83,  96,  146,  152,  224,  239,  277,  282, 
313,  373,  425,429,  433,  448,  478,  536, 
662,  663,  675. 

Kirby,  Edward,  686. 

Knapp,  Shepherd,  425. 

L. 

Lawrence,  Abraham   R.,  167,   425,   633, 

650,  651. 

Lawrence,  Richard  M.,  425. 
Lawrence,  William  Beach,  707. 
Lee,  Gideon,  51,  79,  81,   158,  704,  706, 

707,  708. 

Lee,  William  P.,  587. 
Leigh,  Charles  C.,  586. 
Leveridge,  John,  146. 
Leveridge,  John  W.  C.,  581,  586,  593. 
Livingston,  Brockholst,  2,  4. 
Lockwood,  Roe,  586. 
Lord,  Daniel,  663,  698. 
Lord,  Eleazar,  78,  81,  698. 
Lorillard,  Jacob,  29,  39,  639. 
Lyon,  David,  81. 

M. 
Macy,  William  H.,  425,  697. 


Mandeville,  William,  425,  580,  583,  586. 

Marsh,  James,  586. 

Marshall,  Benjamin,  32,  39,  613,  685. 

McBrair,  James,  425. 

McCarthy,  Dennis,  691. 

McClain  * Orlando D.,  586. 

McElrath,  Thomas,  757. 

McVickar,  John,  5. 

Mercein,  Thonras  R.,  701. 

Merwin,  Almcm,  580. 

Miller,  Charles,  39. 

Miller,  Nehemiah,  586. 

Miller,  Samuel,  2,  5,  6,  8. 

Mills,  Abner,  425,  586. 

Minturn,  Benjamin  G.,  5,  6,  8. 

Mitchill,  Dr.  Samuel  L.,  5. 

Morrison,  John,  167,  425,  633. 

Morton,  Jacob,  5. 

Mott,  Jacob,  5. 

Mott,  M.  H.,  587. 

Mott,  Robert  F.,  81,  82. 

Mott,  Samuel  F.,  122,  146,  150,  152,  155, 
156, 158,  165,  167,  172,  179,  252,  325, 
347,  425,  528,  612,  618,  626,  633,  662, 
663,  675,  678,  692,  704,  706,  708. 

Murphy^  William  D.,  425,  581,  597,  599. 

Murray,  Hamilton,  712. 

Murray,  John,  2,  4,  6,  8,  39,  40,  41,  639, 
654,  665,  666,  667,  669,  688,  689. 

Murray,  JohnR.,  29,  39,  41,  613,  685,  689. 

Murray,  Lindley,  29,  39,  40,  46,  47,  61, 
55,  58,  69,  75,  81,  83,  85,  96,  101,  103, 
152,  156,  162,  167. 


Neilson,  William  H.,  575,  580,  586,  608, 
648. 


0. 


Oakley,  Charles,  122,  146,  155,  158,  162, 
425,  618,  663,  704,  706,  708,  709,  710. 
Ogden,  Thomas  L.,  39. 
Olmstead,  James,  81. 
Osgood,  Samuel,  2,  4. 


P. 


Paige,  Richard,  425. 

Palmer,  James,  28,  32,  39,  44,  51,  75,  81, 

85,  205,  425,  688,  689,  690,  695,  698. 
Pardow,  George,  425. 
Pardow,  Robert,  678. 
Patterson,  S.  P.,  586. 
Pearsall,  Thomas,  2,  5. 
Peck,  Hiram  N.,  707,  708. 
Perit,  Pelatiah,  425,  586. 
Perkins,  Benjamin  D.,  6,  8,  9,  24. 
Perkins,  M.D.,  Roger  G.,  580,  587. 
Perry,  William,  39. 
Pessiuger,  George,  425. 


768 


PERSONAL   INDEX. 


Phclps,  Anson  G.,  425,  708. 

Pierson,  M.D.,  Charles  E.,  425,  674,  579, 

580,  586,  608,  648. 
Tintard,  John,  39,  639,  689. 
Platt,  Ebenezer,  586. 
Pond,  M.D.,  James  0.,  425. 
Potter,  Joseph,  586. 
Price,  Thompson,  425,  586,  712. 


B. 


Eathbone,  Jr.,  John,  79,  81. 

Redfield,  Justus  S.,  588. 

Eeed,  Richard,  586. 

Richards,  Nathaniel,  146. 

Richmond,  Thomas,  586. 

Robertson,  Alexander,  5. 

Rockwell,  M.D.,  William,  425,  496,  694. 

Rogers,  M.D.,  J.  Smyth,  825,  347,  425,  691. 

Roosevelt,  Jr.,  James  I.,  101,  103,   104, 

146,  152,  156,  158,  167,  425,  625,  628, 

633,  663,  682,  695,  701,  710. 
Rosenmiiller,  L.  A.,  587. 
Russell,  Israel,  580,  586. 
Russell,  Samuel,  2,  5. 
Rutgers,  Col.,  Henry,  10,  23,  24,  89,  109, 

532,  639,  649,  657,  683. 


Schermerhorn,  Peter  A.,  425. 

Schieffelin,  Henry  H.,  425. 

Schieffelin,  Heniy  M.,  425,  580,  583,  587. 

Seaman,  Valentine,  5. 

Seaman,  Willet,  425,  586. 

Sedgwick,  Robert,  162,  625,  662,  700. 

Servoss,  Thomas  L.  425. 

Seton,  S.  W.,  82,  119,  152,  163,  393,  425, 

580,  583,  586,  616,  642,  664,  .677,  682, 

694,  708,  710,  714. 
Sheldon,  F.,  662. 
Sherwood,  Burritt,  425,  651,  694. 
Skidmore,  Joseph  R.,  586. 
Slidell,  John,  81. 
Slocum,  William  T.,  44,  51,  81,  686,  690, 

692. 

Smith,  Floyd,  712. 
Smith,  William,  425,  710. 
Spalding,  Lyman,  39,  685. 
Spencer,  Reuben,  425. 
Stevens,   Linus  W.,   425,  575,  580,  586, 

693,  608,  692,  712,  713. 
Stillman,  J.  D.  B.,  687. 
Stillman,  Thomas  B.,  586. 
Stokes,  James,  425,  587. 
Stone,  William  L.,  165, 175,  677,  712. 
Stuart,  M.D.,  Joseph,  425. 
Stuyvesant,  Peter,  710. 
Suckley,  George,  39. 
Swan,  Benjamin  L.,  146,   155,  158,  701, 

706,  708,  709. 


Swan,  Caleb,  586. 


T. 


Taylor,  Jeremiah  H.,  153,  614,  628,  662, 

663,  664,  682,  701,  702. 
Taylor,  Knowles,  691. 
Taylor,  Najah,  29,  39,  42,  44,  46,  81,  141, 

146,  425,  624,  639,  640,  685,  686,  690, 

695. 

Taylor,  Thomas  C.,  29,  39,  685,  688,  699. 
Ten  Brook,  Henry,  5,  6. 
Thompson,  Jeremiah,  39. 
Tieman,  Daniel  F.,  586,  708. 
Tompkins,  Daniel  D.,  5. 
Torrey,  William,  41,  42,  81,  685,  686. 
Trimble,  George  T.,  39,  40,  81,  103,  104, 

105,  141,  153, 156,  158,  165,  168,  179, 

425,  534,  573,  574,  575,  579,  580,  587, 

608,  639,  648,  664,  674,  677,  689,  695, 

697,  698,  699,  701,  703,  710. 
Trimble,  M.D.,  Isaac  P.,  425. 
Trumbull,  George,  5. 

U. 

Underbill,  Ira  B.,  165,  677. 
Underbill  James  W.,  580. 
Underbill,  Joshua,  704. 
Underbill,  Joshua  S.,  573,  580. 
Underbill,  Walter,  580. 

V. 

Van  Schaick,  Myndert,  663. 
Van  Wagenen,  Gerrit  H.,  683. 
Varnum,  Joseph  B.,  580,  586. 
Vermilye,  Washington  R.,  581,  586,  608. 
Verplanck,  Gulian  C.,  158,  166,  171,  351, 
356,  425,  426,  618,  649. 

W. 

Walker,  Charles,  165,  677. 
Wandell,  B.  C.,  587. 
Ward,  Isaac,  587. 
Ward,  Lebbeus  B.,  580,  587. 
Washburn,  Joseph  W.,  425,  710. 
Weeks,  Ezra,  39,  81,  685. 
Wells,  James  N.,  122,  146,  158,  708,  709. 
Wells,  Ovid  P.,  704. 
Wetmore,  David  W.,  708. 
Wheeler,  Solomon,  81. 
Wilkes,  Charles,  5. 
Willets,   Edmund,  165,  425,  677. 
Willets,   Samuel,  425. 
Williams,  M.D.,  Abraham  V.,425,  700, 701. 
Winthrop,  Benjamin  R.,  425,  586,  712. 
Withington,  John,  5,  32,  39. 
Wood,  Samuel,  39,  40,  81, 165,  677,  688, 
692. 


Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK- IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 

CTT  A  MTMTT^     BELOW. 


L/tEiLn 


Series  9482 


